Silveraith
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
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- Tags
- self insert young justice
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
Thundersmight94
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For a second I through the girls did a power of friendship fusion into one Alicorn!
Khornelius
Overlord of the Underworld
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Ngamer11
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Friendship is Magic?
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
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To quote Grayven:
Considering they have access to the Friendship Castle, could probably sneak access to any of Twilight's research projects therein and Apple Bloom is basically Zecora's apprentice and thus likely knows about a large variety of magical reagents and locations present in the Everfree, the most surprising thing is that they knew the words for the ritual, and there are any number of explanations for that, from asking one of their sisters about the event to Twilight having left her research notes somewhere stealable.
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Presumably? They probably wouldn't have been able to ascend without doing so, but given that the context of the last time they were on-screen was "everyone else who knows you three already has a pretty good idea of what your special talents are, and they're just waiting for you to figure them out yourselves", it seems obvious enough.
Doccer
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Do they have their Cutie Marks?
Also: I NEED MORE INFO! DON'T CUT AWAY! Give me somgs, lyrics, the build up!
Khornelius
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That seems far too plausible now that you stated it.
Mr Zoat
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No song I'm afraid, but I will be covering how it happened.
Anarkic (part 12)
New
Mr Zoat
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1st May 2013
15:03 GMT -5
"You are scanning?" Johanna frowns at me as we watch our target from a construct platform a mile up. "I thought that all Justice League sites were warded?"
"This one was mothballed before that upgrade became standard. As far as I can tell, I can scan all of it."
The Detroit base for the Justice League is a former apartment block, bought after the people who used to work here moved to places with actual jobs. Or went to prison. Or -on a slightly more morbid note- died. Acquiring the site was fairly cheap, and Batman sort of… Had the centre replaced with the base while the outer parts were rented out as low-cost apartments. Since occupancy is far less than 100%, the residents just assume that that part of the building is either empty, repurposed, or they just haven't met the people who live there.
"It is not the things that you can scan that are the problem."
"Quite."
Back when this place was still functional, Batman had someone pop by and check on it every so often to give the impression that there was someone using it. Now, it doesn't even have a zeta tube terminus. Huh. Given that there was some talk of on-shoring manufacturing after the Sheeda attack, it might be worth seeing about turning it back into apartments at some point.
"So what is there?"
"The generator is still there, but it should be out of fuel. The-."
"Do the lights still work?"
"Yes, it can draw on the power grid. Obviously, that's not good for stealth so the official best use guide is just to use that for regular household stuff." I look around. "Trying to power a hologram projector… Or the main computer like that would probably have caused a brownout or just melted the grid. Anyway, the generator is still there, the lights, wiring, armour panels… Anything that was too heavy or awkward to be worth moving."
"Telephone lines?"
"Still there." I sigh. "Okay, to be clear, I don't want to open with violence. He's-."
"Nine years old. The New Statesmen are not as nice as the Justice League, but even Leatherwing does not make a habit of beating small children."
"There are situations-. But, yes. And-."
She looks at me in surprise. "You do beat nine year olds?"
I shrug. "Citadelians leave the cloning cylinders physically adult, Kon and Mitchell are only a few years old, and I don't know how the Reachians age. And there are a handful of people who are just that evil, or acceptable collateral damage. But I don't make a habit of beating small children either."
She frowns, turning to face me. "And now I realise that I do not know much about what you do when you are not on Earth."
"I'll be happy to give you a tour later. Okay, since this is a covert site, we'll need to go in plain clothes."
She rolls her eyes. "Yes, let me just open my flash ring and change at superspeed."
"Can you actually do-?"
"No!" She gives me a shove. "That needs specially treated clothes! And I do not do naked in public!"
"Alright." Scan local clothing, pick something that doesn't make us look like homeless people but still somewhat matches, and change. "Now-."
"That was not an invitation!" She looks herself over. "Ug, I haven't worn a skirt since my manager got purged. It makes me feel like a housewife."
I smile, and offer her my right arm.
"What? Really?"
"Our cover story is that we're looking for an apartment."
"That's not a cover story. That's a cover sentence. If anyone speaks to us, I will be convincing. I have spent more time under cover than you have." She checks her shoes. "At least these are flat."
"Heading down in two, one, now."
We reappear in an unoccupied alley opposite the apartment building, and.. she does actually take my arm. And she leans into me, affecting relaxation and affection. She.. is better at that than me, though I imagine that's less as a result of training or experience and more about how she's had to live.
We cross the road at the level crossing and proceed to-. Ah. No key card reader or front desk, just the start of the corridors. So worse than Gotham cheap apartments.
"Picturesque."
She's smiling, and while she hasn't matched the local accent her natural German accent is entirely missing.
"It's in an improving location, honey."
I match her accent, patting her hand as we head to the concealed entrance. A complete waste of time as there's no one about, but I suppose that it works if there's a concealed camera that I can't detect. No one around, so it looks like we're wasting our theatrics. She's right about me not doing this very often, and I've… Never really asked her what a normal professional operation from the New Statesmen involved. Given traditional National Socialist attitudes to power and authority, I imagine that it was legally much simpler than the Justice League's relationship with national governments.
