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

Someguy Somewhere · Aug 2, 2024

Yoda900 said:
Hey everybody! I just tried archiving the story so i could read it ofline. But the fichub PDF option spins/loads and comes back with a 504 error (gateway time-out). Does anyone have any suggestions?

Don't know about the site export options, but there's a few epub and other archived versions of the story listed, if you go back to the first page , along with the FAQ that no one reads. Good Luck and Enjoy.

BrotherofaStudio · Aug 2, 2024

Nice to see Dreadwing doesn't hold a grudge against the three kids in regards to Skyquake's arm.
I'm glad you are addressing how tough Cybertronians are and how much human firepower it takes for them to even feel a little damage.
It makes sense that Tailgate would return. He wasn't infected with Dark Energon and Arcee must be feeling much better now. Though things are going to be more than a bit awkward with Jack.
I do think there is a potential threat that should be dealt with aside from Unicron and maybe The Fallen. Airachnid is still on one of Cybertron's moons with a horde of Terrorcon Insecticons. And I should ask, is Soundwave still in the Shadowzone?

Mr Zoat · Aug 3, 2024

BrotherofaStudio said:
I do think there is a potential threat that should be dealt with aside from Unicron and maybe The Fallen.

The Fallen is quite a long way above the level of these guys.

Airachnid is still on one of Cybertron's moons with a horde of Terrorcon Insecticons.

Yes, but she's stuck there because she can't scan an interplanetary craft for a new alt-mode. I imagine that someone will level her new home from orbit at some point.

And I should ask, is Soundwave still in the Shadowzone?

Haven't decided. That confrontation probably played out differently, and it's possible that he never went there.

mossconfig · Aug 3, 2024

Yoda900 said:
fichub PDF

Fichub epub should work. Use the pre provided epubs for the first 99 episodes, then lift threads 13 from sv and 14 from here.

BR549 · Aug 3, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Haven't decided. That confrontation probably played out differently, and it's possible that he never went there.

If we assume the events of Prime played out pre-Paul/Pull arriving/contacting the Autobots (which was explicitly post-Predacons Rising), I'm not sure why it would have played out differently.

So Soundwave probably should still be stuck in the Shadowzone, and given we're pretty hard averting RID2015, he's likely not going to get out until/unless somebody deliberately goes looking for him.

Mr Zoat · Aug 3, 2024

16th April 2013
03:30 GMT -5

"Do you know what happens if the others are not awake when the connection is severed?"

"Not precisely."

We've passed the place where the streets are covered in vines and have moved on to the place where the streets are made of wood and other pieces of plant matter. It reminds me a little of the.. anthropomorphised plant world that.. god-mode Swamp Thing took exception to… In the comics.

Oh dear.

But it makes sense.

"Then, approximately?"

"Spiritual damage. They'd wake up, but they wouldn't be all there. Half-asleep the whole time, until their dream-self could remerge when their body slept. With Morpheus back in charge that should only take a couple of days; he's got people for that, and doesn't like his realm being a mess."

"Who is 'Morpheus'?"

"Morpheus is the being whose toes your operation was treading on. The ruler of the Dream. Which may not sound like all that much, until you realise that just about everyone sleeps, dreams, and can be driven mad."

"How does he drive his targets mad?"

"The one time I saw him do it? An artist was… Gaining inspiration by abusing a friend of his. He asked the artist to release them, and the artist refused. So Morpheus responded by giving him so much inspiration that he couldn't function. Within a few seconds he was drawing pictures on the nearby walls in his own blood in an effort to capture the visions he was seeing in a permanent fashion."

"An interesting notion. Was he successful?"

"At what?"

"Drawing with his blood."

No, because that never happened and he's… He was in prison, before the Anti-Life. I haven't checked on him since.

Add that to the slate.

Added.

"Not well. Human blood isn't good for drawing, and bare brick isn't good for drawing on."

"I see. But within a controlled framework, where he was provided with a prepared surface and other tools, it might be that he could be maximally productive in such a fashion. Perhaps I could volunteer for a test?"

"Have you ever dreamed before?"

"Yes."

"Then he almost certainly knows enough about you to inflict on you a punishment you wouldn't enjoy."

No attacks. I imagine that would be different if Great Mother weren't distracted. And Gary hasn't reappeared at my ring… Yet. And when he does I'll know everything that he learned, including the experience of being vivisected.

I… Should try and get him out before that happens. And now that we're reaching the fungus…

"Where was Shipwright?"

"On board the bioship, with Coordinator."

"Do they have any distinguishing features?"

"Shipwright is quite good with ships. Coordinator-."

"I spotted the pattern. And I think I know roughly where your colleagues are."

"How?"

"Researcher tried to disconnect the point where Swamp Thing is connected to Great Mother, so will probably be where he is. And I know where that is. Shipwright and Coordinator will be where Great Mother connects, which is here. Great Mother is currently mating, and isn't really fungal herself. So this is either from the connection fungus or from my aide. In either case, the logical place for them to be is here. And…"

Medphyll's lessons made it clear that the construct doesn't just empower plants, but… Effectively hypnotises them. Which means I hope that I can reach out for desire patterns most similar to those of Biotechnologist and nudge it into releasing them.

So let's give that a go.

Below us, fronds and mycelium wave and waggle. There doesn't appear to be any real direction to it though. Okay, maintain that construct with one hand, and with the other reach out for dominator-desires…

Found you. Both of you.

