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

[Vaermina]

So did Anarky arise from the SI's own actions and failings? No.... well, mostly no. Lonnie was always going to be Lonnie, but I think the way the SI keeps carefully not talking in public about the Justice League conquering the world has helped draw Lonnie's attention to Orange Lantern in particular. That and the fact that OL obviously has a vision and willingness to act on how he thinks the world should be, in a way that most superheroes don't.

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The whole Anti-Life broadcast thing that caused Anarchy to arise was directly caused by OL's actions and failings.

 

[Ngamer11]

The whole Anti-Life broadcast thing that caused Anarchy to arise was directly caused by OL's actions and failings.

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Mannheim was able to do this behind everyone's backs. OL is in no way personally responsible for Mannheim's ascendance.

 

[Darko]

Mannheim was able to do this behind everyone's backs. OL is in no way personally responsible for Mannheim's ascendance.

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I think Vaermina is implying that because Paul summoned the Ophidian and got the Forever People scared enough to not approach Mt. Justice, thus not meeting Superboy and not having his backup during their confrontation with Desaad and Manheim, then none of the Anti-Life fiasco would have happened.

Which is bullshit.

Paul was put in a mental simulation in which he thought his friends were being killed, the planet was being destroyed, etc. and accidentally summoned the Ophidian, an entity he never interacted with before and one that he couldn't control at the time.

There is no way that Paul could have ever predicted that that would have resulted in the world eventually being thrown into chaos by Darkseid.

And before Vaermina replies that he should have remembered the episode, I will remind them that the various versions of the SI all lose their memory of the specific setting they are in, so Paul has no knowledge of the YJ show.

 

[Mr Zoat]

That time Paul ran into Buddy Blank, the guy that gets turned into OMAC.

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I meant to imply that it's ongoing.

I hadn't forgotten this time.

Does he even know what he wants? Or will he think anything that even hints at one group giving another group orders as a government? He's reminding me of Havik from Mortal Kombat, who says he wants to free people from order but is seen mostly as a crazy mass murderer. Anarky isn't as bad as that, but he also similarly doesn't understand that what he says and what he does aren't exactly the same thing.

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Basically, yes. In his first comic appearance, he read newspapers, identified points of common complaint, and then engaged in direct action against the people who were being complained about. Which might have been a problem, except that he was in Gotham. His last crime before being arrested was attacking a building site where a luxury apartment block was being built rather than the cheap apartment block which the community really needed.

In his limited run, he switched from anarchic socialism to full-on Randianism, possibly as a result of his time in prison but more likely as a result in the author's philosophical shift and his inability to write a character whose motives he didn't agree with. Under the new paradigm, his original crime spree makes no sense and his moto of 'vox populi, vox dei' is heresy. Rather, the capacity for deceiving other and deceiving the self is what he seeks to remove so that all social parasites can be moved to concentration camps, ignoring the fact that Gotham crazies or genuinely bad people aren't going to care that they can't convince themselves that they're good.

It's okay when we do it.

Sad that people only interested in engaging in the casual aside about my ongoing Supergirl conspiracy rather than the meat of my post exploring the concept of "Nemesis" in With This Ring. Shame, shame, shame.

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It's alright. I appreciate it.

 

[boo600]

Agh, and I actually read that, too. It was good until he got put in Belle Reve for no reason.

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Didn't he kill Batman's clown waifu?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Didn't he kill Batman's clown waifu?

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I don't believe that Batman had a clown waifu in that story, but it has been a while. If you're referring to the killing that got him sent to Belle Reve, no, it was the Joker hinself.

 

[Shadowj6480]

I don't believe that Batman had a clown waifu in that story, but it has been a while. If you're referring to the killing that got him sent to Belle Reve, no, it was the Joker hinself.

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…What. Why? Did he like string up the clown's corpse and have pieces of it rain down on passerby or something? It'd need to be some ridiculously edgy shit to get him sent to Belle Reve instead of everyone (barring some versions of Harley) being fucking ecstatic that Joker is gone.