I get out the key as we approach the door, feigning putting it into the lock in favour of transmitting the 'open' commend to the system that actually controls the door. The resulting 'click' for the benefit of any listeners is mechanically generated by the mechanism, rather than by a lock that could theoretically be picked.
The door opens, with no physical sign that it's anything other than a normal door. And the corridor has exactly the same decoration as the corridors in the rest of the building, aside from being slightly dustier and less weathered.
Johanna lets go of me and strides ahead, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "This is it?"
I step through and close the door behind us. "This is security." I walk down the corridor and insert my key into the second door, the one marked 'maintenance'. "It has to look like a normal corridor, otherwise one person looking over someone's shoulder would ruin the whole thing."
"And let me guess: we slide into the base using a fireman's pole?"
I pull back the cupboard door, revealing a fireman's pole.
Johanna stares. "No."
"It's the emergency entrance. There's a lift, but the power's out. I can carry you down if you like?"
"No. Give me my uniform back. You can go down first."
I shrug, swapping her back into her uniform and donning my light power armour which should just about fit down the shaft. Then I step forward and extend probes downwards, finding… Nothing out of the expected. Okay, into the shaft and fly downwards… Automatic defences are off and receiving no power, systems are locked down, good…
I exit the bottom of the shaft, and…
Footprints in the dust.
Fresh ones.
15:03 GMT -5
"You are scanning?" Johanna frowns at me as we watch our target from a construct platform a mile up. "I thought that all Justice League sites were warded?"
"This one was mothballed before that upgrade became standard. As far as I can tell, I can scan all of it."
The Detroit base for the Justice League is a former apartment block, bought after the people who used to work here moved to places with actual jobs. Or went to prison. Or -on a slightly more morbid note- died. Acquiring the site was fairly cheap, and Batman sort of… Had the centre replaced with the base while the outer parts were rented out as low-cost apartments. Since occupancy is far less than 100%, the residents just assume that that part of the building is either empty, repurposed, or they just haven't met the people who live there.
"It is not the things that you can scan that are the problem."
"Quite."
Back when this place was still functional, Batman had someone pop by and check on it every so often to give the impression that there was someone using it. Now, it doesn't even have a zeta tube terminus. Huh. Given that there was some talk of on-shoring manufacturing after the Sheeda attack, it might be worth seeing about turning it back into apartments at some point.
"So what is there?"
"The generator is still there, but it should be out of fuel. The-."
"Do the lights still work?"
"Yes, it can draw on the power grid. Obviously, that's not good for stealth so the official best use guide is just to use that for regular household stuff." I look around. "Trying to power a hologram projector… Or the main computer like that would probably have caused a brownout or just melted the grid. Anyway, the generator is still there, the lights, wiring, armour panels… Anything that was too heavy or awkward to be worth moving."
"Telephone lines?"
"Still there." I sigh. "Okay, to be clear, I don't want to open with violence. He's-."
"Nine years old. The New Statesmen are not as nice as the Justice League, but even Leatherwing does not make a habit of beating small children."
"There are situations-. But, yes. And-."
She looks at me in surprise. "You do beat nine year olds?"
I shrug. "Citadelians leave the cloning cylinders physically adult, Kon and Mitchell are only a few years old, and I don't know how the Reachians age. And there are a handful of people who are just that evil, or acceptable collateral damage. But I don't make a habit of beating small children either."
She frowns, turning to face me. "And now I realise that I do not know much about what you do when you are not on Earth."
"I'll be happy to give you a tour later. Okay, since this is a covert site, we'll need to go in plain clothes."
She rolls her eyes. "Yes, let me just open my flash ring and change at superspeed."
"Can you actually do-?"
"No!" She gives me a shove. "That needs specially treated clothes! And I do not do naked in public!"
"Alright." Scan local clothing, pick something that doesn't make us look like homeless people but still somewhat matches, and change. "Now-."
"That was not an invitation!" She looks herself over. "Ug, I haven't worn a skirt since my manager got purged. It makes me feel like a housewife."
I smile, and offer her my right arm.
"What? Really?"
"Our cover story is that we're looking for an apartment."
"That's not a cover story. That's a cover sentence. If anyone speaks to us, I will be convincing. I have spent more time under cover than you have." She checks her shoes. "At least these are flat."
"Heading down in two, one, now."
We reappear in an unoccupied alley opposite the apartment building, and.. she does actually take my arm. And she leans into me, affecting relaxation and affection. She.. is better at that than me, though I imagine that's less as a result of training or experience and more about how she's had to live.
We cross the road at the level crossing and proceed to-. Ah. No key card reader or front desk, just the start of the corridors. So worse than Gotham cheap apartments.
"Picturesque."
She's smiling, and while she hasn't matched the local accent her natural German accent is entirely missing.
"It's in an improving location, honey."
I match her accent, patting her hand as we head to the concealed entrance. A complete waste of time as there's no one about, but I suppose that it works if there's a concealed camera that I can't detect. No one around, so it looks like we're wasting our theatrics. She's right about me not doing this very often, and I've… Never really asked her what a normal professional operation from the New Statesmen involved. Given traditional National Socialist attitudes to power and authority, I imagine that it was legally much simpler than the Justice League's relationship with national governments.
