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

Mr Zoat · Friday at 9:26 PM

Silveraith said:
If.

Thank you, corrected.

CrazyNoVa said:
But seriously though, can the Anti-Life affect the dead or not?

Yes.

Ngamer11 · Saturday at 1:46 AM

Mr Zoat said:
The Question went back to his lighthouse, trying to find clarity. It didn't work and he ended up as a Justifier. Black Orchid was sheltered by the green but has become noticibly inhuman in manner and expression. Empress was stuck back as a broadcaster, but is now pretty much fine and no longer has an Anti-Life fragment. Mannheim kept Vincent Edge around and un-Anti-Lifed to observe his suffering, and he's now wandering from place to place doing whatever charity needs doing.

Sucks for Question and Black Orchid. At least Empress is okay. Vincent Edge suffered that, became a living broadcaster strong enough to affect Paul, and is now doing charity? I guess his fear of God is stronger than any self loathing he may feel for being duped.

Darko · Saturday at 6:12 AM

CrazyNoVa said:
But seriously though, can the Anti-Life affect the dead or not?

Mr Zoat said:
Yes.

When Paul and friends went to the Aztec afterlife they fought a resident there that was enslaved to it.

Mr Zoat · Saturday at 7:50 AM

1st May 2013
18:35 GMT

"And where do you think you're going?"

Discord stops mid-step, rotating his head around to face me. "Fourth star on the right, and straight on 'til tea time!"

A tiny star and a cup of tea run out of nearby room, spot Discord with a start and then dash down the corridor.

Discord rolls his eyes. "And now I'm playing catch-up. Did you want something?"

He looks me over a little cautiously, his eyes floating out of his face and towards the Sword for a moment before he grabs them and hides them behind his back.

"I wanted to say 'well done'." He shoves his eyes back into his face, blinking hard. "I only stopped threatening you because T'Charr demonstrated that Lords of Chaos didn't have to be total arseholes-."

"You are aware that he eats people, aren't you?" He shrugs. "Not that I have a problem with it; you flip a coin-"

He clicks his fingers, turning into a flipping coin.

"-and sometimes-"

The coin lands, showing the 'tails' side, animated, with a dragon killing a knight in the background and the animated image of Discord in the foreground pointing his thumb at them.

"-you get tailed."

"That was a bit weak."

"So was the knight."

The image clicks its fingers, and the coin vanishes, Discord reappears, and I carry on with my speech.

"The point is, rather than just being a minor pest, you've created chaos in a way which helps Equestrian civilisation."

"I swear-" He puts his right paw over the left side of his chest. "-that it was completely unintentional. But are a few extra alicorns really that useful? I-" He clicks and flashes, appearing in the air with a colourful shirt, a round woven hat, a acoustic guitar and a spliff. "-was getting some fairly chaotic vibes from them, man."

"My problem isn't with chaos. Every society needs change, and that change will frequently be uncomfortable and messy. My problem was with your destructive self-indulgence." I snort. "It's a little funny, actually. Sunset thought that Celestia could turn anypony she wanted into an alicorn and was refusing her out of spite. When in reality she couldn't. And now Sunset can, and wouldn't mind it if everypony became an alicorn, the only people showing interest are the sort who want it for status. And it only provides status if it has a limited spread. And the process requires a magic expert. But you and the Crusaders, you found a way to do it without a magic expert. Just a connection to one another and an exchange of power."

Discord shifts awkwardly, hippy guise abandoned.

"And anyone can try and do that; make friends, find a powerful artefact and get to it! It's brilliant, selects for the most driven people who still manage to maintain social bonds, and means that they can stop bothering Sunset. You've made what the 'natural' way requires public knowledge, levelling the playing field."

He scratches his chin. "That sounds like it might be interesting. But more alicorns doesn't really equal more chaos. Quite the opposite, in my experience."

"Oh, come on. Nightmare Moon was more chaotic in two minutes than Celestia was in a thousand years."

"MMmmmmmmmmm… True. I'm still annoyed I missed it. And that I didn't cause it."

"So while I'm here and favourably disposed towards you, what do you want?"

He blinks. "I… Beg your pardon?"

"See, I know that Celestia did that whole 'shape up or get turned to stone' thing, but… That's not how I work."

"Yes, I remember."

"What do you want out of life? How can we live together in a way both of us like? Because no one made you help the Crusaders. You did it because you enjoyed it."

He grins, hunching his shoulders, claw and paw rubbing together. "I've never made Twilight hyperventilate like that before."

