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


"messed"

really notice much different."

"difference"

"How is Talia taking it?"

"Oh, she thinks it's great." I wince

yeah, she may not have liked her husband going soft.

Kon was educated by…" I look at him. "You said it was like a dream?"

He nods. "Yeah. Some of the time."

"That creates narrative. Identity. The Citadelians just load knowledge without context."

Most of them were made to be grunts and probably wouldn't rise beyond that.

And while Kon was made to fight, one of the other purposes for him was to potentially replace Superman, so they gave him some personality.


"or all"

She nods. "Let's hope it's not, I guess. Mass produced superpowers getting given out to random nutjobs is the last thing we need."

Sadly I think you're going to be dealing with that.
 
"How is Talia taking it?"

"Oh, she thinks it's great." I wince. "She's been making all kinds of suggestions. But-." He thinks for a moment. "It's just advice. She's not manipulating him. I think it's things he'd thought about anyway."
This has me curious as to Talia's opinion of OL nowadays. Does she still dislike the fact that he isn't giving her the respect she feels entitled to her for the simple fact that she's married to Batman?
 
This has me curious as to Talia's opinion of OL nowadays. Does she still dislike the fact that he isn't giving her the respect she feels entitled to her for the simple fact that she's married to Batman?
I'm now trying to remember if she is blonde or not. Because I have an instant image of her acting like Malfoy, Do you know who my husband is?
 
2nd May 2013
19:14 GMT -5


Wallace holds up one of his chips and stares at it. "What..? Is this?"

"Duck fat chips. It's one-. You know how really good chips need cycles of freezing and frying?"
Sadly, most people only eat low-quality ones, and don't experience the difference in effort. I suppose it shows when you taste something that's had real effort put into it. Such is modern cuisine, I guess.

He thinks for a moment. "No. I.. didn't. Mom usually just puts them in the oven." He frowns. "Duck fat?"

"I found the recipe online, and since I can fry, freeze and manipulate potato matter really easily, I thought I'd give it a try."
Heh. many a rookie chef's first experience with clever cooking stuff comes form Internet recipes, I bet.

"Where do the little lines come from?"

"Shingling. You takes slices of potato, stick them together with fat, slice them into rectangles and then fry them." I stick a fork in one of mine and raise it up to eye level. "It wouldn't be worth doing without a power ring, but it definitely ensures that the flavour from the fat is present throughout."
Prep level advanced, I see. The sort of thing that rich people would pay hundreds of dollars for in high-end restaurants...

Several of my team mates glance at each other, and Kon gets volunteered.

"Bad day, huh?"

I sag in my seat. "Yeah."
Ah, they know him so well. I guess stress-cooking is a thing he does, then.

I take a bite, and even given all the faff involved… It's still basically just a chip. I've improved quite a bit on the senses I got when I first arrived in this universe -no more furry tongue for a start- but as far as I can tell, food… The improvements above a certain level aren't all that great. Duck fat, freezing and frying, the particular type of potato with exactly the right mix of constituent parts… I could just have used regular oven chips and it wouldn't have been much worse.
Yes, but it helped distract you from all the shit that's been happening today, so... Win?

"How did you know?"

Kon looks across the table, at the various dishes I assembled-. Yeah, okay, displacement activity I suppose.
Just a little. At least you didn't cook another giant cake over New York.

"'Bad' as in..?"

"I told you-" I look around the table to make it clear that I mean 'you' in the collective sense. "-that I was keeping an eye on certain people due to the actions of their parallel universe alter-egos."
And that little pigeon came home to roost with company.

Richard nods. "I didn't see anything in the daily report about any kind of disaster."

"No, it wasn't 'major catastrophe' bad, it was… One of the people I was watching broke into the old Justice League base in Detroit and used LexCorp's A.I. and some off-the-shelf magic to hack into the Justice League's records."
Never mind what else he did, if anything. That bio-modification chamber, for example...

He blinks, eyes widening. "Seriously? What did they take?"

"Don't know. Batman's about as happy as you imagine."
I'm picturing a level between 'disappointed frown with grunt' and '>tt< noise'.

He gives me a hard look. "Yeah."

I.. bow my head. Because I know that it wasn't just Batman I messed up with… With that. What I did. Bruce Wayne was a good father, with a few psychological hang-ups.
Still, compared to the entirety on Earth being slowly worn down by the Anti-Life...

Then he got over them.

And I fucked him up.
We were so close to having something like 'Adam West' Batman, or 'Brave and the Bold' Batman...

"Is he..?"

Is he what, you-!

"I regret doing it, Richard. I don't regret much, but-. I can't-. Shouldn'tForce him to go back. How..? How.. is he?"
Well, this got deep real fast.

He sits back in his seat, everyone else looking a awkward. "He's busy with work. When he's in 'Bruce mode' I don't really notice much difference." He exhales. "I didn't really get much time to find out what he was like when he wasn't… Batman-on-the-inside."

Given how busy everyone was during that period, that.. makes sense.
And I doubt he paid much attention to Batman's state of mind early on in his career, back when he first joined him.

"How is Talia taking it?"

"Oh, she thinks it's great." I wince. "She's been making all kinds of suggestions. But-." He thinks for a moment. "It's just advice. She's not manipulating him. I think it's things he'd thought about anyway."
To be fair, she does consider a happy Batman to be a weak one. That one kinda-elseworlds that got sort-of canonised by Damien's birth had that Talia fake a miscarriage to get Bruce back in 'pissed off' mode.

I nod. "But there's a difference between contingency planning and actually implementing those contingencies." I frown. "He hasn't been to Detroit recently, has he?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Why?"
Admittedly, given that he's a Lantern, he probably knows all their tricks. Both in terms of mobility and in how to hide things from them...