I get out the key as we approach the door, feigning putting it into the lock in favour of transmitting the 'open' commend to the system that actually controls the door. The resulting 'click' for the benefit of any listeners is mechanically generated by the mechanism, rather than by a lock that could theoretically be picked.
The door opens, with no physical sign that it's anything other than a normal door. And the corridor has exactly the same decoration as the corridors in the rest of the building, aside from being slightly dustier and less weathered.
Johanna lets go of me and strides ahead, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "This is it?"
I step through and close the door behind us. "This is security." I walk down the corridor and insert my key into the second door, the one marked 'maintenance'. "It has to look like a normal corridor, otherwise one person looking over someone's shoulder would ruin the whole thing."
"And let me guess: we slide into the base using a fireman's pole?"
I pull back the cupboard door, revealing a fireman's pole.
Johanna stares. "No."
"It's the emergency entrance. There's a lift, but the power's out. I can carry you down if you like?"
"No. Give me my uniform back. You can go down first."
I shrug, swapping her back into her uniform and donning my light power armour which should just about fit down the shaft. Then I step forward and extend probes downwards, finding… Nothing out of the expected. Okay, into the shaft and fly downwards… Automatic defences are off and receiving no power, systems are locked down, good…
I exit the bottom of the shaft, and…
Footprints in the dust.
Fresh ones.
Last edited:
Darko
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Well there's the Citadelians.
Plus, with the fact that he operates in space, there may be species that are adult by the time they're nine.
Paul, maybe don't spend so much time around her.
You're trying to rehabilitate her.
"people but still"
At this point I just gotta wonder if they have something like a yearly purge.
Even keeping her accent may work.
With how the world is right now, this apartment may honestly be pretty good.
Ha!
Good to have a meat shield.
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
Chojin Patriarch
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So, by process of elimination, any bits you can't scan are likely to be where Anarky's set up shop? On the other hand, he may simply have some sort of misdirection field set up that makes a room look empty when it isn't.
Better than the Comic's 'Detroit League' era, where they operated out of a refurbished warehouse compound. Or the Super-Buddies' Queens stripmall shopfront...
The trick is working out whether the absence of something is significant or not.
Probably wouldn't be too hard. I imagine the repurposed parts just had doorways knocked in walls...
Detroit isn't that bad yet. Even here.
At least anything they couldn't bring any of their super-strong guys in for. Though that would definitely blow the 'secret' part of its profile.
Sadly, calling him up via its phone isn't going to help. All that would do is give him warning.
Surprising reserve, given his other predilections.
And plenty of rapid-aging species in the DC cosmos.
That would be an eye-opener. I'm betting the Earth Ten folks don't leave Earth much.
Still an amazingly silly idea that somehow worked out.
I mean, unless someone was pointing an ultra-high-speed camera at you while you were accelerated, no-one would see you.
Well, let that help focus your play-acting.
Do you really need a cover story? Isn't the area practically deserted?
To be fair, OL tends to glow orange a lot of the time, and his face is too well-known to be covert.
Not much of a life, really, keeping your real self hidden for fear of purging.
It at least has a secure front door, right? Though I'd be amazed if the front of the building wasn't coated in layers of graffiti.
Meanwhile, I half expect OL's American accent is atrocious, unless he uses the Ring for it.
I suspect most of their deployments are anti-'terrorist' operations, usually in conflict with the Freedom Fighters.
Classic Batman paranoid preparation, really.
What, you were expecting it to open straight onto a League base with gleaming white wall panels and JL sigils everywhere?
See, that's how you do secret bases.
...Yeah, saw that coming.
As long as it doesn't do the Batpole thing of putting a costume on you anyway...
Let's hope the surface hasn't gotten rusty either, that could chafe.So if he's here, Anarky is smart enough no to attack you straight off.
Quite large ones, since Anarky wears oversized stilt-shoes in costume.
Well, into the depths they go, in search of villainy afoot. The silence from within makes me suspect Anarky foresaw someone tracking him the way Ambrose did, and laid misdirections. Or he's simply hiding, keeping quiet and hoping they leave quickly. Unfortunately, Blitzen can make a full sweep of the facility in less time than it would take him to blink...
Mr Zoat
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I once read a comic with a female speedster did that. Her team leader spent an hour watching a recording of it taken by ultra high speed camera, and he admitted that he still couldn't work out if she was ever fully naked.
No, not really. Like Hunters deloyed to deal with members of the Healing Church who've imbribed a bit too much of their own Blood, they spent more time dealing with other National Socialists. The war ended generations ago. They've had plenty of time to indoctrinate the descendants of the survivors.
Darko
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They probably do.
Apparently they have a Mars colony.
He probably knows that Paul is out if his league.
Clell65619
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- Should be alley, unless this is one of the multitude of Brit/American spelling differences.
- Should be 'than the', unless, again, this is one of the multitude of Brit/American grammar differences
[/QUOTE]
I step forward
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
_The_Bomb
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Yeah, but not at the cost of having him down there while she goes down a pole wearing a skirt. Gotta change first.
Anarkic (part 13)
New
Mr Zoat
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1st May 2013
15:07 GMT -5
Ring?
Compliance.