I nod. "The point is, in a purely chaotic universe, someone like Twilight couldn't exist. And when she does, just a little extra chaos can have the most amusing results."

"Hm." He frowns thoughtfully. "I suppose that you may have a point. I'm just not sure that I can just… Give up widespread chaos like that."

Hm. "So… Widespread chaos, yes. Focused relative chaos, yes. The destruction of Equestrian civilisation… No?"

He squints. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, you said it yourself. Ponies use the magic of Harmony. What if they had… Other options?"

He waves his claw. "I tried, but it turns out that ponies can only take so much chaos."

"But they can all take some?"

"Yes?"

"And they're not all at one with pure Harmony all of the time?"

He looks mildly appalled. "I couldn't exist here if they were."

"So let us imagine the world like a living thing, the plants as lungs and so forth-"

"And ponies as a skin infection." He holds up his left hand, and-. Suddenly it's magnified, and I can see tiny little six-legged ponies crawling between his scales and biting him, and then getting sent flying as he scratches.

I scrabble back-. And it was a magnifying glass.

He grins at me.

"-and the magic energy glowing around binding it all together in Harmony as the blood. So what if there was a second circulatory system?"

He clicks, and the magnifying glass vanishes. "Go on. This sounds..? Good?"

"You don't really use your whole power, so why not… Donate it to a good cause? Form a heart of pure chaos and implant it into the world's chest to beat in counterpoint with Harmony. Or whatever the literal manifestation of what I just described is."

"Hmm. That would make.. everything a little chaotic. But I would be… But then everyone would be…"

He looks bewildered.

"I'm-. I'm actually going to need to think about that one." He stares blankly into space. "This has never happened to me before."

"Imagine a world full of Pinkie Pies-." I consider Equestria's current Pinkie Pie supply situation. "Fuller of Pinkie Pies.

"I… Can't decide."

I frown as his body starts to… Bubble and wobble. "Um. Are you alright? Should I get Flutterh-?"

He pops, dozens of tiny Discords exploding in all directions! Some stumble around in confusion, one floats into the air with a rapidly rotating beanie propeller and the rest-.

I wince as they throw themselves at each other, wrestling with all of their miniature might. After a few moments the corridor has descended into five or six piles of flailing Discords, the star and the teacup nervously poking their 'heads' out from around the corner to watch.

Um.

Time for me to be somewhere else.

Darko · Saturday at 7:59 AM

Mr Zoat said:
The point is, rather than just being a minor pest, you've created chaos in a way which helps Equestrian civilisation."

Not necessarily.

He may have just made three potential Nightmate Moons.

Mr Zoat said:
the only people showing interest are the sort who want it for status. And it only provides status if it has a limited spread.

If everyone is super then no one is.

Mr Zoat said:
But you and the Crusaders, you found a way to do it without a magic expert

I mean, Discord can be said to be a magic expert.

Mr Zoat said:
But more alicorns doesn't really equal more chaos. Quite the opposite, in my experience."

You've only dealt with less than a handful before this.

Mr Zoat said:
You don't really use your whole power, so why not… Donate it to a good cause? Form a heart of pure chaos and implant it into the world's chest to beat in counterpoint with Harmony. Or whatever the literal manifestation of what I just described is."

Maybe try to run some tests to see if it's safe and that it doesn't blow up the planet.

Mr Zoat said:
Imagine a world full of Pinkie Pies-." I consider Equestria's current Pinkie Pie supply situation. "Fuller of Pinkie Pies.

Please don't.

Mr Zoat said:
Time for me to be somewhere else.

We don't need you causing any more existential crisis today.

Blackshard · Saturday at 8:00 AM

Mr Zoat said:
Time for me to be somewhere else.

Probably the right reaction, yes. Make a strange suggestion, get a silly result, best not to be around to get the blame.

Lord Ernest · Saturday at 8:07 AM

So... now the balance is on more problems than he's fixed, then? Unless/until this gets a good result at the end, of course.

Chojin Patriarch · Saturday at 8:25 AM

Mr Zoat said:
1st May 2013
18:35 GMT

"And where do you think you're going?"

Discord stops mid-step, rotating his head around to face me. "Fourth star on the right, and straight on 'til tea time!"

Don't misquote 'Peter Pan' at an Englishman, Discord. You don't get to poke your nose in like that without the risk of getting it bopped. I'm sure the Renegade has some matters to discuss with you.

A tiny star and a cup of tea run out of nearby room, spot Discord with a start and then dash down the corridor.

Discord rolls his eyes. "And now I'm playing catch-up. Did you want something?"