 

[Lord Ernest]

…What. Why? Did he like string up the clown's corpse and have pieces of it rain down on passerby or something? It'd need to be some ridiculously edgy shit to get him sent to Belle Reve instead of everyone (barring some versions of Harley) being fucking ecstatic that Joker is gone.

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I don't remember this story, but it sounds to me like a failure in the defense or maybe Anarky just claiming the kill unashamedly.

I imagine everyone would be happy if you killed a serial killer, but I don't think the law and society can't just let it go. You did just kill another person out of your own volition, they have to arrest you and put you on trial, no?

 

[Darko]

I don't remember this story, but it sounds to me like a failure in the defense or maybe Anarky just claiming the kill unashamedly.

I imagine everyone would be happy if you killed a serial killer, but I don't think the law and society can't just let it go. You did just kill another person out of your own volition, they have to arrest you and put you on trial, no?

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Plus if I remember correctly the Light played a hand in his incarceration on order to get him on their side.

I think Talia was sent to legally represent him.

 

[Mr Zoat]

…What. Why? Did he like string up the clown's corpse and have pieces of it rain down on passerby or something? It'd need to be some ridiculously edgy shit to get him sent to Belle Reve instead of everyone (barring some versions of Harley) being fucking ecstatic that Joker is gone.

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No. After killing thousands of people worldwide, the Joker was beaten down and restrained. Then, in front of the assembled Justice League, the SI killed him because it was obvious that he was going to do it again as soon as he could.

I don't remember this story, but it sounds to me like a failure in the defense or maybe Anarky just claiming the kill unashamedly.

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No, not Anarky. Jacob.

 

[Ardy]

No. After killing thousands of people worldwide, the Joker was beaten down and restrained. Then, in front of the assembled Justice League, the SI killed him because it was obvious that he was going to do it again as soon as he could.

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That still sounds like he should've gotten away with it. The Gotham police, as you noted, have a lot of issues with the Joker, as do 99% of the population which might make up the jury, as do many of the judges in the city.

Did they try him outside of Gotham so the police couldn't "lose" all the evidence?

 

[Mr Zoat]

That still sounds like he should've gotten away with it. The Gotham police, as you noted, have a lot of issues with the Joker, as do 99% of the population which might make up the jury, as do many of the judges in the city.

Did they try him outside of Gotham so the police couldn't "lose" all the evidence?

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It happened in Louisiana. As I understand their primitive colonial culture, it's entirely possible that the entire state police force would have lined up to high five him.

 

[Vaermina]

Mannheim was able to do this behind everyone's backs. OL is in no way personally responsible for Mannheim's ascendance.

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I think Vaermina is implying that because Paul summoned the Ophidian and got the Forever People scared enough to not approach Mt. Justice, thus not meeting Superboy and not having his backup during their confrontation with Desaad and Manheim, then none of the Anti-Life fiasco would have happened.

Which is bullshit.

Paul was put in a mental simulation in which he thought his friends were being killed, the planet was being destroyed, etc. and accidentally summoned the Ophidian, an entity he never interacted with before and one that he couldn't control at the time.

There is no way that Paul could have ever predicted that that would have resulted in the world eventually being thrown into chaos by Darkseid.

And before Vaermina replies that he should have remembered the episode, I will remind them that the various versions of the SI all lose their memory of the specific setting they are in, so Paul has no knowledge of the YJ show.

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No, I mean how he was going around sort of promoting and vouching for the group without doing his due diligence and actually investigating them first.

Also how he ignored the giant warning sign that was the identical helmets.

 

[Darko]

No, I mean how he was going around sort of promoting and vouching for the group without doing his due diligence and actually investigating them first.

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He did investigate them and found nothing suspicious at first.

Once he met Manheim he immediately thought that there was something wrong with him and started investigating, but by then it was too late.

