Sockmonkey
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Does this version of OL know how to brand or assimilate?
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
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- Tags
- self insert young justice
RoninSword
Sky God
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So according to the first set of Invincible snips, OL kept the idea of assimilation a secret. But one of the more recent clips seems to be that he has let Invincible know that he can brand people.
Not sure if continuity error or if he let Mark know about branding but not assimilation.
boo600
Welp
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I was referring to the Joker as Batman's One True Waifu, a la the Lego Batman Movie.
Invulnerable War (part 7)
New
Mr Zoat
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6th March 2025
10:01 GMT -5
A.. suspension bridge with a.. weirdly large building on top of one of the towers. I-.
Eve jerks away from me, a weak pink bolt hitting me in the chest and being absorbed by my environmental shield. Then she works out where we are and dives for the structurally-unsound structure. She's going for the entry hatch at the top, a waste of time. I generate a construct drill and slam it into the exterior wall, brick exploding away and flying into the water below! A construct fan blows away the brick dust as my scans feed the interior layout into my brain. I-.
I dodge as a chunk of.. dull brown robot flies past me before armouring up and heading in. Some sort of… Workshop, though I can see a larger interior space through a hole in one of the walls.
"You called in reinforcements?"
That's Invincible's voice. He's holding another robot up by the neck. No, this one is power armour, and from the look of the control system the boy inside is-. Was controlling the other robots littering the floor. There's a injured girl on the ground in a pile of rubble, and… Someone in some sort of orange fire fighter uniform? I connect filaments to both of them and move them to…
"Hey, if you keep calling people in, do you think I could kill more of you than any of the others? Just take a number, I'll get to-" He glances around. "-you-. Oh. Gay Invincible's boyfriend. What do you-"
Eve blasts past me, sword at the ready. Invincible grins, spinning around twice and throwing the power armour at her. Her eyes widen as she tries to viff out of the way but I just generate a crash mat construct to absorb its momentum. The construct fails on impact, but I soaked enough kinetic energy that it just falls to the ground.
"-want-? Hey, what-"
Eve spins around my dissipating construct and blasts herself at him, pink armour around her body shielding her from the transmuted rocket fuel she just ignited on her back. This Invincible smiles as he half-dodges, right arm stuck out to turn aside her swing.
I form a megaphone construct and project the anti-Viltrumite sound wave.
"-givesaagh!"
Eve swings, and his forearm parts company with his body! A second rushed swing as she flies past him slices through part of his neck, though she misses the major arteries and the windpipe. He tries to reach for it with both hands, only for the stump to spurt so much blood over his face that he can't tell how serious the wound is.
Eve hits the far wall with force, her armour fracturing as it prevents her being injured.
"What the Hell?"
The Invincible then tries moving his hands to his ears to block out the sound I'm making, only to jab himself with his exposed radius bone.
"Ah-gh!"
The guy in power armour rises to his feet, checking me out for a moment before turning back to keep careful watch on the Invincible. "I have expended all useful ordnance. If you have a weapon capable of hurting an Invincible duplicate, do not hesitate to use it."
"I've got antimatter."
"I withdraw my previous statement."
Eve goes to lunge at where the Invincible is flailing on the ground, but meets my eyes before she does so. She hesitates, recreates her armour and then lunges at him, sword raised high and then slashing down-
"AAAGhda-hah!"
-and getting embedded in his chest due to being stuck in his ribs. He tries to push it out with his remaining hand, only for the x-ionised metal to survive, get more jammed against the inside of his rib cage, and slice cleanly through the hand he just hit it with because arming swords are sharp on both sides.
"Uu-uhruh!"
I dart forwards, take an x-ionised epée out of subspace and stab it through his left eye socket and into his brain. He's… Shaking as the signals from his brain to his body are getting disrupted, but he doesn't appear to actually be dying.
Eve comes up beside me, reclaims her sword and plunges it through his neck.