Now use the fungus control construct to push the attachment points away from them… Yes, definite concrete commands seem to work better. It… Might be possible to detach the Great Mother from here, but I'm going to leave that for Plan B.

"I suspect that and that are my colleagues."

Two construct snakes reach down from me, biting the two… Fungal objects, and pumping dream venom into their bodies to take control of the interface. That appears to make them 'wake up' a little, and the first thing they both do is take stock of their new forms. Fungus-infected coral by the looks of things, though it's possible that's what Great Mother looks like inside. I have the snakes bite down harder and pull them towards Biotechnologist and myself.

The dominator with a fruiting body sticking out through his left eye socket considers us for a moment. "We have surrendered?"

Biotechnologist makes an affirmative gesture. "Yes. Our situation is not viable."

The dominator with a Mohican of head-coral repeats the gesture. "That is a generous interpretation of the available data. How will we leave?"

"Swamp Thing is powering the overlap?" Another affirmative gesture from Biotechnologist. "Now that Great Mother is distracted and the containment vessel breached, I intend to wake him up and motivate him to leave on his own."

Biotechnologist looks unconvinced. "We compelled him to sleep deeply. And it will be difficult to locate his psyche here."

"Already done. The design of the buildings was throwing me off, but…"

I pull us all upwards into the not-sky.

"You made this place with Swamp Thing's power. So, naturally…"

The four of us look down at Swamp Thing's face, ridges and troughs made of vine-covered buildings and streets. His eyes are shut, but his sleep looks peaceful.

"He's the whole thing. And he's got a wife and daughter to go back to."

I reach into the Honden, building a road out of the desire to travel and a door out of the need for companionship and lay it at his feet. I take images from his desires and hold them before him as a lure.

"Swamp Thing. You are needed elsewhere."

Two enormous eyes slowly open, and I just about spot the dominator in the middle of the left one as the city below us collapses as Swamp Thing moves.

Darko · Aug 3, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
I see. But within a controlled framework, where he was provided with a prepared surface and other tools, it might be that he could be maximally productive in such a fashion. Perhaps I could volunteer for a test

I mean, your head may eventually explode, so go for it.

Neruz · Aug 3, 2024

Darko said:
I mean, your head may eventually explode, so go for it.

That's exactly the kind of science the Dominators like to experiment with: The kind that might make someone explode.

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 3, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
16th April 2013
03:30 GMT -5

"Do you know what happens if the others are not awake when the connection is severed?"

"Not precisely."

To be fair, this whole situation is fairly experimental, and OL is doing a somewhat fortunate job of poking things with a ten-foot pole and being very lucky. Anything could go wrong before this is done, especially if he does find swamp Thing in an annoyed mood.

We've passed the place where the streets are covered in vines and have moved on to the place where the streets are made of wood and other pieces of plant matter. It reminds me a little of the.. anthropomorphised plant world that.. god-mode Swamp Thing took exception to… In the comics.

Oh dear.

I'm betting things did not go well for them here. Or that this is a memory of that place as he perceived it...

But it makes sense.

"Then, approximately?"

Any data will do, no matter how vague, eh? All the better to form hypotheses from.

"Spiritual damage. They'd wake up, but they wouldn't be all there. Half-asleep the whole time, until their dream-self could remerge when their body slept. With Morpheus back in charge that should only take a couple of days; he's got people for that, and doesn't like his realm being a mess."

"Who is 'Morpheus'?"

Ah... What to tell him that won't encourage them to poke the primordial anthropomorphisation of fantasy and likely get their entire race in deep excrement...

"Morpheus is the being whose toes your operation was treading on. The ruler of the Dream. Which may not sound like all that much, until you realise that just about everyone sleeps, dreams, and can be driven mad."

"How does he drive his targets mad?"

With great skill and quite exquisitely tailored personalised suffering. Well, when you've earned his ire, anyway.

"The one time I saw him do it? An artist was… Gaining inspiration by abusing a friend of his. He asked the artist to release them, and the artist refused. So Morpheus responded by giving him so much inspiration that he couldn't function. Within a few seconds he was drawing pictures on the nearby walls in his own blood in an effort to capture the visions he was seeing in a permanent fashion."

A neat and well-edited summary of the situation. No detail for the Dominator to seize upon as possible leverage, and an innate warning about angering Morpheus...

"An interesting notion. Was he successful?"

"At what?"

...And of course the Dominator grabs the wrong end of the stick.

"Drawing with his blood."

No, because that never happened and he's… He was in prison, before the Anti-Life. I haven't checked on him since.

I suspect if he survived, he'll still be where he was.

Add that to the slate.

Added.

Ah, the evergrowing, never-ending to-do list...

"Not well. Human blood isn't good for drawing, and bare brick isn't good for drawing on."

"I see. But within a controlled framework, where he was provided with a prepared surface and other tools, it might be that he could be maximally productive in such a fashion. Perhaps I could volunteer for a test?"

I mean, there is sometimes a fine line between madness and inspiration.

"Have you ever dreamed before?"

"Yes."

"Then he almost certainly knows enough about you to inflict on you a punishment you wouldn't enjoy."

Good luck approaching him nicely enough to even broach the subject, too...

No attacks. I imagine that would be different if Great Mother weren't distracted. And Gary hasn't reappeared at my ring… Yet. And when he does I'll know everything that he learned, including the experience of being vivisected.