Now this doesn't mean that he's incompetent, it just means that Darkseid was more competent.

Probably because he's done things like this before and has experience.

A person can be beaten by another person and that doesn't necessarily mean that the person is weak or stupid. It just means that the other person was stronger or smarter.

He also didn't really promote them.

He basically talked to them, saw that they were okay and were doing good work, and told the League that they were fine.

And it's weird that you're just saying that Anti-Life was Paul's fault.

You're not blaming Batman. A guy who's a much better investigator than Paul.

You're not blaming Scott Free or Barda. They have actual experience with Darkseid and his methods.

You're not blaming the Green Lanterns or Guardians. And they have fought Darkseid in the past and put the Life Entity in the Earth, so they should be more invested in its protection and left some kind of method that would alert them to a significant chunk of Anti-Life running around.

You're not blaming Wonder Woman. Even though she's a divine being with a connection to other divine beings that should have probably sensed the new arrival.

You're not blaming Zauriel or the other angels. They have a connection to the Source, the same thing Darkseid draws power from, so they too should have sensed him.

All of these people have much better methods of identifying things like Darkseid, yet they didn't do that.

Also how he ignored the giant warning sign that was the identical helmets.

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So an organization has its members wear identical clothing?

Truly, that is the most heinous and obviously evil of things to ever happen.

That was sarcasm.

Lots of organizations do that.

And provide a quote from the story where the Justifier helmets appear.

And it has to be before the Anti-Life hit.

 

[Lord Ernest]

No, not Anarky. Jacob.

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Ah, now I remember the fic.

I think there was going to be a trial arc where it was expected for him to eventually go free? But I also stopped reading it at that point.

And I say it again, even if you kill the Joker, I think it's logical to be arrested. If given the chance, the police have to arrest Frank Castle, for example, they can't just give him a pat in the back and well wishes.

 

[Galacticplumber]

Ah, now I remember the fic.

I think there was going to be a trial arc where it was expected for him to eventually go free? But I also stopped reading it at that point.

And I say it again, even if you kill the Joker, I think it's logical to be arrested. If given the chance, the police have to arrest Frank Castle, for example, they can't just give him a pat in the back and well wishes.

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True. Legally required and everything. It's just that any theoretical arrest of a Joker killer likely leads directly into a trial that engages jury nullification if it even reaches trial at all.

 

[NightmareWarden]

wasn't.

I haven't lived long enough to become the villain yet!

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Replacement. https://youtu.be/AFKVy07gE6g

Bottom line, I think it might be too early to call Anarky OL's nemesis, but he is definitely showing some nemesis-like qualities as a replacement for Truggs. (You remember Nylor, the guy that "Silver Age Supergirl" claims vanished in a puff of smoke and then the only other contact was a call shortly after where the guy claiming to be Nylor used a computer-generated voice. But I digress.)

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Perhaps he will be one of Despair's pawns? We have seen in Injustice-type scenarios how Joker's murder of Lois works out. That was malicious though. A few years ago Renegade!Paul's many distracting projects resulted in the apocalyptic collapse of an industrial world around Vega which would have been useful for the Orange Corps. It isn't something that eats away at Grayven. But if it ever happened again, especially to a work he has conquered? He would feel agony and suffer a crisis of identity. There's no guarantee that he will be Grayven for the full run of this story. Go reread what he did with one of the anti-life fragments and his dreamventure with Luna. The Grayven identity is embedded deep, but even after the centuries he's lived due to time travel, Renegade Orange Lantern Paul could untangle that identity from himself. If he WANTED to.