Blood spurts from his severed carotid arteries, his shakes growing steadily less vigorous before he finally goes still.
Breathing heavily, Eve withdraws her sword and disintegrates the blood covering her in a wave of pink light. Scan…
There!
I transition outside and then upwards as the red fireman groggily rises to his feet while one of Angstrom's drones watches from above. I send a construct cable down, punching through the outer casing and looking for…
Connection established.
Good. Take control, and edit myself from the footage. Not… Seeing any internal component checking, so… Build a Viltrumite Empire standard uplink to maintain control without a connection and transition back down.
"Ah." The fireman is clearly unsteady on his feet, possibly from loss of blood and possibly from head trauma. "Heey. Are you new? There's a… Guy."
"The version of Invincible who attacked you is dead." I scan him. Hm. Nothing… Immediately fatal, though it.. looks like he received a traumatic brain injury relatively recently. Probably from a bullet? Given the lack of residual fragments I'd guess that it was an armour piercing round that over penetrated, but it's still impressive that he's in anything like fighting shape. "Would you-?"
He looks around in a daze, finally spotting the unconscious girl.
"Monster Girl?!" He darts over to her and starts performing a basic health assessment.
"I can heal both of you, if you like."
"Uh. Huh?" He stares at me. "That was an option?"
…
I'm choosing to believe that was a 'yes please'.
I connect a broad orange beam to him and get to work. Cuts and bruises, gone. Brain damage… Well, I can't tell exactly what was there before, but I can reconnect some of the blood vessels and I can work out some of what's missing based on my scans of other human brains. I also know what infant brains look like, so if I just make it highly plastic then he should be alright. His cybernetic forearm…
Huh.
That's a monitoring device and a remote self-destruct.
I shut them both down and remove the prosthetic.
"Hey-! I need that!"
And I replace his forearm with a mirror of his remaining hand.
"Or… Not. Was Cecil keeping you in a basement or something?"
And… 'Monster Girl'… Brain swelling down, small cuts and bruises… Nothing serious. Anything else can wait for an actual physician.
"No, I came in as part of the invasion force."
"Ah…"
"But my Invincible isn't actually interested in destroying your civilisation." I think, and the spy drone floats down. "Are any of you any good with technology?"
10:01 GMT -5
A.. suspension bridge with a.. weirdly large building on top of one of the towers. I-.
Eve jerks away from me, a weak pink bolt hitting me in the chest and being absorbed by my environmental shield. Then she works out where we are and dives for the structurally-unsound structure. She's going for the entry hatch at the top, a waste of time. I generate a construct drill and slam it into the exterior wall, brick exploding away and flying into the water below! A construct fan blows away the brick dust as my scans feed the interior layout into my brain. I-.
I dodge as a chunk of.. dull brown robot flies past me before armouring up and heading in. Some sort of… Workshop, though I can see a larger interior space through a hole in one of the walls.
"You called in reinforcements?"
That's Invincible's voice. He's holding another robot up by the neck. No, this one is power armour, and from the look of the control system the boy inside is-. Was controlling the other robots littering the floor. There's a injured girl on the ground in a pile of rubble, and… Someone in some sort of orange fire fighter uniform? I connect filaments to both of them and move them to…
"Hey, if you keep calling people in, do you think I could kill more of you than any of the others? Just take a number, I'll get to-" He glances around. "-you-. Oh. Gay Invincible's boyfriend. What do you-"
Eve blasts past me, sword at the ready. Invincible grins, spinning around twice and throwing the power armour at her. Her eyes widen as she tries to viff out of the way but I just generate a crash mat construct to absorb its momentum. The construct fails on impact, but I soaked enough kinetic energy that it just falls to the ground.
"-want-? Hey, what-"
Eve spins around my dissipating construct and blasts herself at him, pink armour around her body shielding her from the transmuted rocket fuel she just ignited on her back. This Invincible smiles as he half-dodges, right arm stuck out to turn aside her swing.