Oh, don't act like it's an inconvenience, Discord. You know you can catch up to them in an instant, un-fun as that is.

He looks me over a little cautiously, his eyes floating out of his face and towards the Sword for a moment before he grabs them and hides them behind his back.

"I wanted to say 'well done'." He shoves his eyes back into his face, blinking hard. "I only stopped threatening you because T'Charr demonstrated that Lords of Chaos didn't have to be total arseholes-."

Still nervous about having his power shorn away from him, eh? I wonder who the local lord of Order for Equestria is, though.

"You are aware that he eats people, aren't you?" He shrugs. "Not that I have a problem with it; you flip a coin-"

He clicks his fingers, turning into a flipping coin.

Watch out, it's probably double-headed.

"-and sometimes-"

The coin lands, showing the 'tails' side, animated, with a dragon killing a knight in the background and the animated image of Discord in the foreground pointing his thumb at them.

Feh. More fun to lay the dragon than attempting to slay it.

"-you get tailed."

"That was a bit weak."

Yes, very much so. But he can be excused for being off his game. You do terrify him.

"So was the knight."

The image clicks its fingers, and the coin vanishes, Discord reappears, and I carry on with my speech.

"The point is, rather than just being a minor pest, you've created chaos in a way which helps Equestrian civilisation."

I'm not sure the Equestrians see it that way, but I suppose it's harder to see changes form the inside.

"I swear-" He puts his right paw over the left side of his chest. "-that it was completely unintentional. But are a few extra alicorns really that useful? I-" He clicks and flashes, appearing in the air with a colourful shirt, a round woven hat, a acoustic guitar and a spliff. "-was getting some fairly chaotic vibes from them, man."

They're children. Of course they're chaotic.

"My problem isn't with chaos. Every society needs change, and that change will frequently be uncomfortable and messy. My problem was with your destructive self-indulgence." I snort. "It's a little funny, actually. Sunset thought that Celestia could turn anypony she wanted into an alicorn and was refusing her out of spite. When in reality she couldn't. And now Sunset can, and wouldn't mind it if everypony became an alicorn, the only people showing interest are the sort who want it for status. And it only provides status if it has a limited spread. And the process requires a magic expert. But you and the Crusaders, you found a way to do it without a magic expert. Just a connection to one another and an exchange of power."

A definite case of 'those who seek power are often the least suited to it'.

Discord shifts awkwardly, hippy guise abandoned.

"And anyone can try and do that; make friends, find a powerful artefact and get to it! It's brilliant, selects for the most driven people who still manage to maintain social bonds, and means that they can stop bothering Sunset. You've made what the 'natural' way requires public knowledge, levelling the playing field."

And hopefully such people do have good reasons for seeking the power. Then again, you could be truly evil with a circle of close, trusted allies... Nor is good always nice.

He scratches his chin. "That sounds like it might be interesting. But more alicorns doesn't really equal more chaos. Quite the opposite, in my experience."

"Oh, come on. Nightmare Moon was more chaotic in two minutes than Celestia was in a thousand years."

And would have destroyed Equestria outright given time. But she didn't.

"MMmmmmmmmmm… True. I'm still annoyed I missed it. And that I didn't cause it."

"So while I'm here and favourably disposed towards you, what do you want?"

Ooh, haven't seen that prompt in some time. OL has the benefit of seeing that all the time thanks to the Honden...

He blinks. "I… Beg your pardon?"

"See, I know that Celestia did that whole 'shape up or get turned to stone' thing, but… That's not how I work."

Fuck up, you get a few chances. If you prove unrepentant, well... He has the Sword.

"Yes, I remember."

"What do you want out of life? How can we live together in a way both of us like? Because no one made you help the Crusaders. You did it because you enjoyed it."

There is that. His biggest problem is boredom. Entertain him, and he can be incredibly useful.

He grins, hunching his shoulders, claw and paw rubbing together. "I've never made Twilight hyperventilate like that before."

I nod. "The point is, in a purely chaotic universe, someone like Twilight couldn't exist. And when she does, just a little extra chaos can have the most amusing results."

One extreme without the other would be especially boring, after all.

"Hm." He frowns thoughtfully. "I suppose that you may have a point. I'm just not sure that I can just… Give up widespread chaos like that."

Hm. "So… Widespread chaos, yes. Focused relative chaos, yes. The destruction of Equestrian civilisation… No?"

Heck, if his chaos works out for the better, that's a bonus.

He squints. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, you said it yourself. Ponies use the magic of Harmony. What if they had… Other options?"