And the footprints glow, all across the antechamber. Whoever made them didn't come in this way, but they did want to check this part out on their own before going back to the main chamber. There is a small amount of dust in the footprints, but this room doesn't get much of an airflow; once all the dust settles there isn't anything making more, or anything to disturb what's already there. So the footprints might not be as recent as I'd assumed.
It is not by eliminating the impossible, but by the much harder task of eliminating the possible…
"Clear."
I-.
Wait. Johanna said that changing quickly required specially treated clothes. What-?
I put an air bag construct under the pole just before she hits it, her leggings and jacket providing almost no friction to slow her descent. She looks mildly surprised as she flexes her mildly friction-burned hands.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes. A fall like that is of no consequence."
"You could have just said-."
She walks out of the vestibule and looks at the glowing footprints. Why didn't she-?
And the problem with being me is that I almost always know. I see it, the idea plenty of superheroes have, reinforced by National Socialist ideology.
"Johanna, I don't know what you're used to, but it is perfectly acceptable to ask for assistance with something outside of your skill set." She doesn't look at me. "With me it's usually magic, but the first time I planned an assassination I asked for Jade's help."
"Is this what you usually do? Stop part way through an investigation to ask if your team mate has a boo-boo?"
"Depends on the situation. Now that we know that LexCorp aren't planning on assassinating Anarky, the urgency has gone down a lot. And frankly, I'm more invested in your wellbeing than his."
She turns her head to look at me, her eyes wide and neck craning at me as she bristles. "And why did you stop calling me 'Blitzen'? I read your file. I have been a superhero a decade longer than you have. I know what I can do."
Yes, it turns out that you can't change someone's fundamental motivations with a few kind words. Who knew? Oh, that's right, me. I knew. But I have to offer, because eventually her hindbrain will start recognising the pattern.
Hopefully.
I float upwards, over the glowing footprints. "The footprints could be from Anarky. The size is about right, though the tread pattern-" Barely exists. "-doesn't closely match any shoes I've seen him wear."
Johanna calms down a little. "And what about what he wore at LexCorp?"
"Mitchell didn't get a good look, and the recordings don't show them clearly. And there's a good chance that they're custom anyway."
"He didn't come down the pole."
"No. Which is worrying me a little. There are four other ways to get in: targetted teleportation, powering the lift, cutting a hole through the lift floor and rappelling down and setting the base to draw power from the grid. Blind teleports tend to go badly, and he's not stupid or suicidal. If he'd been doing ultrasound scans to get the layout from outside he might be able to pull it off, but someone would notice something like that."
Connect to local power draw records…
"There's no major spike in power usage, but if he just turned on the lifts for a bit it might well not show up. Scans say that the lift hasn't been cut, but those scans also said that there weren't any footprints. No teleport residue, but same problem. " I dismiss the footprint constructs. "Other observations, or do we press on?"
She walks over to the door and presses the 'open' button. Since it's not powered, nothing happens. She presses it twice more, then looks it over. "Emergency release?"
"Bottom right. But I can-."
She blurs to the panel, opens it and then grabs the hand crank. It blurs, the door-
Clunk.
-starts to open, and I'm glad that the crank was built to survive being treated like that by Mr. Allen or Superman. I could open it faster, but I think Johanna needs an outlet for her irritation.
Through the narrow slit I see the footprints continue on, and that the emergency lighting system is still… On. Most types of emergency light would have expended their battery power by now, but if someone repowered the base then they'd have recharged then. Equipment-.
What the heck is..?
I could transition in to get a closer look, but if my scanning has been this badly disrupted then I think that I'll wait. And I remember that time when my sister was having trouble parking and I offered to get out in case I was distracting her and Mum made it clear afterwards that that was the wrong thing to do.
"Iss therrre anyyyone to fffight?"
"Sorry, not yet."
The door opens to its fullest extent and Johanna releases the crank, returning to normal speed as she walks back to me to get a look. I raise my left hand and make the footprints glow again.
Only one set comes here. And while the area around the laboratory area looks like it's the most travelled…
"At least two other people have been here. Possibly more if they were careful where they walked or could fly."
And now I know how Garth felt when he couldn't scry me despite standing next to me. Because my scan still says that what I'm seeing isn't there.
"My scans are still off, which means highly advanced technology or magic. Runestone-" I wave it around, but it doesn't glow. "-suggests technology, but it's not exactly a high-end artefact and could well be blocked."
"Are we going in today?"
"Yes."
And she still has enough wherewithal to let the man in armour go first.
I smile.
I approve.
The main addition is the large pod in the laboratory area. Originally it was intended as a purple healing ray tank cum medical sensor unit, but now it looks more like…
The pods Kon and Mitchell were grown in. Not exactly like, but I'd… Guess that it's used for more extensive biological modifications.
I was expecting Lonnie to have improved his brain. But he might well have enhanced his body as well.
"It's going to take me a while to go through everything if I have to do it manually. Please watch my back."
15:07 GMT -5
Ring?
Compliance.
And the footprints glow, all across the antechamber. Whoever made them didn't come in this way, but they did want to check this part out on their own before going back to the main chamber. There is a small amount of dust in the footprints, but this room doesn't get much of an airflow; once all the dust settles there isn't anything making more, or anything to disturb what's already there. So the footprints might not be as recent as I'd assumed.