I… Should try and get him out before that happens. And now that we're reaching the fungus…

Come now, OL. Surely you don't want to pass up such an intense experience...

"Where was Shipwright?"

"On board the bioship, with Coordinator."

Right in the thick of Great Mother, eh?

"Do they have any distinguishing features?"

"Shipwright is quite good with ships. Coordinator-."

...I suppose you did ask for that. Should have specified physical distinctions. Though in here... Mental quirks may well be visible.

"I spotted the pattern. And I think I know roughly where your colleagues are."

"How?"

Not having a fun time of things, if nothing else.

"Researcher tried to disconnect the point where Swamp Thing is connected to Great Mother, so will probably be where he is. And I know where that is. Shipwright and Coordinator will be where Great Mother connects, which is here. Great Mother is currently mating, and isn't really fungal herself. So this is either from the connection fungus or from my aide. In either case, the logical place for them to be is here. And…"

So, pretty much look for the vaguely dominator-shaped lumps and desire networks.

Medphyll's lessons made it clear that the construct doesn't just empower plants, but… Effectively hypnotises them. Which means I hope that I can reach out for desire patterns most similar to those of Biotechnologist and nudge it into releasing them.

So let's give that a go.

Ah, no wonder Euanthe didn't like the magic. She'd have had more than enough unwanted mental meddling for one lifetime.

Below us, fronds and mycelium wave and waggle. There doesn't appear to be any real direction to it though. Okay, maintain that construct with one hand, and with the other reach out for dominator-desires…

Found you. Both of you.

Not that hard, amongst all the Grey. The fungal desires would be very low-saturation compared to the Dominators'.

Now use the fungus control construct to push the attachment points away from them… Yes, definite concrete commands seem to work better. It… Might be possible to detach the Great Mother from here, but I'm going to leave that for Plan B.

"I suspect that and that are my colleagues."

I assume he's pointing as he says that, since that's a very strange comment otherwise,

Two construct snakes reach down from me, biting the two… Fungal objects, and pumping dream venom into their bodies to take control of the interface. That appears to make them 'wake up' a little, and the first thing they both do it take stock of their new forms. Fungus-infected coral by the looks of things, though it's possible that's what Great Mother looks like inside. I have the snakes bite down harder and pull them towards Biotechnologist and myself.

Oh, joy. That's not literal body-horror at all.

The dominator with a fruiting body sticking out through his left eye socket considers us for a moment. "We have surrendered?"

Biotechnologist makes an affirmative gesture. "Yes. Our situation is not viable."

What a talent for understatement.

The dominator with a Mohican of head-coral repeats the gesture. "That is a generous interpretation of the available data. How will we leave?"

"Swamp Thing is powering the overlap?" Another affirmative gesture from Biotechnologist. "Now that Great Mother is distracted and the containment vessel breached, I intend to wake him up and motivate him to leave on his own."

...This could get loud, especially in the real world.

Biotechnologist looks unconvinced. "We compelled him to sleep deeply. And it will be difficult to locate his psyche here."

"Already done. The design of the buildings was throwing me off, but…"

Heh. Right under your feet, is he?

I pull us all upwards into the not-sky.

"You made this place with Swamp Thing's power. So, naturally…"

Ah... So you literally got inside his head?

The four of us look down at Swamp Thing's face, ridges and troughs made of vine-covered buildings and streets. His eyes are shut, but his sleep looks peaceful.

"He's the whole thing. And he's got a wife and daughter to go back to."

Who will probably be very happy to see him again. Let's hope his other daughter here doesn't try to follow.

I reach into the Honden, building a road out of the desire to travel and a door out of the need for companionship and lay it at his feet. I take images from his desires and hold them before him as a lure.

"Swamp Thing. You are needed elsewhere."

Two enormous eyes slowly open, and I just about spot the dominator in the middle of the left one as the city below us collapses as Swamp Thing moves.

And that is something the human mind is not very good at coping with, because things that big and landscapey should not move.

Well. One plant elemental located and about to be freed. What of Gumbo Man, though? He might be a little harder to find, given that his presence was not planned for by the scientists. Heck, him turning up is probably what sent everything pear-shaped. I suspect it shouldn't be too hard to locate him though, once Swampy gets his metaphorical footing.

Senevri · Aug 3, 2024

Bog god bog god bog god

BartlettMagic · Aug 3, 2024

Senevri said:
Bog god bog god bog god

Mr Zoat · Aug 4, 2024

16th April 2013
03:35 GMT -5

Ugh. I-.

"Bleez, sword?"

I open my eyes, and it seems that Bleez has… Alright, correctly identified the greatest potential manageable threat and taken appropriate precautions. If something else came through in my body, she'd have a reasonable chance of killing my body by slicing through my gorget. And through me.

She lowers it, still regarding me with suspicious caution.

The remains of the containment unit around us comes apart, undulating across the ground as… Swamp Thing assembles himself a new body from the most 'real' bits of plant available. At the moment he's just a face stuck on the Dominion plant computer, but he'll have that under control soon.

"Orange Lantern." Swamp Thing's eyes look towards me. "I think that I am awake."

I try closing my eyes… Yes, I can close them. Pain? Ow, yes, that's working.

"I think we're awake, too." The mortal form of the dominator I rescued collapses to the ground as the containment pod vanishes completely. "Biotechnologist?"

It takes a moment, then his eyes open. "Subjectively, that was an unpleasant experience."

Filaments reach out, and I bind his arms behind his back before hoisting him to his feet.