...Oh, that sounds terrible.

He waves his claw. "I tried, but it turns out that ponies can only take so much chaos."

"But they can all take some?"

The Chaos supplement. Good for you in a balanced diet of Harmony and Chaos. Please consult your local thaumaturgical expert.

"Yes?"

"And they're not all at one with pure Harmony all of the time?"

It'd be hard to be. Even the Mane Six don't embody their aspect all the time.

He looks mildly appalled. "I couldn't exist here if they were."

"So let us imagine the world like a living thing, the plants as lungs and so forth-"

Please don't give him ideas, Renegade. The last thing they need is planetary-scale body horror.

"And ponies as a skin infection." He holds up his left hand, and-. Suddenly it's magnified, and I can see tiny little six-legged ponies crawling between his scales and biting him, and then getting sent flying as he scratches.

I scrabble back-. And it was a magnifying glass.

Heh. He got you there.

He grins at me.

"-and the magic energy glowing around binding it all together in Harmony as the blood. So what if there was a second circulatory system?"

Hmm... Do any of the other sapient races of Wilson have their own magical super-structure system?

He clicks, and the magnifying glass vanishes. "Go on. This sounds..? Good?"

"You don't really use your whole power, so why not… Donate it to a good cause? Form a heart of pure chaos and implant it into the world's chest to beat in counterpoint with Harmony. Or whatever the literal manifestation of what I just described is."

...With safety locks to prevent someone from using the full power, or doing something overly destructive, I hope? Also, nice plan. It worked out for Sauron.

"Hmm. That would make.. everything a little chaotic. But I would be… But then everyone would be…"

He looks bewildered.

It's a big idea, I know. Maybe make your brain bigger to contemplate it?

"I'm-. I'm actually going to need to think about that one." He stares blankly into space. "This has never happened to me before."

"Imagine a world full of Pinkie Pies-." I consider Equestria's current Pinkie Pie supply situation. "Fuller of Pinkie Pies.

...Oh, god, please, no.

"I… Can't decide."

I frown as his body starts to… Bubble and wobble. "Um. Are you alright? Should I get Flutterh-?"

Renegade, did you manage to break Discord?

He pops, dozens of tiny Discords exploding in all directions! Some stumble around in confusion, one floats into the air with a rapidly rotating beanie propeller and the rest-.

I wince as they throw themselves at each other, wrestling with all of their miniature might. After a few moments the corridor has descended into five or six piles of flailing Discords, the star and the teacup nervously poking their 'heads' out from around the corner to watch.

He's really divided about this, isn't he?

Um.

Time for me to be somewhere else.

Oh, no. You break the reality-warper, you stick around to take the consequences.

I just cannot see this ending well, somehow. I mean, given Discord, it could well end up with two ponies fighting over his 'heart' in the giant volcano it was made, while war erupts across the world... No, wait, that was 'Lord of the Rings'. Still, anything is better than the canonical future of this world...

Coltsguy · Saturday at 8:46 AM

You forgot to turn italics off at the end. Unless you wanted to just spread chaos around, which would gel quite well with how the chapter's tone went and would be a pretty fun extra.

Mr Zoat · Saturday at 10:08 AM

Coltsguy said:
You forgot to turn italics off at the end. Unless you wanted to just spread chaos around, which would gel quite well with how the chapter's tone went and would be a pretty fun extra.

Thank you, corrected.

LZB1285 · Saturday at 11:00 AM

Mr Zoat said:
Time for me to be somewhere else.[/i][/i]

...still got some extra code lurking here.

Darko · Saturday at 11:16 AM

Mr Zoat said:
somewhere else.[/i][/i]

Remove the brackets.

Mr Zoat · Saturday at 1:01 PM

LZB1285 said:
...still got some extra code lurking here.

Thank you, corrected.

Stsword · Saturday at 3:38 PM

Darko said:
He may have just made three potential Nightmate Moons.

They were literally made alicorns through the strength of their friendship.

Sunset Shimmer's method, which does shit all to prepare a pony against having one bad day and becoming a demon, is immensely more likely to mass produce Nightmare Moons.

Ngamer11 · Saturday at 3:43 PM

@Mr Zoat, considering the fact that most, if not all, of the state sponsored heroes of both England and China were Anti-Lifed, are either teams active right now? Or has the widespread governmental collapse/restructuring caused them to have to act independently?

hkim · Saturday at 5:09 PM

Sure, let's ask Discord to make a rational decision based on his own coherent extrapolated volition.

This may have been the tamest possible result...