It is not by eliminating the impossible, but by the much harder task of eliminating the possible…
"Clear."
I-.
Wait. Johanna said that changing quickly required specially treated clothes. What-?
I put an air bag construct under the pole just before she hits it, her leggings and jacket providing almost no friction to slow her descent. She looks mildly surprised as she flexes her mildly friction-burned hands.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes. A fall like that is of no consequence."
"You could have just said-."
She walks out of the vestibule and looks at the glowing footprints. Why didn't she-?
And the problem with being me is that I almost always know. I see it, the idea plenty of superheroes have, reinforced by National Socialist ideology.
"Johanna, I don't know what you're used to, but it is perfectly acceptable to ask for assistance with something outside of your skill set." She doesn't look at me. "With me it's usually magic, but the first time I planned an assassination I asked for Jade's help."
"Is this what you usually do? Stop part way through an investigation to ask if your team mate has a boo-boo?"
"Depends on the situation. Now that we know that LexCorp aren't planning on assassinating Anarky, the urgency has gone down a lot. And frankly, I'm more invested in your wellbeing than his."
She turns her head to look at me, her eyes wide and neck craning at me as she bristles. "And why did you stop calling me 'Blitzen'? I read your file. I have been a superhero a decade longer than you have. I know what I can do."
Yes, it turns out that you can't change someone's fundamental motivations with a few kind words. Who knew? Oh, that's right, me. I knew. But I have to offer, because eventually her hindbrain will start recognising the pattern.
Hopefully.
I float upwards, over the glowing footprints. "The footprints could be from Anarky. The size is about right, though the tread pattern-" Barely exists. "-doesn't closely match any shoes I've seen him wear."
Johanna calms down a little. "And what about what he wore at LexCorp?"
"Mitchell didn't get a good look, and the recordings don't show them clearly. And there's a good chance that they're custom anyway."
"He didn't come down the pole."
"No. Which is worrying me a little. There are four other ways to get in: targetted teleportation, powering the lift, cutting a hole through the lift floor and rappelling down and setting the base to draw power from the grid. Blind teleports tend to go badly, and he's not stupid or suicidal. If he'd been doing ultrasound scans to get the layout from outside he might be able to pull it off, but someone would notice something like that."
Connect to local power draw records…
"There's no major spike in power usage, but if he just turned on the lifts for a bit it might well not show up. Scans say that the lift hasn't been cut, but those scans also said that there weren't any footprints. No teleport residue, but same problem. " I dismiss the footprint constructs. "Other observations, or do we press on?"
She walks over to the door and presses the 'open' button. Since it's not powered, nothing happens. She presses it twice more, then looks it over. "Emergency release?"
"Bottom right. But I can-."
She blurs to the panel, opens it and then grabs the hand crank. It blurs, the door-
Clunk.
-starts to open, and I'm glad that the crank was built to survive being treated like that by Mr. Allen or Superman. I could open it faster, but I think Johanna needs an outlet for her irritation.
Through the narrow slit I see the footprints continue on, and that the emergency lighting system is still… On. Most types of emergency light would have expended their battery power by now, but if someone repowered the base then they'd have recharged then. Equipment-.
What the heck is..?
I could transition in to get a closer look, but if my scanning has been this badly disrupted then I think that I'll wait. And I remember that time when my sister was having trouble parking and I offered to get out in case I was distracting her and Mum made it clear afterwards that that was the wrong thing to do.
"Iss therrre anyyyone to fffight?"
"Sorry, not yet."
The door opens to its fullest extent and Johanna releases the crank, returning to normal speed as she walks back to me to get a look. I raise my left hand and make the footprints glow again.
Only one set comes here. And while the area around the laboratory area looks like it's the most travelled…
"At least two other people have been here. Possibly more if they were careful where they walked or could fly."
And now I know how Garth felt when he couldn't scry me despite standing next to me. Because my scan still says that what I'm seeing isn't there.
"My scans are still off, which means highly advanced technology or magic. Runestone-" I wave it around, but it doesn't glow. "-suggests technology, but it's not exactly a high-end artefact and could well be blocked."
"Are we going in today?"
"Yes."
And she still has enough wherewithal to let the man in armour go first.
I smile.
I approve.
The main addition is the large pod in the laboratory area. Originally it was intended as a purple healing ray tank cum medical sensor unit, but now it looks more like…
The pods Kon and Mitchell were grown in. Not exactly like, but I'd… Guess that it's used for more extensive biological modifications.
I was expecting Lonnie to have improved his brain. But he might well have enhanced his body as well.
"It's going to take me a while to go through everything if I have to do it manually. Please watch my back."
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Chojin Patriarch
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Handy trick. Hopefully it only affects a small area, or someone might get an orange-tinted surprise elsewhere in the facility. Smart of the kid to check the whole place, not trusting the existing manifests and plans.
And in a world like this, 'possible' covers a lot more ground than our reality.
Heh, 'specially-treated clothes'. Necessary to prevent friction causing ignition, I bet. Perhaps she expected the pole to not be so slick?
Speed force or no speed force, hitting things when your hand is moving at supersonic speeds does obviously require increased durability... Speed force users getting it from said force, of course. People like Superman just deal with it by being rock 'ard.
OL's not used to dealing with confident, experienced teammates, is he?