I form a megaphone construct and project the anti-Viltrumite sound wave.
"-givesaagh!"
Eve swings, and his forearm parts company with his body! A second rushed swing as she flies past him slices through part of his neck, though she misses the major arteries and the windpipe. He tries to reach for it with both hands, only for the stump to spurt so much blood over his face that he can't tell how serious the wound is.
Eve hits the far wall with force, her armour fracturing as it prevents her being injured.
"What the Hell?"
The Invincible then tries moving his hands to his ears to block out the sound I'm making, only to jab himself with his exposed radius bone.
"Ah-gh!"
The guy in power armour rises to his feet, checking me out for a moment before turning back to keep careful watch on the Invincible. "I have expended all useful ordnance. If you have a weapon capable of hurting an Invincible duplicate, do not hesitate to use it."
"I've got antimatter."
"I withdraw my previous statement."
Eve goes to lunge at where the Invincible is flailing on the ground, but meets my eyes before she does so. She hesitates, recreates her armour and then lunges at him, sword raised high and then slashing down-
"AAAGhda-hah!"
-and getting embedded in his chest due to being stuck in his ribs. He tries to push it out with his remaining hand, only for the x-ionised metal to survive, get more jammed against the inside of his rib cage, and slice cleanly through the hand he just hit it with because arming swords are sharp on both sides.
"Uu-uhruh!"
I dart forwards, take an x-ionised epée out of subspace and stab it through his left eye socket and into his brain. He's… Shaking as the signals from his brain to his body are getting disrupted, but he doesn't appear to actually be dying.
Eve comes up beside me, reclaims her sword and plunges it through his neck.
Blood spurts from his severed carotid arteries, his shakes growing steadily less vigorous before he finally goes still.
Breathing heavily, Eve withdraws her sword and disintegrates the blood covering her in a wave of pink light. Scan…
There!
I transition outside and then upwards as the red fireman groggily rises to his feet while one of Angstrom's drones watches from above. I send a construct cable down, punching through the outer casing and looking for…
Connection established.
Good. Take control, and edit myself from the footage. Not… Seeing any internal component checking, so… Build a Viltrumite Empire standard uplink to maintain control without a connection and transition back down.
"Ah." The fireman is clearly unsteady on his feet, possibly from loss of blood and possibly from head trauma. "Heey. Are you new? There's a… Guy."
"The version of Invincible who attacked you is dead." I scan him. Hm. Nothing… Immediately fatal, though it.. looks like he received a traumatic brain injury relatively recently. Probably from a bullet? Given the lack of residual fragments I'd guess that it was an armour piercing round that over penetrated, but it's still impressive that he's in anything like fighting shape. "Would you-?"
He looks around in a daze, finally spotting the unconscious girl.
"Monster Girl?!" He darts over to her and starts performing a basic health assessment.
"I can heal both of you, if you like."
"Uh. Huh?" He stares at me. "That was an option?"
…
I'm choosing to believe that was a 'yes please'.
I connect a broad orange beam to him and get to work. Cuts and bruises, gone. Brain damage… Well, I can't tell exactly what was there before, but I can reconnect some of the blood vessels and I can work out some of what's missing based on my scans of other human brains. I also know what infant brains look like, so if I just make it highly plastic then he should be alright. His cybernetic forearm…
Huh.
That's a monitoring device and a remote self-destruct.
I shut them both down and remove the prosthetic.
"Hey-! I need that!"
And I replace his forearm with a mirror of his remaining hand.
"Or… Not. Was Cecil keeping you in a basement or something?"
And… 'Monster Girl'… Brain swelling down, small cuts and bruises… Nothing serious. Anything else can wait for an actual physician.
"No, I came in as part of the invasion force."
"Ah…"
"But my Invincible isn't actually interested in destroying your civilisation." I think, and the spy drone floats down. "Are any of you any good with technology?"