Mr Zoat · Saturday at 5:22 PM

Ngamer11 said:
@Mr Zoat, considering the fact that most, if not all, of the state sponsored heroes of both England and China were Anti-Lifed, are either teams active right now? Or has the widespread governmental collapse/restructuring caused them to have to act independently?

The Great Ten are still together and functioning. They're not clearly exactly who's giving them orders or if their briefings will bare any resemblance in the situation on the ground, but they're there. The UK system is looser. Some effectively retired, but they're mostly still around.

Ngamer11 · Saturday at 5:26 PM

Mr Zoat said:
The Great Ten are still together and functioning. They're not clearly exactly who's giving them orders or if their briefings will bare any resemblance in the situation on the ground, but they're there. The UK system is looser. Some effectively retired, but they're mostly still around.

I had hoped the nastier members of both groups, Socialist Red Guardsman and Derek Kelly, would've been taken care of as a result of this disaster, but no such luck.

CrazyNoVa · Saturday at 5:30 PM

Mr Zoat said:
The Great Ten are still together and functioning. They're not clearly exactly who's giving them orders or if their briefings will bare any resemblance in the situation on the ground, but they're there. The UK system is looser. Some effectively retired, but they're mostly still around.

What about the superhero teams from other countries, like Big Science Action or Super Young Team? How did they react to the Anti-Life Crisis and Sheeda Harrowing? We haven't seen them in Paragon Earth-16 yet, but I recall you mentionned their existence in the split-world episode, so we know they exist there.

Mr Zoat · Saturday at 5:48 PM

Ngamer11 said:
I had hoped the nastier members of both groups, Socialist Red Guardsman and Derek Kelly, would've been taken care of as a result of this disaster, but no such luck.

Socialist Red Guardsman has a lot of support in the senior party leadership. It would take a coup for anyone to get permission to kill him. He took a walk out into the desert when the Anti-Life got too much for him, but then the white light hit and he fully recovered.

Derek Kelly is close to actually being immortal. Even if someone in government wanted to, they would struggle to come up with a way to kill him.

Simonbob · Saturday at 10:19 PM

Mr Zoat said:
Um.

Time for me to be somewhere else.

And you were doing so well.

Ngamer11 · Sunday at 12:56 AM

Mr Zoat said:
Socialist Red Guardsman has a lot of support in the senior party leadership. It would take a coup for anyone to get permission to kill him. He took a walk out into the desert when the Anti-Life got too much for him, but then the white light hit and he fully recovered.

Do you mean he was able to fight off the infection after he attacked Paul, Tuppence, and Karshon in Episode 139: Prep Time? Because Paul thought his presence in assisting the local Justified meant some or all the members of the Great Ten were Justified as well.

Lord Ernest · Sunday at 2:27 AM

Ngamer11 said:
Do you mean he was able to fight off the infection after he attacked Paul, Tuppence, and Karshon in Episode 139: Prep Time? Because Paul thought his presence in assisting the local Justified meant some or all the members of the Great Ten were Justified as well.

I think it would be better to remind Zoat of the last time a character was seen before asking what happened with them or what's their status. The fic is long, some characters are tertiary at best and as he himself said:

Mr Zoat said:
Look, if you ask me to pull something out of my arse, don't be surprised when it's shit.

Mr Zoat · Sunday at 8:29 AM

1st May 2013
15:46 GMT -5

Dr. Cochin carefully mounts the stolen server into an isolated analysis device.

"This will most likely take the rest of the day. You're welcome to stay, but there isn't going to be much to see."

I brought him into the Barker's apartment just as soon as I let our shrunken assailant out of his frozen prison. As far as he could tell there wasn't anything wrong with the server, but it's not just a matter of plugging it into a nearby personal computer and having Enginehead's avatar waving out of the screen. There are all sorts of things that could have gone wrong. Every specialist that LexCorp could assemble on short notice are either working with him or… Studying the now deactivated Barkers.

The other equipment I've shipped to S.T.A.R. Labs. Mr. Luthor looked a little unhappy about that, but it was all in a Justice League facility and didn't appear to immediately relate to Enginehead's medical needs.

"If you don't need to rush off, could you fetch me a cow liver?"

I raise my eyebrows. "Did you miss lunch?"

"Yes, but I need it as a ritual sacrifice. You saw the engravings on the casing?"

I nod. "Yes, but they don't match any Atlantean runes that I'm aware of. Or any other runic system."

"No, but there's a geometric code to them. And as I understand it, that should be enough for a sympathetic link, regardless of the precise coding."