"You do not trust me." He considers me for a moment. "I am pleased by your rationality."

I look up, and… Vines and other plant parts are either dropping down to join up with Swamp Thing or vanishing into non-existence. I can already see parts of what I assume to be Great Mother. She's slightly bigger than the Dominion ship, but is still utterly dwarfed by the eye.. chamber-.

"Does this room have an atmosphere shield?"

"It did. I believe that it is part of the plant person's head now."

"Swamp Thing? I'd really appreciate it if you could maintain-."

"For the benefit of my captors. No doubt you want to interrogate them further."

"I offered to keep them alive in exchange for cooperation. Ah, in other news, Good Gumbo-."

"I know. He can stay where he is for now. The Parliament has caused me enough hardship."

"He was trying to help-. Fine. Ah, also, the-." I point to Great Mother. "That ship was-."

"Created using me." His head drops from the vines above onto the newly created humanoid body below, which… Sort of knits it into place. "I don't know what I should do about that."

"Grandfather." Lantern Son floats towards him, stopping a short distance away at head height. "We did not expect that you survived mating with Great-Mother of Great-Mother. Her memories record your complete destruction."

"It was once observed to me that you do not kill a plant by shooting it in the head. Your grandmother was remiss if she believed that she captured my nature by examining a body I created in a panic using only her body."

"If she knew that, she might seek you out again."

"That would be… Unwise. I have learned a great deal since last time we met."

"That would not discourage her. She loves you."

Swamp Thing doesn't have the most readable face, but I can still recognise disgust.

"Ah, incidentally, we're looking for the physical forms of three more dominators. And we need to remove the link between Great Mother and the Dream, and while I'm sure that your feud with the Parliament is-."

"I have disconnected my predecessor and brought him back to the material world. The link to the Dream using the Green is gone. My… Daughter should be waking. I can do nothing for the dead star."

"I can perform a ritual funeral once everything else is taken care of. That should… Fix that."

"Good." He raises his right foot and the vines beneath him undulate, vomiting forth a somewhat battered dominator.

Biotechnologist regards him for a moment. "Researcher. He was in the correct place. The others will be aboard the biological ship."

I use a construct to pick Researcher up and then bind his arms. None of his injuries are serious so I'll let him keep them.

"Lantern Son, could you please communicate with Great Mother… Ah…" I look around. "That we're going to free her, but would appreciate it if-" I look up, and through the thin film of the Dominion atmosphere shield I can see the black of space and the tiny twinkling stars. "-she could cooperate with us to resolve this problem. Then she'll be free to leave."

"And her daughter?"

"Ah. So, she's..?"

"She found Gary acceptable and is analysing him. Dissection will not start for several hours. Then she will generate a template for her daughter."

"That's fine. He can't feel pain. I'm not even sure that he has a concept of pain."

"He will, by the time she is done."

…

Okay.

"The dominators?"

"They-."

Biotechnologist makes a negative gesture with his right hand. "The data is more important than their lives. We would rather have her sensor logs."

"I suspect that she would rather kill them and keep the records. But… We might be able to offer repayment for your help."

"It's not about repayment. These dominators knew how to capture Great Mother. It is highly likely that they kept records for their people. That means that other dominators know how to capture Great Mother again in the future, and Great Mother's Great Mother and Great Aunts and Great Sisters and all other members of her species. We need them alive so that we can interrogate them and learn how they did it."

His internal lights flicker for a moment.

"You are correct, and Great-Mother agrees." Part of her hull undulates and two dominators fall out-.

I catch them in a cushion construct just before they hit the floor.

"And your brothers? And half-brothers?"

One floats closer. "Great-Mother is sacrosanct. We will all comply."

"Glad to hear it." I exhale. "Okay. I think we're done here for now." I turn to Bleez. "Still glad you came along?"

"Next time, I'm just staying on Earth."

I shake my head solemnly. "That wouldn't be any better."

Darko · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
It takes a moment, then his eyes open. "Subjectively, that was an unpleasant experience

Yeah, I guess others may have found it enjoyable, or at least something they can endure with little to no difficulty.

Mr Zoat said:
Does this room has an atmosphere shield?"

"have an"

Mr Zoat said:
That's fine. He can't feel pain. I'm not even sure that he has a concept of pain."

Yeahhh...that doesn't exactly make what's basically rape any less disturbing.

Mr Zoat said:
"He will, by the time she is done

...

Mr Zoat said:
Still glad you came along?"

"Next time, I'm just staying on Earth."

I shake my head solemnly. "That wouldn't be any better."

Yep.

At least she wouldn't go inside giant monsters.

Though that's not a guarantee.

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
16th April 2013
03:35 GMT -5

Ugh. I-.

"Bleez, sword?"

I open my eyes, and it seems that Bleez has… Alright, correctly identified the greatest potential manageable threat and taken appropriate precautions. If something else came through in my body, she'd have a reasonable chance of killing my body by slicing through my gorget. And through me.

Wise. Although not necessarily fatal for OL himself, given his ability to use a Power Ring and his increasingly loose connection to physical mortality. Though honestly, if something came out of the Dream that could use his Rings... Well, it'd be a toss-up on whether that's merely bad or catastrophic...

She lowers it, still regarding me with suspicious caution.

The remains of the containment unit around us comes apart, undulating across the ground as… Swamp Thing assembles himself a new body from the most 'real' bits of plant available. At the moment he's just a face stuck on the Dominion plant computer, but he'll have that under control soon.