In this version of DC, the Golden Age of superheroes is dead, and the last dregs of it did not save Constantine or Swamp Thing from their suffering. Who is to say that Paragon Paul himself is going to keep smoothing out problems for three more years, five more? A nemesis character like Anarky could ultimately redefine how Paul feels about solving problems in the future. Change his genre to something more tragic, horrifying, and generally more akin to Hellblazer. Darker mega-arcs for Spider-Man and Batman can be used to great effect, especially when a happy ending IS reached at the end, a stubborn little candle to light the path through a seemingly-doomed climax. Anarky, guided by Despair, could crack the nut of Paragon!Paul and result make all his future successes… more draining. Over the next six plus years IRL, I mean.
Less satisfying. Greyer.

 

[Vaermina]

He did investigate them and found nothing suspicious at first.

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No he didn't, he did a basic ring scan and called it a day.

That stopped counting as an investigation the moment he discovered that there were things that could block or fool ring scans.

He also didn't really promote them.

He basically talked to them, saw that they were okay and were doing good work, and told the League that they were fine.

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Going around telling third parties that "Group XYZ is doing good work" is promoting them.

So an organization has its members wear identical clothing?

Truly, that is the most heinous and obviously evil of things to ever happen.

That was sarcasm.

Lots of organizations do that.

And provide a quote from the story where the Justifier helmets appear.

And it has to be before the Anti-Life hit.

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In real life, yes, in comic book land identical helmets on hundreds of people means either evil minions or mind control.

 

[Darko]

No he didn't, he did a basic ring scan and called it a day.

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Forgot about the fact that he talked to various members.

You also didn't explain why it isn't Batman's fault even though he's the investigator of the League.

Before this the only criminal activity Paul investigated was the murder attempt on Diana from when she was a baby.

Being a master investigator is Batman's whole thing.

When a former criminal starts gathering metahumans around him you don't send someone who has so far only solved one complicated case.

You send someone with actual expertise.

You also didn't give an explanation for why any of the others I mentioned lacked fault even though they should have by every right been better able to detect Darkseid than Paul ever could.

Going around telling third parties that "Group XYZ is doing good work" is promoting them.

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No, it really isn't.

Giving out pamphlets or making commercials about them is promoting them, or heck just talking about them unprompted is promotion.

Telling them that they seem okay when asked about them could technically count as promoting them, but it's such a minor thing that it's barely that.

In real life, yes, in comic book land identical helmets on hundreds of people means either evil minions or mind control.

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In comic book land supervillains also tend to stay supervillains, escape from prison every single day, massive supervillain attacks don't leave lasting consequences etc.

None of these these are true in this fics universe.

Several supervillains have been reformed, several stayed in prison, supervillain attacks have had massive societal consequences.

If none of these tropes of superhero fiction apply in this story then why would other tropes?

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th July 2013
08:29 GMT

I did not want to come back here.

Once, it was an apartment building. Some time last year it become the nexus of the Anti-Life broadcasting network. People plugged into Apokoliptian machinery, their souls stuck in the gears and their bodies still just alive. They either moved most of the equipment to Washington at some point prior to our final attack or just built a better version there and decommissioned this one. Afterwards, we came back here and ripped out what was left.

Mr. Sage survived the experience, though in the… One conversation I had with him afterwards he sounded even more off-kilter than he used to be. He hasn't dropped in on me since I've started working on Hub City and I'm not sure why not. Black Orchid I handed off to Euanthe in the hope that an increased level of exposure to the Green would help her mend. Some progress, though it's possible that it's just making her more inhuman. Miss Fite on the other hand needs long term trauma therapy of a sort I'm the last person to be able to give. Needed, I should say, as I haven't checked on her since.

And their cases were hardly unique.

But other than the anarchy symbols rotated at 90o​ so that the point of the 'A' indicates a direction there isn't much here now. What regular office furniture there was has been removed… Perhaps burned for heat or cooking fuel, or just moved by Mannheim's people when it got in the way. The Apokoliptian equipment is gone too, dropped off in a fortified League-affiliated warehouse for careful analysis and safe destruction. So now it feels like the set of some sort of post-apocalyptic film, one of the low-budget ones where they film early in the morning so it looks like there's no one about.