Logical, but magic seldom runs on conventional logic. "Do you know what it does?"

"No. Not yet. And we still don't really understand what it did." He considers the system's sensor outputs carefully. "Will you apprehend him?"

"I'm going to try. There's more going on here than a simple data breach, but I don't know enough to even begin to guess. Please, let me know when you're able to reactivate him."

Dr. Cochin smiles. "I may not be a medical doctor, but I believe that patient confidentiality still applies. I will be happy to let him know that you wish to speak with him, but anything else… Well, you sponsored the legislation, didn't you?"

I nod as I walk away. "No good deed goes unpunished."

I consider transitioning, but if there's something around that can disrupt my scans-. I should send a warning to the other Lanterns on Earth.

Ring, do it.

Compliance.

Instead, I

sight our prisoner's unique desire style and

appear next to him.

"Agh!"

He leans away from me in shock, calming down a little once he sees who I am.

"Jesus, don't do that."

"Oh, I'm not Jesus. He had-."

A blue opera glove grabs me around the torso and drags me back, Alan giving me a warning look.

"Excuse him. Orange Lantern, this is Buddy Blank."

Ring?

Not found.

"Is that like 'John Doe', or is that his-. Sorry." I look at the man in question instead of Alan. "Your actual name?"

"It's… I think it's my name? I don't… I don't remember much."

"Do you remember confronting me?"

He shakes his head, eyes down. "No. I-I don't… I don't remember anything clearly before I woke up in that ice."

I take a look at him, and… Well, he has a more normal pattern of drives, but when I try to see the images which formed them…

Vague, faded impressions that I can't see clearly. I might be able to work it out eventually, but… But that's not how this is supposed to work. I'm not looking into him in the way that a telepath would, I'm looking at the part of him that is part of the Honden.

I mean…

There's nothing special about the Honden. It's a magical repository of information, and if there's one thing I've learned in the past couple of years that doesn't mean that it's impossible to interfere with. But it would be… Difficult. That's not like Nabu where his throughput was limited, it's… Everything. Anything strong enough to attack the Honden would be… Universe-devastating. Off-hand, omega beams are the only thing…

No. No. Attacking the link between the human and their records would be easier. How much can you change a person and make them not themselves? How would you.. break the link with their…

Records.

Would that work? I don't think the standard ritual would, but what does the standard ritual actually do? It doesn't edit history, it just makes the records not-. Does it send them somewhere else? If it was paper records I could believe that it set them on fire or something, but-. No, a fire would attract attention. And it can't increase the chance of them being misplaces to near 100% because if that's all it did I could find them. And misplaced computer records would still be on the daily backups, and they'd probably still be on the hard disk until the sector was overwritten.

Then I'd guess that it sends the records somewhere else..?

There's a click in front of my face, and my eyes refocus on Alan's fingers.

"Back with us?"

"I'm trying to work out what's wrong with Mister Blank's mind. Had a few ideas…" I smile at the nervous man. "Sorry about the ice prison, but your alter ego was rather strong."

"Yeah, I.. saw the recording. Ah, sorry."

"Not your fault at all." I sigh. "I was trying to work out how to get your memories back, but I suppose that I should check that you actually want them back."

"I don't remember anything except my name! Of course I want them back!"

"Okay, we can work on that. Blue Lantern, Wonder Woman's lasso is probably the best place to start."

He nods. "Troia's bringing it over now."

"Good. And Miss Martian to look for edited memories… And-." I try to affect a calming expression. "And I'd like to get some wizards on the job, but… They're going to want some blood and hair samples. Would that be alright?"

CrazyNoVa · Sunday at 8:34 AM

Lord Ernest said:
I think it would be better to remind Zoat of the last time a character was seen before asking what happened with them or what's their status. The fic is long, some characters are tertiary at best and as he himself said:

Are you implying that Zoat is FINALLY losing his mind? We all knew this day would come.

But am I talking about real Zoat or Paul? The answer to that question is "YES".

Chojin Patriarch · Sunday at 9:27 AM

Mr Zoat said:
1st May 2013
15:46 GMT -5

Dr. Cochin carefully mounts the stolen server into an isolated analysis device.

"This will most likely take the rest of the day. You're welcome to stay, but there isn't going to be much to see."

Ah, the return of the Enlightened mortal. I wonder if it stuck while OL was away, or faded away like other enhanced abilities he picks up? At least he seems to retain some of the proficiency he gained from the Lexcorp techs.