And the fact that most of his missions have been with relatively inexperienced teenagers amongst whom he was the mature, sensible one. He's used to deflating cocky young egos politely.
Looks like she's getting a little annoyed by his perceived 'everyone but me is dumb' attitude.
No rushing it, OL. She'll change when she wants to, and you know that.
Although that does imply a measure of surveillance that borders on creepy, even if he did visit the kid's abandoned house.
Would have been more displaced dust if he had. maybe he didn't have the key for the auxiliary route?
And it's entirely likely he'd be confident enough to assume he could pull it off given them. The trick would be the teleporter.
Whoopie. His scans are unreliable and potentially being spoofed. Or Anarky used a way in he didn't account for.
I get the feeling she wants this over as much as OL does, if for different reasons. Also a hint of annoyance at Lantern superiority.
Good foresight on Batman's part, assuming he made the design spec.
Turned the power on long enough to charge the lights, then off again? Odd decision, but if he's avoiding notice...
Yes, I can just imagine the response was a bit salty. In this case, I suspect he'd pick up a few interesting German curses.
Nice touch, having her talk oddly stuttery because she's still super-accelerated. Imagine having to speak extremely slowly, like five to ten seconds for each phoneme just to make yourself understood...
That's no guarantee that he's alone, or that he's in there right now.
Dang, kid must have layered on multiple blocking methods. It's a wonder you found him as is. ...Unless he wanted you to find this.
OL should explain some classic D&D memes to her. Stuff like 'Don't rush ahead of the rogue, for traps will ruin your day.'
Ah, the alternate method when you don't have a rogue: Send in a tank-build and heal as needed.
He would. It's probably standard drill for her back home.
...Oh, dear. Looks like he's been indulging in some upgrades.
So for all you know, you're dealing with an effectively demi-kryptonian preteen who's also super-intelligent. Joy.
Well, this is an concerning wrinkle. Kid's been applying some upgrades to himself, it seems? The real problem is whether he applied them safely, and if there's any lingering negative after-effects. Not overwhelming rage, certainly or he'd have been a lot more noticeable. More worrying would be rampant paranoia and malign hypercognitive traits. Especially if he awoke psychic powers...
The door opens to its fullest extent and...
Khettien
Perpetually confused
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Rappelling, I think. Thank you for the chapter.
Vaermina
Well worn.
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You forgot phasing, dimensional sidestepping, temporal sidestepping, earth manipulation, metal manipulation, transforming into electricity and following the power lines down, and magic.
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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Thank you, corrected.
NightmareWarden
Versed in the lewd.
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I don't think anyone came in recently. I think someone walked out of a tank and reached the surface with their powers. Who would be clever enough to clean up the tank's mess and falsify the footprints though?
Sordid Snake
(Verified Viper)
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He's behaving like an SI.
There has been meta-fuckery in the story before (Queen of Fables), so there is a very slight possibility that he is an intruding SI
Anarkic (supplementary, Renegade option)
New
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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1st May 2013
16:08 GMT
Darn it!
I trot towards the park, head down. How could-? All that time and all that effort, trying to find out something everypony already knew!
We got covered in tree sap-! I don't even know how many times! Or how many times I got yelled at…
Okay, that-.
I slow down in front of an empty plinth and sit down with a thud.
No one made us do any of that. Not Rarity, not Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon… We chose to do it. But we chose to do it because we wanted to find out who we are! Our special talents! And if they didn't want to tell us they could have just nudged us or something!
I mean, am I even supposed to tell them? If I don't, does that mean I'm doing what Rarity-. And probably Mom and Dad-. What everypony is doing when they don't tell me? I wanted to talk to Miss Starlight because she's a cutie mark expert, but I didn't think this would happen.
"Well, aren't you smiling!"
I look up-. That's Discord, floating in the air the wrong way up. Discord's right eye, because he's made it grow real big so he can stare at me better. I back up a bit and he makes it go back to normal. Then he puts his paw on his left nostril and snorts a lump of… Goo, at a pigeon.
"Coo-?"
The pigeon gets all gunked up in the goo and then stuck to a tree trunk. Discord glares at it. Is he going to do something weird to it? More weird? No, he's turning back to me, and… Turning his head upside down.
"No, that's the wrong way up for a smile. What's got you so angsty? Are you a teenager already?"
"No…"
He flashes, and then he's back with a long black coat, white face paint and a black wig. "Going through a Goth phase? Agonised by ennui?"
"No. I don't.. really want to talk about it."
"Well, do something interesting." He jerks his head around and snorts another wad of goo at another pigeon. It gets stuck to the tree next to the other one. "Revenge only keeps me interested for so long."
Huh? "What did the pigeons do to you?"
He doesn't look happy I asked. "I was a statue for over a thousand years. You work it out."
Huh?
Oh.
Ooooh.
"If it wasn't for a little surge of chaos, I might still be…" He's glaring at the plinth. "There."
"Oh." I frown. "Miss Cherilee took us here on a class trip just before you got free."
He twists around in the air so that he's laying belly down with his paws supporting his head. "I don't suppose you saw anything particularly chaotic, did you? I suppose that I owe someone a thank you."
"Ah." Oh. "Kinda? I got into a fight with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo right next to you."