"Where am I going, Mister Machin?"

Naturally, there's no response.

And the arrows continue to point down to where that… Whole nightmare started for me.

"There's nothing there. We checked it-."

Just-. Stop talking to yourself.

I fly faster, restoring damaged brick, concrete and plaster as I go because apocalyptic thrillers are a lot less fun once you've lived through a couple of them. It doesn't take long before I'm in the basement where it happened.

The not-entirely empty basement where it happened.

I carefully scan the… Device, sitting on a small office chest of drawers that's had the drawers removed. The only thing that it immediately reminds me off is the clock that Commander Sisko made on Deep Space Nine while under the influence of some sort of alien personality download. It looks a little baroque but it's not; the parts are relatively simple and the apparent decoration isn't decoration; I recognise runes and… Other arcane symbols. It looks like intricate decoration but it's not.

Rune stone says… Low level thaumic energy. Wards are on, so it… Shouldn't be a problem. It looks like the sort of system that maintains a low constant level of power, rather than builds up. Building up fast would require ritual sacrifices, and that seems out of character for Mr. Machin.

Alright then.

Ah. There's a rough ring of pieces of debris around it. Break the circle or step over it?

I take a ten foot one inch pole out of subspace and wave it over the-.

The mobile parts of the device start rotating, magic usage… Increasing slightly but not in a way that's a cause for concern.

"Mister Machin?"

An… Not a hologram, not in conventional terms. An illusion, then, of Mr. Machin appears in the air over the device.

"Illustres."

"Okay, look: I don't like having to run this sort of project any more than you like me running it, but these people were literally facing starvation and.. I'm just managing the project. I'm not going to own the place once it's done and I am trying to involve as many interested parties as possible."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hub City? Its decidedly non-anarchic nature as a result of my actions? I assumed that was why you did this."

"No. I just needed attention. From you, and from other people."

"Well, you've got mine. Interesting object you've built there. I'm assuming that it draws ambient magic energy to work?"

"It can actually transmute different forms of energy. A small lead weight generates gravitational potential energy, which is continuously converted into electrical energy to power the mundane parts of the circuit."

"Does it scale up? That-."

"No. Taking it above that size requires more power than the passive power-gathering components can draw from their environment. A real wizard could make it work, but there are far easier ways for them to make electricity."

"Darn. But for personal electronics it would work?"

The illusion shakes its head. "I thought about it, but someone trying to make it work would need a basic understanding of magic that most people don't have."

"I know! There's so many situations where that's a problem. I'd suggest changing the education system, but I doubt that you'd be happy with me taking that sort of power, and I honestly wouldn't want it either."

"I-." He snorts, bowing his head slightly. "This isn't what I want to talk to you about."

"Sorry. Carry on."

"Do-?"

"You're under arrest for defacing public property and graffiti, and theft and criminal damage, and such other offences as I uncover after a full investigation."

"You can't arrest me if I'm not physically present."

"Just thought that I'd let you know. I know you're well intentioned, but it would really have been better if you just came to me at the start."

"I couldn't take that risk. Not after you so casually introduced the idea of the Justice League ruling the world."

"I-. Yeah, I can't really criticise you for your caution. I've done the same. But just making it clear, I think I've got a fairly good track record of being reasonable with supervillains."

"A supervillain? Is that what you think I am?"

"You wrecked the nanoforge we were using to denature asbestos lining. One of my uncles was crippled by asbestosis. He was short of breath for the rest of his life. So while I'll hear you out, I am actually annoyed."

"There's a piece of legislation passing through the legislature of nearly every country on Earth which will give the Justice League extraordinary legal power."

"Yes, I know, and it's less that we've got now. And it's temporary."

"There are few things as permanent as a temporary solution. You should look into it a little more closely."

 

[Lazurman]

Damn the boy, he's got a point.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Ah, now I remember the fic.

I think there was going to be a trial arc where it was expected for him to eventually go free? But I also stopped reading it at that point.