I brought him into the Barker's apartment just as soon as I let our shrunken assailant out of his frozen prison. As far as he could tell there wasn't anything wrong with the server, but it's not just a matter of plugging it into a nearby personal computer and having Enginehead's avatar waving out of the screen. There are all sorts of things that could have gone wrong. Every specialist that LexCorp could assemble on short notice are either working with him or… Studying the now deactivated Barkers.

For one thing, I doubt even the enhanced common PCs of Earth Sixteen could run him. It's like the next evolution of Crysis... And good to see OL hasn't forgotten the automata parents.

The other equipment I've shipped to S.T.A.R. Labs. Mr. Luthor looked a little unhappy about that, but it was all in a Justice League facility and didn't appear to immediately relate to Enginehead's medical needs.

"If you don't need to rush off, could you fetch me a cow liver?"

Tough luck, Lex. But it's all above board, so no complaining.

I raise my eyebrows. "Did you miss lunch?"

"Yes, but I need it as a ritual sacrifice. You saw the engravings on the casing?"

Besides, I doubt he'd eat liver outside of a four-star restaurant. And that would probably be slumming it for him...

Sorry, watching a streamer reacting to 'Kitchen Nightmares' right now...

I nod. "Yes, but they don't match any Atlantean runes that I'm aware of. Or any other runic system."

"No, but there's a geometric code to them. And as I understand it, that should be enough for a sympathetic link, regardless of the precise coding."

Why do I get the feeling it's some form of original techno-runecraft? Kirbytech is that level of 'blending arcane and mundane'.

Logical, but magic seldom runs on conventional logic. "Do you know what it does?"

"No. Not yet. And we still don't really understand what it did." He considers the system's sensor outputs carefully. "Will you apprehend him?"

Anarky, you mean? Probably protective custody, at the least.

"I'm going to try. There's more going on here than a simple data breach, but I don't know enough to even begin to guess. Please, let me know when you're able to reactivate him."

Dr. Cochin smiles. "I may not be a medical doctor, but I believe that patient confidentiality still applies. I will be happy to let him know that you wish to speak with him, but anything else… Well, you sponsored the legislation, didn't you?"

It's a weird grey area when it comes to technological life-forms, isn't it? Though I expect OL just wants to interview him about the case, nothing more.

I nod as I walk away. "No good deed goes unpunished."

I consider transitioning, but if there's something around that can disrupt my scans-. I should send a warning to the other Lanterns on Earth.

Oh, boy. Another useful ability temporarily nerfed by something OL's found. Probably safer to transition to a point away from your destination and fly in anyway.

Ring, do it.

Compliance.

And half the Lanterns on Earth are 'Again? Seriously?"

Instead, I

sight our prisoner's unique desire style and

appear next to him.

Careful, OL. This guy might not have been in his right mind back there.

"Agh!"

He leans away form me in shock, calming down a little once he sees who I am.

Well, off to a great start there.

"Jesus, don't do that."

"Oh, I'm not Jesus. He had-."

A blue opera glove grabs me around the torso and drags me back, Alan giving me a warning look.

That's definite 'Son... Just don't' energy. Is even Alan getting tired of OL overcomplicating things again?

"Excuse him. Orange Lantern, this is Buddy Blank."

Ring?

Not found.

Well, that's it outright confirmed, this is the OG O.M.A.C. Now, was this his decision or not?

"Is that like 'John Doe', or is that his-. Sorry." I look at the man in question instead of Alan. "Your actual name?"

"It's… I think it's my name? I don't… I don't remember much."

Well, that's bloody convenient. And definitely in line with the 'Brave and the Bold' depiction, who was initially unaware of his empowerment.

"Do you remember confronting me?"

He shakes his head, eyes down. "No. I-I don't… I don't remember anything clearly before I woke up in that ice."

More evidence that the brain doing the thinking for the OMAC form isn't the one in his head.

I take a look at him, and… Well, he has a more normal pattern of drives, but when I try to see the images which formed them…

Vague, faded impressions that I can't see clearly. I might be able to work it out eventually, but… But that's not how this is supposed to work. I'm not looking into him in the way that a telepath would, I'm looking at the part of him that is part of the Honden.

And sadly, studying the universal records of all desires is probably not easy. Like reading fine print. With a microscope.

I mean…

There's nothing special about the Honden. It's a magical repository of information, and if there's one thing I've learned in the past couple of years that doesn't mean that it's impossible to interfere with. But it would be… Difficult. That's not like Nabu where his throughput was limited, it's… Everything. Anything strong enough to attack the Honden would be… Universe-devastating. Off-hand, omega beams are the only thing…

Or certain other powers that are best not thought about.