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Mr Zoat
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I'm not exactly sure that I'd equate 'brain damage' with 'character development'.
Lokpik
Not too sore, are you?
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Rex can still get character development, something interesting to note orange lantern might give himself rex's enhancements and considering the difficulty x ionized blades have with viltramites while still being successful i can foresee him charging an x-ionized needle before firing it into a viltramite leading to an internal explosion.
Great chapter, it was good to see eves improvement and his conversation with Rudy cracked me up.
Great chapter, it was good to see eves improvement and his conversation with Rudy cracked me up.
Chojin Patriarch
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That is a downright bizarre choice for a HQ. Any trouble and that entire bridge gets damaged or destroyed by falling debris. Never mind the tourists who probably lurk around the shore or predestrian walkways hoping to catch a photo of a superhero coming or going. Because you know there would be.
No need to be subtle right now. If Angstrom is watching, his attention would be on the Invincible, not the outside.
'Robot', of course. Fighting with multiple bodies, no matter how awkward it might be to direct them.
And Monster Girl and i presume Rex Splode.
...What is it with these people and using normal names in their superhero names? I mean, I get it on a Doylist sense, all the good superhero names are taken already...I hope the interior had inertial dampening of some kind, or Robot's clone body is gonna be hurting.
Nice style. Being on fire makes it harder for him to think to grab you, since even Viltrumites probably have some of those instincts about fire hurting. And if not, his human half would.
Wasting no time disrupting him, I see. So much for keeping a low profile, though.
At least his goggles do something.
Guess what, buddy? You're not the big dog here anymore. Though I suspect he's not gonna be thinking very straight, between the pain, the increasing blood loss and...
...Some ringing ears. oh, and a new hole in his face thanks to that.
Yeah, given there's a densely populated city right outside, I think weapons of mass destruction are right out.
Good, she's learning not to just go straight in. At least, not without proper protection.
There's that weird interaction again. It must be because of this 'smart molecule' stuff Lantern theorised about.
You'd be amazed how much damage certain parts of the brain can suffer and still function with... Humans are bizarrely tough in some ways, yet fragile in others.
Okay, now he's dead. And even if he somehow gets up, he's been thoroughly disarmed.
Ah, yes, the spy-eye. Might not want it uploading footage of you.
Probably shitty intrusion counter-measures because they didn't expect to need them.
Some of his friends would probably joke there's not much difference between regular Rex and concussed Rex.
If I understand the timeline right, said brain injury is from fighting a Lizard-themed army? And he defeated their leader while missing a hand and suffering said bullet-wound. Guy's tough.
This was before she got her special belt, right? Wonder if the Ring could do something similar, re-aging her to something closer to her true age...
...What, you expected him to try to kill you? Oh, right...
Let's go with that.
Interesting. Wonder if that'll cause another personality shift?
...Because of course Cecil wanted a lethal backup option.
Yeah, I don't think he'll mind that one.
Ah, his Ring didn't pick up the magic-based reverse-aging, then.
'Power Armour Kid' is the guy you want, Lantern.
Bet that's a surprise for them all, one of their 'enemies' turning traitor and helping out. Given the disrupted communications thanks to the fighting, I wonder if Alt!Invincible will end up getting attacked by local defenders if he gets separated from the local one. At any rate, things are progressing nicely, and hopefully Angstrom didn't see any of the fight.
Ngamer11
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I hope Matthew reveals this to Rex at least.
Also, is Bulletproof not here?
NightmareWarden
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It doesn't even look cool! Absolutely no thought was put into that HQ.
I wonder if this Paul is going to store some extra superhuman tissues for his recharge requirements in this setting. Out enough in those storage tubes and it'll blow up in his face, I imagine. Amalgamated undead or something.
Mr Zoat
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He's in a crater a couple of rooms over.
Duke Long
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'any of the'
'raised'?
'beside'?