Not hard for him to encourage some rapid plant growth, after all.

"Orange Lantern." Swamp Thing's eyes look towards me. "I think that I am awake."

I try closing my eyes… Yes, I can close them. Pain? Ow, yes, that's working.

And then promptly dismissed via his Ring, no doubt.

"I think we're awake, too." The mortal form of the dominator I rescued collapses to the ground as the containment pod vanishes completely. "Biotechnologist?"

It takes a moment, then his eyes open. "Subjectively, that was an unpleasant experience."

Gee, you think? Not a fun day for anyone there, I suspect.

Filaments reach out, and I bind his arms behind his back before hoisting him to his feet.

"You do not trust me." He considers me for a moment. "I am pleased by your rationality."

Dangit, it's hard to keep in mind that this is his team's fault when he's so reasonable about getting caught.

I look up, and… Vines and other plant parts are either dropping down to join up with Swamp Thing or vanishing into non-existence. I can already see parts of what I assume to be Great Mother. She's slightly bigger than the Dominion ship, but is still utterly dwarfed by the eye.. chamber-.

"Does this room has an atmosphere shield?"

The field laboratory, you mean, since the eye chamber itself must be fricking huge...

"It did. I believe that it is part of the plant person's head now."

"Swamp Thing? I'd really appreciate it if you could maintain-."

I mean, I doubt it's like his body could survive in vacuum either. Plants do need air, after all.

"For the benefit of my captors. No doubt you want to interrogate them further."

"I offered to keep them alive in exchange for cooperation. Ah, in other news, Good Gumbo-."

Who is conspicuous by his absence, unless he's somewhere outside.

"I know. He can stay where he is for now. The Parliament has caused me enough hardship."

"He was trying to help-. Fine. Ah, also, the-." I point to Great Mother. "That ship was-."

Hey, you're the one who went AWOL, Swampy. Whether it was voluntary or not, they've got to respond to that...

"Creating using me." His head drops from the vines above onto the newly created humanoid body below, which… Sort of knits it into place. "I don't know what I should do about that."

"Grandfather." Lantern Son floats towards him, stopping a short distance away at head height. "We did not expect that you survived mating with Great-Mother of Great-Mother. Her memories record your complete destruction."

Only by way of 'Nope'-ing the heck out of there mid-vivisection. His memories aren't exactly pleasant, I bet.

"It was once observed to me that you do not kill a plant by shooting it in the head. Your grandmother was remiss if she believed that she captured my nature by examining a body I created in a panic using only her body."

"If she knew that, she might seek you out again."

...Oh, boy. That's terrible news.

"That would be… Unwise. I have learned a great deal since last time we met."

"That would not discourage her. She loves you."

You know, most guys don't like clingy ladies like that...

Swamp Thing doesn't have the most readable face, but I can still recognise disgust.

"Ah, incidentally, we're looking for the physical forms of three more dominators. And we need to remove the link between Great Mother and the Dream, and while I'm sure that your feud with the Parliament is-."

Right, right. Hostages-slash-victims still to be recovered.

"I have disconnected my predecessor and brought him back to the material world. The link to the Dream using the Green is gone. My… Daughter should be waking. I can do nothing for the dead star."

"I can perform a ritual funeral once everything else is taken care of. That should… Fix that."

Then maybe you can get Guy and the lady Greenie out here to help dispose of the remains? Seriously, that this happened at all is bad enough. Leaving the body around for something to happen to again smacks of negligence.

"Good." He raises his right foot and the vines beneath him undulate, vomiting forth a somewhat battered dominator.

Biotechnologist regards him for a moment. "Researcher. He was in the correct place. The others will be aboard the biological ship."

In which case it's up to her to spit them out.

I use a construct to pick Researcher up and then bind his arms. None of his injuries are serious so I'll let him keep them.

"Lantern Son, could you please communicate with Great Mother… Ah…" I look around. "That we're going to free her, but would appreciate it if-" I look up, and through the thin film of the Dominion atmosphere shield I can see the black of space and the tiny twinkling stars. "-she could cooperate with us to resolve this problem. Then she'll be free to leave."

As long as she doesn't come anywhere near Earth, right? I shudder to imagine what could happen if she came to visit Daddy.

"And her daughter?"

"Ah. So, she's..?"

"She found Gary acceptable and is analysing him. Dissection will not start for several hours. Then she will generate a template for her daughter."

...OL, might want to reclaim him before then?

"That's fine. He can't feel pain. I'm not even sure that he has a concept of pain."

"He will, by the time she is done."

Better have some headache treatments ready when Gary returns, OL. You're gonna need it.

…

Okay.

Yeah, what else can you say to that.

"The dominators?"

"They-."

Have quite a few things to answer for, methinks. And multiple aggrieved parties ready to administer punishments.

Biotechnologist makes a negative gesture with his right hand. "The data is more important than their lives. We would rather have her sensor logs."

"I suspect that she would rather kill them and keep the records. But… We might be able to offer repayment for your help."

She doesn't really have much incentive to let them go, does she?

"It's not about repayment. These dominators knew how to capture Great Mother. It is highly likely that they kept records for their people. That means that other dominators know how to capture Great Mother again in the future, and Great Mother's Great Mother and Great Aunts and Great Sisters and all other members of her species. We need them alive so that we can interrogate them and learn how they did it."