No. No. Attacking the link between the human and their records would be easier. How much can you change a person and make them not themselves? How would you.. break the link with their…

Records.

Like deleting the File allocation table entries on a hard drive. An apt analogy given the technological natures of both Enginehead and Brother Eye.

Would that work? I don't think the standard ritual would, but what does the standard ritual actually do? It doesn't edit history, it just makes the records not-. Does it send them somewhere else? If it was paper records I could believe that it set them on fire or something, but-. No, a fire would attract attention. And it can't increase the chance of them being misplaces to near 100% because if that's all it did I could find them. And misplaced computer records would still be on the daily backups, and they'd probably still be on the hard disk until the sector was overwritten.

It's like a universal Recycling Bin deletion, maybe. The content is still there, but the ability to perceive them is missing because the FAT was modified to hide them.

Then I'd guess that it sends the records somewhere else..?

There's a click in front of my face, and my eyes refocus on Alan's fingers.

So finding the magical equivalent of an undelete tool would do the job.

"Back with us?"

"I'm trying to work out what's wrong with Mister Blank's mind. Had a few ideas…" I smile at the nervous man. "Sorry about the ice prison, but you alter ego was rather strong."

Not quite Kryptonian-strong, but definitely a cut above Danner-Enhancile? And that EMP-vision thing was a tricky one.

"Yeah, I.. saw the recording. Ah, sorry."

"Not your fault at all." I sigh. "I was trying to work out how to get your memories back, but I suppose that I should check that you actually want them back."

That's a good point. The old him could have been a colossal asshole.

"I don't remember anything except my name! Of course I want them back!"

"Okay, we can work on that. Blue Lantern, Wonder Woman's lasso is probably the best place to start."

Try and force the 'truth' of who Buddy is out of the morass of amnesia? Could be tricky.

He nods. "Troia's bringing it over now."

"Good. And Miss Martian to look for edited memories… And-." I try to affect a calming expression. "And I'd like to get some wizards on the job, but… They're going to want some blood and hair samples. Would that be alright?"

Pulling out all the stops to unravel this mystery, eh? OL's invested now. Admittedly, that's not always a good thing.

I have the feeling that, if or when they track down Brother Eye and the people behind Buddy, OL will have words for them. Especially if he's the prototype for an entire line of super-enforcers... What about that duty could warrant deleting a person's existence so thoroughly, after all? And he still has Anarky to track down. This case is gonna take a while...

He leans away form me in shock...

He leans away from me in shock...

...but you alter ego was rather strong."

...but your alter ego was rather strong."

Mr Zoat · Sunday at 10:04 AM

Lord Ernest said:
I think it would be better to remind Zoat of the last time a character was seen before asking what happened with them or what's their status. The fic is long, some characters are tertiary at best and as he himself said:

I'd appreciate it.

Ngamer11 said:
Do you mean he was able to fight off the infection after he attacked Paul, Tuppence, and Karshon in Episode 139: Prep Time? Because Paul thought his presence in assisting the local Justified meant some or all the members of the Great Ten were Justified as well.

Okay, change that. His underlying uncertainty of his place in modern China made him an easy convert.

Chojin Patriarch said:
He leans away from me in shock...
...but your alter ego was rather strong."

Thank you, corrected.

Prince Charon · Sunday at 10:43 AM

Chojin Patriarch said:
I have the feeling that, if or when they track down Brother Eye and the people behind Buddy, OL will have words for them. Especially if he's the prototype for an entire line of super-enforcers... What about that duty could warrant deleting a person's existence so thoroughly, after all?

A sufficiently paranoid or fanatical person (or one with a different-enough ethical structure) might answer with 'The fact that you could easily track his history otherwise, and if you could, we can't know who else could.' Mind you, another answer might be 'To see if it was possible.' Just depends on what, if any, sense of morals or ethics the people doing this had.

Chojin Patriarch said:
And he still has Anarky to track down. This case is gonna take a while...

Possibly more than one episode, but he does have a few parts left in this one, I think.

Ngamer11 · Sunday at 12:00 PM

Mr Zoat said:
"Yeah." I hold my right hand up to the right side of my face and making a downward scratching motion. "https://ibb.co/tcHXcvLCan't imagine who put him off."

I was rereading the In Praise of Eros thread and found this error with the way the image was linked.

Mr Zoat · Sunday at 3:09 PM

Ngamer11 said:
I was rereading the In Praise of Eros thread and found this error with the way the image was linked.

Huh, it's correct in my version.

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

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