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So did the author.

And I say it again, even if you kill the Joker, I think it's logical to be arrested. If given the chance, the police have to arrest Frank Castle, for example, they can't just give him a pat in the back and well wishes.

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Frank Castle once murdered someone for jaywalking. I'm sure he's earned it.

Replacement. https://youtu.be/AFKVy07gE6g

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Thank you, but I'm fairly sure that the original link was a joke. I'll just leave it unless anyone remembers what it actually was.

 

[RichardWhereat]

Yeah? How about you mention the actual clause Lonnie..

 

[Neruz]

Yeah? How about you mention the actual clause Lonnie..

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He's too busy being chuuni to communicate properly.

 

[Bigking321]

There are few things as permanent as a temporary solution.

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Valid. Completely valid.

But it feels like the same issue Orange was dealing with a few updates ago.

Yes. Something might cause problems in the future. That is a reasonable concern. But what are people supposed to do right now?

It might be a bad law. We don't know the details yet. But them doing SOMETHING to try and address a problem, even if it fails or needs fixing later, is better than not even trying at all.

It's a crazy situation. Shots in the dark might be all they can do. And failures can lead to more data and refinement to get to solution that can actually work.

Or they might be trying to pass a incredibly stupid and corrupt law because comic book plot. Have to wait and see I suppose.

 

[Steelplaza]

"Yes, I know, and it's less that we've got now. And it's temporary."

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Less than "we've" got now. I know it's a little ancillary to the greater point of the chapter, but it's kind of ridiculous that Paul doesn't go ahead and join the Justice League. He's basically working with them constantly these days, has strong opinions about how they should operate and the decisions they make, and frequently drags along actual Justice League members as a Justice League-shaped badge when he wants to get cooperation from earth authorities.

I know he has explained his reasons in the past. A feeling that his methods are fundamentally divergent from theirs, a lack of being willing to commit the time given he's fighting an interstellar war on the side, and a reluctance to be bound by the decisions they make... something like that I think, I don't remember the exact list. After the anti-life though, those reasons seem to ring more and more hollow.

I think the sentence I quoted above is the tipping point, Paul really wants the limits of Justice League authority defined, and the limtis of his own authority defined, so that if he breaks the rules he knows what rules he's breaking. Well the laws being passed are to define authority for the Justice League, and these days pretty much all of Paul's activities on Earth are in conjunction with or at least approved by the Justice League.

I really wonder if after this conversation he's going to remember he said that sentence, bow his head and sigh, and tell the Justice League that he wants to be a Member, and as a member he has Opinions about this legislation.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

9th July 2013
08:29 GMT

I did not want to come back here.

Once, it was an apartment building. Some time last year it become the nexus of the Anti-Life broadcasting network. People plugged into Apokoliptian machinery, their souls stuck in the gears and their bodies still just alive. They either moved most of the equipment to Washington at some point prior to our final attack or just built a better version there and decommissioned this one. Afterwards, we came back here and ripped out what was left.

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Such an ignoble history for the place. And Anarky wanted you to come here? Is there something lingering, perhaps, or some metaphysical reason he needed you here? Or was it just randomly picked out of a case file on a whim, I wonder?

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Mr. Sage survived the experience, though in the… One conversation I had with him afterwards he sounded even more off-kilter than he used to be. He hasn't dropped in on me since I've started working on Hub City and I'm not sure why not. Black Orchid I handed off to Euanthe in the hope that an increased level of exposure to the Green would help her mend. Some progress, though it's possible that it's just making her more inhuman. Miss Fite on the other hand needs long term trauma therapy of a sort I'm the last person to be able to give. Needed, I should say, as I haven't checked on her since.

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Maybe you should check again, OL. Just in case. Have to wonder how cracked Vic was left by his exposure. Is he rambling about Aglets yet?

And their cases were hardly unique.