That is a very good point. And I expect Great Mother will want to pass that on to her family at some stage too.

His internal lights flicker for a moment.

"You are correct, and Great-Mother agrees." Part of her hull undulates and two dominators fall out-.

Hopefully coated in something nasty that will leave them with permanent discomfort...

I catch them in a cushion construct just before they hit the floor.

"And your brothers? And half-brothers?"

Also, what of Recruit Lantern Son himself? Does he want to continue as a Lantern, or will he give up the Ring? And what will great Mother have to say on either option?

One floats closer. "Great-Mother is sacrosanct. We will all comply."

"Glad to hear it." I exhale. "Okay. I think we're done here for now." I turn to Bleez. "Still glad you came along?"

It has been one hell of a day.

"Next time, I'm just staying on Earth."

I shake my head solemnly. "That wouldn't be any better."

Why do I get the feeling that she'd have run into some other bit of Earth Bullshit™ if she had?

Well, bar a bit of cleanup (Seriously, dump that corpse in the sun or something!) It looks like this is all sorted. Probably a bit of expositional gloating by the scientists about how they snagged the Great Mother, and possibly the question of how they located Earth in the first place to come. Still, this has been a long day, and I think OL will be glad to be done with it.

Lord Ernest · Aug 4, 2024

What a weird resolution. Strange that Swamp Thing is as cool with everything as he seems, I usually picture him as way more ruthless and vengeful. I get that he understands the Illustres wanting more info out of the Dominators, but I was expecting at least a demand for them afterwards or a bit more wrath against the circumstances of his capture.

And I hope the Illustres is thinking about just summoning Gary back to the ring before any actual vivisection comes through. Not only does it sound awful having to experience what he will go through when the process destroys him and he reappears in the ring, but letting this crazy ships keep evolving doesn't sound good either.

Chojin Patriarch said:
I mean, I doubt it's like his body could survive in vacuum either. Plants do need air, after all.

Considering all the things Swamp Thing and even alien plants can do, I don't think he would be as inconvenienced.

Mr Zoat · Aug 4, 2024

Darko said:
"have an"

Thank you, corrected.

WereDragon · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
At the moment he's just a face stuck on the Dominion plant computer, but he'll have that under control soon.

"Orange Lantern." Swamp Thing's eyes look towards me. "I think that I am awake."

Suspect he will be keeping that computer, assuming he can transport it to earth. Seems to do a good job of buffing his mental acuity.

"I can perform a ritual funeral once everything else is taken care of. That should… Fix that."

…and throw the body into the Sun, right?

Then she'll be free to leave."

"And her daughter?"

"Ah. So, she's..?"

"She found Gary acceptable and is analysing him. Dissection will not start for several hours. Then she will generate a template for her daughter."

"That's fine.

Given this species procreate via vivisecting people I question the blanket declaration that the situation is fine. Swamp Thing and Gary are rather atypical in their ability to survive such a process.

0zymandias · Aug 4, 2024

So the Great Mother is the Star Conqueror and she's just had Swamp Thing, create a new body for her. I'm not clear on how she managed to get Swamp Thing in the first place. I understand it was through the dream and I get that the Star Conquerors have some barely described dream powers but I'm not clear on how the Great Mother grabbed Swamp Thing or how the Star Conqueror revibed itself after being dead for a while

Lord Ernest · Aug 4, 2024

0zymandias said:
So the Great Mother is the Star Conqueror and she's just had Swamp Thing, create a new body for her. I'm not clear on how she managed to get Swamp Thing in the first place. I understand it was through the dream and I get that the Star Conquerors have some barely described dream powers but I'm not clear on how the Great Mother grabbed Swamp Thing or how the Star Conqueror revibed itself after being dead for a while

No my friend, the Great Mother is some weird alien ship that got created when Swamp Thing was captured and vivisected/raped by another alien ship. The Dominators captured this Great Mother and connected her to the dead Star Conqueror/Mother Star. They used the Great Mother's connection to locate and capture Swamp Thing (and later Gumbo Man).

Then they used Swamp Thing's Green connection and the dead Star Conqueror's Dream presence to establish a more powerful connection with the Dream and started doing some weird metaphysical experiments.

I don't understand what the experiments or objectives were, though.

BartlettMagic · Aug 4, 2024

Lord Ernest said:
No my friend,

thanks for that. i was pretty lost on what all the moving parts were too. the ambiguity of speech from the characters never really clarified who was what in this tangle of rape and dreams.

also, i'm not sure sure why we're all okay with this Son having a ring... i'm sure OL can just take it back from him once this is over but it also worries me that Son has such a singular focus/desire. i mean, he seems like a concentrated form of biological drives made sentient, and what are more powerful desires than reproduction on a biological level?

and i'm also concerned about what happens with this mating with Gary. will there be a new Orange Light/Grey fused power ship now or something? OL is pretty nonchalant about what has been done with Gary. but i just might not be fully understanding; as i said, the language used in this chapter has felt really ambiguous, and i only have a vague sense of what's been happening.

Lord Ernest · Aug 4, 2024

BartlettMagic said:
also, i'm not sure sure why we're all okay with this Son having a ring... i'm sure OL can just take it back from him once this is over but it also worries me that Son has such a singular focus/desire. i mean, he seems like a concentrated form of biological drives made sentient, and what are more powerful desires than reproduction on a biological level?

and i'm also concerned about what happens with this mating with Gary. will there be a new Orange Light/Grey fused power ship now or something? OL is pretty nonchalant about what has been done with Gary. but i just might not be fully understanding; as i said, the language used in this chapter has felt really ambiguous, and i only have a vague sense of what's been happening.