He raises his eyebrows. "Are they your closest friends?"
"Y… Yeah."
"Hm."
He makes a clicking noise with his paw, and his clothes vanish and get replaced with a lab coat and… Some sort of machine, like the ones Twilight used to have in her basement. He points something that looks a bit like a microphone at the plinth and the machine starts clattering. Then a reel of paper pops out and he stares at it.
"Do you know what this says?"
"No?"
The paper jumps out of his hands and sprouts legs, running over to me. It grows a paw and points to the writing which says 'IT WAS YOU'. Then Discord makes the clicking noise again and it disappears and he goes back to normal.
"Well. Thank you-" He grins, and it sort of sticks out outside of his face. "-my little pony. Is there-? Ugh. Is there anything I can do to help you? In return?"
"Do you know where Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are?"
"No?" He frowns. "Do I have to do something nice for them as well? This 'reform' business is so confusing. Why can't I just do things and make people enjoy them? It all adds up the same."
"Um. I don't think it does. But I thought you can do anything?"
"DO? Yes. Well. Nearly. But that doesn't mean I know what I'm doing." He widens his eyes. "No surprises ever? That would be dreadfully dull. I shudder to think of it."
I look back to where Rarity's pretending she's not following me. "Which one is closer?"
He puts one paw on his back and makes another click-.
There's a flash and we're right in front of Scootaloo-. In a school? There's an adult pegasus and an earth pony talking to an-. An alicorn mare with red and yellow hair. And they all turn around to stare at Discord.
"Don't mind me, just…" He yawns. "Repaying an obligation."
Scootaloo prances over to me. "Sweetie! They're gunna fix my wings by making me an alicorn!"
"Ah." The alicorn frowns. "We could, except I haven't studied what happens when I do that to somepony who doesn't have their cutie mark yet. I'd rather err on the safe side than risk messing something up."
Scootaloo pulls a face. "But I don't even know what my special talent is yet."
"Rarity does." I sag a bit. "Rainbow Dash and your aunts probably know yours as well."
"Huh?" Scootaloo looks as confused as I feel. "How come?"
"You have to do a…" What was it? "Metanys-." … "Look at stuff you do when you do other stuff. How you do different stuff. I'm pretty sure I know what special talents you and Apple Bloom have."
Her eyes widen. "What is it? Tell me!"
Huh. "Didn't..? Princess Twilight become an alicorn when her friends all had their cutie marks swapped around?"
The alicorn nods. "Yes. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. I think it was a side effect of their emotional bonds and the undirected magic energy from the Elements of Harmony." She looks thoughtfully. "Thinking about it…" She levitates a piece of paper over form her desk, then starts walking off. "That might help Starlight Glimmer with her research on how to share special talents."
Huh. "Scootaloo, is there something that I do a lot when we're crusading? Like, something I do that most ponies wouldn't do?"
"Ah." She rubs her snout with her hoof. "Well, you do usually-."
I shove a hoof in her mouth. "Don't tell me! Just remember it."
Discord leans in. "Oh? Are you planning something, my little ponies?"
"I'm angry about Rarity lying to me. But if we were princesses, we could tell them to never lie to us again."
Discord nods real fast. "That sounds completely reasonable to me, but what do I know?"
"Scootaloo, do you know what you need to become an alicorn?"
"Ah, three different types of pony, something binding them together, and lots of magic? Oh, and the things with lots of magic has to be something they're connected to."
I nod. "Mister Discord, what happens if the three of us get our cutie marks at the same time? Can we use you instead of the Elements of Harmony?"
He looks… I guess that's thoughtful? "I don't know…" Then he perks up. "But I'm-" Suddenly there are two of him, and they've each got a foreleg around the other's shoulder. "-besides myself with excitement to find out."
The pegasus mare looks a little worried. "Ah, Scoots, honey-."
The Discords clicks their paws, and we vanish in a flash.
16:08 GMT
Darn it!
I trot towards the park, head down. How could-? All that time and all that effort, trying to find out something everypony already knew!
We got covered in tree sap-! I don't even know how many times! Or how many times I got yelled at…
Okay, that-.
I slow down in front of an empty plinth and sit down with a thud.
No one made us do any of that. Not Rarity, not Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon… We chose to do it. But we chose to do it because we wanted to find out who we are! Our special talents! And if they didn't want to tell us they could have just nudged us or something!
I mean, am I even supposed to tell them? If I don't, does that mean I'm doing what Rarity-. And probably Mom and Dad-. What everypony is doing when they don't tell me? I wanted to talk to Miss Starlight because she's a cutie mark expert, but I didn't think this would happen.
"Well, aren't you smiling!"
I look up-. That's Discord, floating in the air the wrong way up. Discord's right eye, because he's made it grow real big so he can stare at me better. I back up a bit and he makes it go back to normal. Then he puts his paw on his left nostril and snorts a lump of… Goo, at a pigeon.
"Coo-?"
The pigeon gets all gunked up in the goo and then stuck to a tree trunk. Discord glares at it. Is he going to do something weird to it? More weird? No, he's turning back to me, and… Turning his head upside down.
"No, that's the wrong way up for a smile. What's got you so angsty? Are you a teenager already?"