But other than the anarchy symbols rotated at 90o​ so that the point of the 'A' indicates a direction there isn't much here now. What regular office furniture there was has been removed… Perhaps burned for heat or cooking fuel, or just moved by Mannheim's people when it got in the way. The Apokoliptian equipment is gone too, dropped off in a fortified League-affiliated warehouse for careful analysis and safe destruction. So now it feels like the set of some sort of post-apocalyptic film, one of the low-budged ones where they film early in the morning so it looks like there's no one about.

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Liminal spaces are always creepy, even when they weren't used for the shit this one was.

"Where am I going, Mister Machin?"

Naturally, there's no response.

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Either he's not watching, or he's waiting for the maximum dramatic tension. Pity OL has no respect for drama.

And the arrows continue to point down to where that… Whole nightmare started for me.

"There's nothing there. We checked it-."

Just-. Stop talking to yourself.

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He'll talk when he's good and ready. Or when you trip some hidden flag.

I fly faster, restoring damaged brick, concrete and plaster as I go because apocalyptic thrillers are a lot less fun once you've lived through a couple of them. It doesn't take long before I'm in the basement where it happened.

The not-entirely empty basement where it happened.

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Honestly, probably more pleasant to pull the place down, have the ground blessed by multiple faiths, and then make it a park. Less psychic trauma that way.

I carefully scan the… Device, sitting on a small office chest of drawers that's had the drawers removed. The only thing that it immediately reminds me off is the clock that Commander Sisko made on Deep Space Nine while under the influence of some sort of alien personality download. It looks a little baroque but it's not; the parts are relatively simple and the apparent decoration isn't decoration; I recognise runes and… Other arcane symbols. It looks like intricate decoration but it's not.

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An arcane construct of some kind? Maybe the New God equivalent of bronze-age clockwork?

Rune stone says… Low level thaumic energy. Wards are on, so it… Shouldn't be a problem. It looks like the sort of system that maintains a low constant level of power, rather than builds up. Building up fast would require ritual sacrifices, and that seems out of character for Mr. Machin.

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So, Bomb, clockpunk radio, or some other arcane gizmo? Only one way to really see.

Alright then.

Ah. There's a rough ring of pieces of debris around it. Break the circle or step over it?

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Gee, obvious tripwire. Time for a...

I take a six foot one inch pole out of subspace and wave it over the-.

The mobile parts of the device start rotating, magic usage… Increasing slightly but not in a way that's a cause for concern.

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...I would have said ten-foot-pole, but I suppose it's narrow quarters.

"Mister Machin?"

An… Not a hologram, not in conventional terms. An illusion, then, of Mr. Machin appears in the air over the device.

"Illustres."

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Now, is it prerecorded or a real-time link? I have to assume he's in full regalia.

"Okay, look: I don't like having to run this sort of project any more than you like me running it, but these people were literally facing starvation and.. I'm just managing the project. I'm not going to own the place once it's done and I am trying to involve as many interested parties as possible."

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Best to get the most likely complaint out of the way at the start. Then they can talk like nice, rational beings.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hub City? Its decidedly non-anarchic nature as a result of my actions? I assumed that was why you did this."

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I would laugh if he had no idea about that because he's avoiding the news as falsehood or something. But at least it seems to be live communication.

"No. I just needed attention. From you, and from other people."

"Well, you've got mine. Interesting object you've built there. I'm assuming that it draws ambient magic energy to work?"

Click to shrink...

And naturally OL is more interested in the gadget than anything Lonnie has to say.

"It can actually transmute different forms of energy. A small lead weigh generates gravitational potential energy, which is continuously converted into electrical energy to power the mundane parts of the circuit."

"Does it scale up? That-."

Click to shrink...

So an actual perpetual motion device, sort of. I assume it would have failed eventually due to friction or diminishing returns.

"No. Taking it above that size requires more power than the passive power-gathering components can draw from their environment. A real wizard could make it work, but there are far easier ways for them to make electricity."