I also agree about the situation with this little Son and the ring, but his desires seem pretty focused on fulfilling whatever his Great Mother needs. With her released of the Dominator's control, I don't see why the Illustres would need further cooperation so why allow him to keep the ring? Makes sense to just take it back, but who knows how Paul thinks.

The "mating" is what I'm more worried about. The Illustres should be able to prevent it, but as you said, he's so nonchalant about it (like with other stuff) that he's likely going to allow it and so create something else that might (read: will) come back to bite him in the arse. These alien ships are pretty Borg-like already and this Great Mother have Swamp Thing stuff; now add to that fungi properties and some Orange Light connection? Sounds like a recipe for a future grey/orange goo scenario or something like that.

Silveraith · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Great-Mother

So things are finally wrapping up with this episode but I have a question that's been bugging me since we were first introduced to Great-Mother. What exactly is she? I get the feeling she's not the Mother Star of the facehuggers and searching 'Great Mother DC Comics' won't narrow the field down to anything reasonable.

Mr Zoat said:
"Creating using me." His head drops from the vines above onto the newly created humanoid body below, which… Sort of knits it into place. "I don't know what I should do about that."

Created.

Mr Zoat · Aug 4, 2024

Silveraith said:
So things are finally wrapping up with this episode but I have a question that's been bugging me since we were first introduced to Great-Mother. What exactly is she? I get the feeling she's not the Mother Star of the facehuggers and searching 'Great Mother DC Comics' won't narrow the field down to anything reasonable.

Swamp Thing issue 60, May 1987. The only thing she was ever is, as far as I know. She's an extremely advanced living ship.

Created.

Thank you, corrected.

Clell65619 · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
16th April 2013
03:35 GMT -5

"Lantern Son, could you please communicate with Great Mother… Ah…" I look around. "That we're going to free her, but would appreciate it if-" I look up, and through the thin film of the Dominion atmosphere shield I can see the black of space and the tiny twinkling stars. "-she could cooperate with us to resolve this problem. Then she'll be free to leave."

Stars appear to 'twinkle' through Earth's atmosphere. Would the Dominion's atmosphere shield be thick enough to duplicate the optical illusion?

Mr Zoat · Aug 4, 2024

Clell65619 said:
Stars appear to 'twinkle' through Earth's atmosphere. Would the Dominion's atmosphere shield be thick enough to duplicate the optical illusion?

The shield, or the generally uncertain nature of reality around the Mother Star. Certainly not the thickness of the air itself.

Steelplaza · Aug 4, 2024

I think this arc suffered a little in that if you haven't read Swamp Thing issue 60, May 1987 it's really hard to picture the Great Mother or understand what its deal is.

The Dominators are fun to read in pretty much every interaction we see with them, delightfully amoral science-obsessed monsters. Everything involving the Great Mother was much less interesting.

Silveraith · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Swamp Thing issue 60, May 1987. The only thing she was ever is, as far as I know. She's an extremely advanced living ship.

Thank you, corrected.

Swamp Thing Vol 2 60

"Loving The Alien": Swamp Thing finds himself on a planet which seems to be made up of biomechanical material. He does not realize, however, that the planet is a living entity known as Technis. Technis has existed for years; an island waiting for a suitable mate. All Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #60...

dc.fandom.com

Found it; cool stuff. Thank you. Technis is Great-Mother's Great-Mother I assume? Closure is a wonderful thing.

Lord Ernest · Aug 4, 2024

Steelplaza said:
I think this arc suffered a little in that if you haven't read Swamp Thing issue 60, May 1987 it's really hard to picture the Great Mother or understand what its deal is.

The Dominators are fun to read in pretty much every interaction we see with them, delightfully amoral science-obsessed monsters. Everything involving the Great Mother was much less interesting.

I agree and disagree. When we know who the antagonists are in an episode, or at least we are able to easily find information about them, we can usually infer their natures and/or objectives, so we don't always need to wait for the episode to explicitly tell us.

So due to the obscurity of Great Mother, for most of the episode we are as in the dark about the enemy as the Illustres and, worse, it's really difficult to visualize something so alien, not to mention partially metaphysical in this case. On top of that, the Illustres never even actually faced Great Mother, just a bland representative, so there was no engagement, no personality. It was like watching a fight against the shadow of a wall in the middle of the night.

So while the enemy was interesting, the presentation wasn't. And as you implied, the Dominators are always fun enemies to face or have around.

Xmaster3000 · Aug 4, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
"I can perform a ritual funeral once everything else is taken care of. That should… Fix that."

Hades is about to get a very interesting customer.

Mr Zoat · Aug 5, 2024

13th July 2014
20:56 GMT +5:30

"So, ah, yeah." The white Autobot with electric blue decals slumps slightly, his right arm dropping from where he was gesturing to go limp on the table. "He means a lot to Arcee, but he doesn't seem to like me at all."

I smile, and he starts looking uncomfortable.

"See, I know the War's over and everything, but I still get a little nervous when I see a 'con smile like that."

One of me… One of my bodies, the body with all the essential bits in it is sitting in the workshop with Tailgate, Arcee's newly resurrected partner. Tortured to death by that psycho Airachnid, and now wondering why Jack doesn't want to have him on their team. // I'm also watching a film about a little drone driving around a spaceship filled with fat humans. Two channels, one me.