"No…"
He flashes, and then he's back with a long black coat, white face paint and a black wig. "Going through a Goth phase? Agonised by ennui?"
"No. I don't.. really want to talk about it."
"Well, do something interesting." He jerks his head around and snorts another wad of goo at another pigeon. It gets stuck to the tree next to the other one. "Revenge only keeps me interested for so long."
Huh? "What did the pigeons do to you?"
He doesn't look happy I asked. "I was a statue for over a thousand years. You work it out."
Huh?
Oh.
Ooooh.
"If it wasn't for a little surge of chaos, I might still be…" He's glaring at the plinth. "There."
"Oh." I frown. "Miss Cherilee took us here on a class trip just before you got free."
He twists around in the air so that he's laying belly down with his paws supporting his head. "I don't suppose you saw anything particularly chaotic, did you? I suppose that I owe someone a thank you."
"Ah." Oh. "Kinda? I got into a fight with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo right next to you."
He raises his eyebrows. "Are they your closest friends?"
"Y… Yeah."
"Hm."
He makes a clicking noise with his paw, and his clothes vanish and get replaced with a lab coat and… Some sort of machine, like the ones Twilight used to have in her basement. He points something that looks a bit like a microphone at the plinth and the machine starts clattering. Then a reel of paper pops out and he stares at it.
"Do you know what this says?"
"No?"
The paper jumps out of his hands and sprouts legs, running over to me. It grows a paw and points to the writing which says 'IT WAS YOU'. Then Discord makes the clicking noise again and it disappears and he goes back to normal.
"Well. Thank you-" He grins, and it sort of sticks out outside of his face. "-my little pony. Is there-? Ugh. Is there anything I can do to help you? In return?"
"Do you know where Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are?"
"No?" He frowns. "Do I have to do something nice for them as well? This 'reform' business is so confusing. Why can't I just do things and make people enjoy them? It all adds up the same."
"Um. I don't think it does. But I thought you can do anything?"
"DO? Yes. Well. Nearly. But that doesn't mean I know what I'm doing." He widens his eyes. "No surprises ever? That would be dreadfully dull. I shudder to think of it."
I look back to where Rarity's pretending she's not following me. "Which one is closer?"
He puts one paw on his back and makes another click-.
There's a flash and we're right in front of Scootaloo-. In a school? There's an adult pegasus and an earth pony talking to an-. An alicorn mare with red and yellow hair. And they all turn around to stare at Discord.
"Don't mind me, just…" He yawns. "Repaying an obligation."
Scootaloo prances over to me. "Sweetie! They're gunna fix my wings by making me an alicorn!"
"Ah." The alicorn frowns. "We could, except I haven't studied what happens when I do that to somepony who doesn't have their cutie mark yet. I'd rather err on the safe side than risk messing something up."
Scootaloo pulls a face. "But I don't even know what my special talent is yet."
"Rarity does." I sag a bit. "Rainbow Dash and your aunts probably know yours as well."
"Huh?" Scootaloo looks as confused as I feel. "How come?"
"You have to do a…" What was it? "Metanys-." … "Look at stuff you do when you do other stuff. How you do different stuff. I'm pretty sure I know what special talents you and Apple Bloom have."
Her eyes widen. "What is it? Tell me!"
Huh. "Didn't..? Princess Twilight become an alicorn when her friends all had their cutie marks swapped around?"
The alicorn nods. "Yes. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. I think it was a side effect of their emotional bonds and the undirected magic energy from the Elements of Harmony." She looks thoughtfully. "Thinking about it…" She levitates a piece of paper over form her desk, then starts walking off. "That might help Starlight Glimmer with her research on how to share special talents."
Huh. "Scootaloo, is there something that I do a lot when we're crusading? Like, something I do that most ponies wouldn't do?"
"Ah." She rubs her snout with her hoof. "Well, you do usually-."
I shove a hoof in her mouth. "Don't tell me! Just remember it."
Discord leans in. "Oh? Are you planning something, my little ponies?"
"I'm angry about Rarity lying to me. But if we were princesses, we could tell them to never lie to us again."
Discord nods real fast. "That sounds completely reasonable to me, but what do I know?"
"Scootaloo, do you know what you need to become an alicorn?"
"Ah, three different types of pony, something binding them together, and lots of magic? Oh, and the things with lots of magic has to be something they're connected to."
I nod. "Mister Discord, what happens if the three of us get our cutie marks at the same time? Can we use you instead of the Elements of Harmony?"
He looks… I guess that's thoughtful? "I don't know…" Then he perks up. "But I'm-" Suddenly there are two of him, and they've each got a foreleg around the other's shoulder. "-besides myself with excitement to find out."
The pegasus mare looks a little worried. "Ah, Scoots, honey-."
The Discords clicks their paws, and we vanish in a flash.
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Darko
Connoisseur.
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Well this is bound to be entertaining.
For Discord.
Everyone else may be screwed.
So he's behind this.
Yeah.
"used to"
"Discord"
She's so mature now.
And if something sounds reasonable to you then that's a good indicator that things will blow up.
For Discord.
Everyone else may be screwed.
So he's behind this.
Yeah.
"used to"
"Discord"
She's so mature now.
And if something sounds reasonable to you then that's a good indicator that things will blow up.