"Someone had done something in the old base, but I don't know if it was Anarky or someone else and he was just checking up on it. For obvious reasons I feel a bit awkward asking Batman…"

"I can do that." Richard looks around the table. "Okay guys, chill. I'm not happy about what Paul did, but I get it. Batman… Batman was the best choice. We needed to undo the Anti-Life as fast as possible."
Giving they were slowly losing, it was necessary. Still hurts to have to say it, though, I bet.

"Thank you. And…" I tear my eyes away from my food and make direct eye contact with him. "There are… Things I could do-."

"Yeah, maybe…" He nods. "Don't."
I think you've helped Bats enough already, OL.

"I don't trust my own judgement. But if you think it's necessary, let me know."

He takes a moment to absorb that.
Well, that's better than just sticking his oar in and paddling at odds with everyone else.

"H-uh."

Kon waits for a moment, then shrugs. "So I get why messing with Batman's head makes you feel bad, but what's the problem with Anarky?"
Besides the fact that a preteen boy is now involved in the vigilante life?

"Because he wouldn't tell me what the problem is. Which means that I can't fix the problem. So… I helped Enginehead and… Sort of helped the man who was mind controlled into providing security-." I look at M'gann. "Any luck?"

She shakes her head. "I've never felt anything like it. It's like everything that should be in his mind just isn't there."
I can see how that would gnaw at OL as he is now. With his obsession with 'correcting' wrongness. That's the sort of thing that could easily turn into 'Good is not nice' territory, too.

Oh. "Rats." She raises her eyebrows interrogatively. "The second time I died, I didn't get anyone to scan my body before I was loaded back into it. I'm told that I kept my practical skills but didn't appear to have any specific memories. The alternative would be for you to scan a Citadelian, but… Ah, the few survivors are avoiding me. For good reason, to be fair."
The fact he's able to say that at all just makes him more inhuman in some ways.

"What's the difference between them and Conner?"

"Kon was educated by…" I look at him. "You said it was like a dream?"
The genomorphs knew how to do it properly, not brute-forcing it.

He nods. "Yeah. Some of the time."

"That creates narrative. Identity. The Citadelians just load knowledge without context."
Which means a measure of disconnection between knowing and understanding.

M'gann nods. "So either he was made in a tank, our all his memories are stored somewhere else?"

I shrug. "Those are my best guesses, but that's just because those are the only options I can think."
Like just about everything else about him, for instance. Emotions not running on the brain in his head, that sort of thing?

Artemis has.. completely cleaned her plate. "So what about the powers that guy got?"

"Physical augmentations. I couldn't judge them precisely, but I'd estimate faster reflexes than a Danner enhancile with slightly less strength."
Unless he can channel that energy he was using to supercharge or simulate abilities, that doesn't sound too bad.

"Doesn't sound so special."

"The drawback of the Danner formula is that it only works on foetuses. Something roughly as good that can be used on anyone is a major game changer."

She nods. "Let's hope it's not, I guess. Mass produced superpowers getting given out to random nutjobs is the last thing we need."
...Great. That means this will almost certainly be a major plot point sometime in the future.

A pleasant discussion of some heavy topics. And I have a worrying suspicion that needs to be voiced: Would Yellow Lantern Batman be paranoid enough to create a segmented sub-personality or something that would do the whole 'Brother Eye' thing without knowing he did it? Because that is one definite possibility that can't be ruled out, can it?
 
Meanwhile, in the Tollan R&D HQ: We are going to build a gravity lensing weapon. Our budget is Yes and our deadline is yesterday. After that we are working on something that wil block a gravity lensing weapon.

"You...you've invented kryptonite." "Someone had to."



Also:

"Is he..?"

Is he what, you-!


"I regret doing it, Richard. I don't regret much, but-. I can't-. Shouldn'tForce him to go back. How..? How.. is he?"

I suspect this should be in quotes?
 
Last edited:
"messed"
"difference"
"or all"
Thank you, corrected.
I can see how that would gnaw at OL as he is now. With his obsession with 'correcting' wrongness. That's the sort of thing that could easily turn into 'Good is not nice' territory, too.

Oh, we're well passed that
Hey, page 2500 though!
Rookie numbers.
Also: I suspect this should be in quotes?
No. The SI was thinkiung that about himself.
 
She nods. "Let's hope it's not, I guess. Mass produced superpowers getting given out to random nutjobs is the last thing we need."
I can think of a great many things that would be worse. Such as a global Anti-life infestation. Or an invasion of time travelling bondage elves. Or the world being divided between adults and children. Or the embodiment of avarice fusing with an erratically altruistic nutter and using earth as a playground.
 
@Mr Zoat, I was rereading the part where Paul met Bruno Mannheim, and it got me wondering if Intergang is still around. Or has it collapsed entirely?
 
@Mr Zoat, I was rereading the part where Paul met Bruno Mannheim, and it got me wondering if Intergang is still around. Or has it collapsed entirely?
I'm going to say that it isn't functioning as a coherant whole. Most people exposed to the Anti-Life and then the Life Entity ended up reconsidering their life choices.
 
Surprised Paul doesn't have any indigo for Brucey here. I guess if he'd watched a video of the effects the change has had on Bruce's behavior, he would feel differently. Feel it more prominently here and now.

Or if he was fully SEEING Richard's emotions about the subject, and invading his privacy. Oh well.

I still suspect there is some Hero dial stuff at play here, hence why the remaining scan data isn't pinging with any existing supervillain or magical stuff. The connection between Anarky and the Dial team would only happen if his Justice League file was known said villains... I think.
 
@Mr Zoat What has Metis been doing since she was freed from Zues' head? and what are her opinions of Zeus being a superhero?
 

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