"How do you think I feel about letting a couple of Autobots into my home?"

He thinks that over and then shrugs, relaxing slightly. "So… What am I doing wrong?"

"You know, Paul told me this would happen, but I honestly didn't think it would happen this quickly."

"Paul. That's your… Human business partner-."

"Conjunx endura."

"Oh. I'd… Heard something about-." He shakes his head, then looks at me curiously. "I gotta ask: how does that work?"

"He got a lot of Nebulon implants, I got an avatar module."

He frowns. "What for? You can talk to him just fine as you are. He's the one who needed a modification to feel your spark." His frown deepens. "Do humans have a spark? Is there an adaptor?"

I snort with my avatar, prompting Paul to look at her/me. I have her/me wave his concern off. "Given where we are, I think we're lucky they don't."

"Oooh, right." He nods. "Unicron. Do Unicron's creatures have sparks?"

"I don't know. We usually don't leave enough in one piece to tell for sure, and Axlegrease isn't really a researcher."

"Fair enough. So why'd you get an avatar?"

"Because humans have their own bonding rituals and traditions, and they're… Some of them are hard to do when we're this physically different."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense." And I can't help but smile. He.. doesn't get it. It's… Huh. Yeah, it's a shame that Seaspray didn't survive. It would be nice to have someone to compare notes with. "But what's that got to do with me and Jack?"

"Basically, transformer teams are between four and six transformers, right?"

"I've seen a couple that had eight, and when your team mates start dying-. Yeah, okay, I know what you mean. What about it?"

"To put it simply, human teams are two, plus the sparklings they're mentoring. They work with other humans, but by their standards that's a different kind of relationship."

He frowns. "Why?"

"It's to do with how their-. How they make new humans by combining biological data inside the humans with an internal fabricator."

"An internal-?" He stares. "Is that common?"

"It's about half of them. You'll learn to spot them once you've been here a while. Humans don't live as long as we do, so they have to build their replacements faster." I shake my head. "If you really want to know the details, you can talk to Paul about it. My avatar is with him right now if you want me to ask him to come here."

"No, that's… Fine." He looks thoughtful. "So Jack doesn't like me, because if I'm Arcee's partner then he can't be."

"Pretty much."

"Heh." He smiles. "Silly human. How do I tell him he's full of crude?"

"Basically, you can't. It's instinctive, like transforming is for us. If Arcee had called you her team mate, or squad mate, or an old friend, that would have been fine." Probably. "Partner implies that you've got a one-to-one relationship, like how theirs are."

His face gets a bit broody, something I've seen Nova Storm do after a few quarts of high grade. "Everyone else on Team Delta got turned into Terrorcons, so they won't be coming back."

I raise my own mug in salute. "'til all are one."

He nods, and tilts his own towards me. "You?"

I nod back. "Probably. Most of them, definitely. We won't know until we go through all of the wreckage. Nothing either of us can do about it now."

"No. But I can do something about Arcee and Jack." His eyes narrow thoughtfully. "Do humans get a lot bigger as they age?"

"No."

"Are they stronger than they look?"

"I don't have much contact with other aliens." Except Axlegrease, but she's got to be at least ninety percent transformer by now. "They're a lot weaker and squishier than us."

"So… Huh. Okay, so what exactly does your human partner do?"

"He gave me a reason to go on living. Something to do with my life that wasn't fighting a war I didn't really care about any more. Did Arcee tell you a lot about Jack?"

"Yeah, a few things."

"Did any of it involve the two of them fighting side by side?"

"Not… Exactly. He could sneak in places where she'd have been spotted, and… She smiles a lot when she talks about spending time with him exploring the Earth or just hanging out with him." He nods slowly. "Stuff that has nothing to do with the War."

"Paul helped me be a person. Everything I've done since I met him… These are the first things I did… Free. Free of Megatron or that sump sucker Straxus. Do you even remember what you did before the War?"

"Secure courier. I don't think I'll go back to it, though." He looks at me… What is that? Sympathy? "If I'd been working for Straxus I'd have joined the Decepticons, too. He was the worst."

"No. But he was close."

"If you say so. So, is there any reason why I wouldn't want Arcee to be-. To have Jack as a human-type partner?"

"A lot of the things I do with Paul are… Human-bonding things. Things that would seem… Weird to most transformers because we don't work like that. Jack wants to do those things with Arcee."

He thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "Does she want to do those things with him?"

"I don't think she understands exactly what they are."

"Could you demonstrate for her?"

//

"Slipstream? Are you okay?"

My body-. I'm-. My avatar body is doing that-. Laughing, on the… Floor? Paul's looking down at me. I manage to get my right arm under control and point it towards the refectory. "Tailgate asked if-. Hah! If we could demonstrate human-transformer 'things' for Arcee." Shockwave's programming makes it/me gasp for a breath I don't need, but that need feels… Weirdly good and… Appropriate, somehow?

Paul sighs. "Or we could just explain them first."

What was it that human in that said? "'No one can be told what the Matrix is.' Or in our case what it feels like to have your T-cog adapt your body for human bonding practices."

"I think I'd like to try starting by telling her."

"Okay." // "We could."

Tailgate looks confused. Of course, he's got even less understanding than Arcee.

"But you should probably clear the air with Jack first."

And maybe we should talk to Shockwave about getting him a transtector body prepared as well.

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