"Darn. But for personal electronics it would work?"

Click to shrink...

I mean, could it fit into the space of an iPhone battery? And still work? That would be interesting, but unlikely to be made use of. Endless batteries aren't profitable...

The illusion shakes its head. "I thought about it, but someone trying to make it work would need a basic understanding of magic that most people don't have."

"I know! There's so many situations where that's a problem. I'd suggest changing the education system, but I doubt that you'd be happy with me taking that sort of power, and I honestly wouldn't want it either."

Click to shrink...

Which raises the question of just how Lonnie got that much magical education to make it work. Widely-available Atlantean textbooks seemed a ways off yet.

"I-." He snorts, bowing his head slightly. "This isn't what I want to talk to you about."

"Sorry. Carry on."

Click to shrink...

Heh. Classic OL, sidetracking people with Very Important Messages to pass on...

"Do-?"

"You're under arrest for defacing public property and graffiti, and theft and criminal damage, and such other offences as I uncover after a full investigation."

Click to shrink...

And that's just for the Nanoforge.

"You can't arrest me if I'm not physically present."

"Just thought that I'd let you know. I know you're well intentioned, but it would really have been better if you just came to me at the start."

Click to shrink...

Seriously, imagine how much bullshit they could have skipped by just talking normally instead of all these supervillain-y tricks?

"I couldn't take that risk. Not after you so casually introduced the idea of the Justice League ruling the world."

"I-. Yeah, I can't really criticise you for your caution. I've done the same. But just making it clear, I think I've got a fairly good track record of being reasonable with supervillains."

Click to shrink...

There's paranoid, and then there's paranoid. And then there's whatever Lonnie is...

"A supervillain? Is that what you think I am?"

"You wrecked the nanoforge we were using to denature asbestos lining. One of my uncles was crippled by asbestosis. He was short of breath for the rest of his life. So while I'll hear you out, I am actually annoyed."

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Fortunately, he hasn't graduated to actually angry. Yet.

"There's a piece of legislation passing through the legislature of nearly every country on Earth which will give the Justice League extraordinary legal power."

"Yes, I know, and it's less that we've got now. And it's temporary."

"There are few things as permanent as a temporary solution. You should look into it a little more closely."

Click to shrink...

Is some muddafudda trying a Palpatine gambit? Create an emergency situation to gain power and just... Keep it going until he can seize total authority?

Well, he may be going about it in as chuuni and frustrating a way as possible, but he may have a point. We know OL has some issue with these prospective laws in the near future. And sooner or later, he's going to have to go over the text with a fine-tooth comb and a lawyer to see what the issue Lonnie is complaining about... Hopefully before they go into law.

 

[Darko]

. He hasn't dropped in on me since I've started working on Hub City and I'm not sure why not

Click to shrink...

I mean, he doesn't exactly have any useful knowledge about how to repair infrastructure.

Miss Fite on the other hand needs long term trauma therapy of a sort I'm the last person to be able to give

Click to shrink...

Maybe send her to New Genesis.

budged ones where

Click to shrink...

"budget"

 

[Darko]

Such an ignoble history for the place. And Anarky wanted you to come here? Is there something lingering, perhaps, or some metaphysical reason he needed you here? Or was it just randomly picked out of a case file on a whim, I wonder

Click to shrink...

Could be symbolic.

If this is the place where it started then it can be said that that's where the world ended.

Plus, if others know about what happened there then they'd avoid it. And what better place to hide.

Pity OL has no respect for drama.

Click to shrink...

Unless he's making it.

Which raises the question of just how Lonnie got that much magical education to make it work. Widely-available Atlantean textbooks seemed a ways off yet.

Click to shrink...

He was in contact with that alchemist.

 

[Rebu]

Yeah? How about you mention the actual clause Lonnie..

Click to shrink...

Because he knows Paul is going to read it all very carefully in any case.