So did they change their minds on the 'not killing them' thing because they realised what the GDA was going to do to them, or do these two just not give a shit now that local Invincible isn't here to say anything?
Chaoswind
Lord of nonsense
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Is bulletproof hiding under a robot or something? I know his super hero stick is that he is not really trying very hard to be one and is only doing the job because that is the best and easiest way to pretend he is his twin brother (he is not smart enough to be a scientist, so he can only act as a super hero)... Still bulletproof was the strongest person in the bridge base aside monster girl so if he wasn't there then the Mark that went there would have killed them pretty fast.
Edit: Oh he was under the rubble odd for Paul scan to not mention it.
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Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
Normally, viltrumites are such tanks that they'll survive a massive beating even if they end up looking like a mangled corpse at the end of it. X-ionised swords being able to put them down quicklly is a new thing. Eve probably wouldn't have stabbed him if he was unconscious or if he surrendered, but trying to kill her friends? That's a stabbering.
Darko
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Rex was already developing into a great character.
Now he can continue developing.
Darko
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And Monster Girl and i presume Rex Splode.
Rex doesn't really have a civilian identity.
He was sold yo the government and turned into an assassin.
Though yeah, superheroes in Invincible don't seem to be all that interested in maintaining civilian identities.
Granted, maybe the GDA makes sure that people don't find out who they are.
Rex: No shit.
I mean, he could still fly at them at very high speed.
That would kill them.
He's practically...
...
You know the drill.
After.
She got it several episodes ago.
It may not be best to go around messing with magic.
Rex is having one of those days.
A day where everyone seems to be trying to kill them.
In the comics Rex was sent to kill Cecil but he defected.
Odysseus2099
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Rex's enhancements don't seem to be genetic given Rudy didn't get them despite being a clone. As such they may not even require a biological medium and OL could just make a gun/constructs with the same ability.
If he does get augments he should go for Red Rush's. He'd use them way more intelligently than the original.
Goo-Goo G'joob (part 11)
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Mr Zoat
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10th July 2013
06:32 GMT
That is not the legislation that was in the draft paper.
Or rather, it is, with some quite significant additions and the oversight changed from concrete to vague. And… I don't know if it's meant to be read this way, but…
Okay, so the Justice League in theory can't operate in places that haven't consented to having the Justice League operating in their territory. In practice, that… Well, Batman wasn't exactly slow to send the team in, and the Charter was always a fig leaf to cover the fact that the most powerful superhumans on the Earth had been operating in concert for years without so much as a by your leave. While in theory there were all sorts of things that the Security Council could do if the League acted beyond its authority, in practice the only thing they could really do is withdraw the Charter when they were the ones who wanted it in first place.
So the Charter allowed Justice League members to -for example- intervene in non-signatory countries in response to a natural disaster, because they knew full well that telling Superman that he had to stand there and watch an earthquake or tsunami demolish a town was a non-starter. He just wouldn't do it, regardless of any Charter.
Similarly, dealing with aliens is something that there's more leeway about, because they knew that the Green Lantern Corps requires its members to do that. The allowance only lasts a few days, after which the diplomatic side is supposed to pass to whatever country they've landed in. The idea presumably being that a Green Lantern could move a ship out of an area that might be inclined towards hostility within a few hours, and if nothing particularly terrible has happened in a few days then it probably isn't an emergency any longer and they can pass it over to a government. In practice, that never came up because only a few aliens came to Earth for anything other than a fight, and patching their ship up and sending it on its way only took a few hours both times it happened.
In a sense, the agreement is about how the League does the thing they were going to do anyway, along with given them just enough of an incentive to accept a few restrictions.
But… But this is throwing out the whole thing…
I mean, I was worried that I might be breaking zoning laws when I started working on Hub City. Which is daft. The place was such a wreck that those laws served no purpose. And I doubt that the mayor would have tried holding me to them anyway. So… Saying that the League can ignore zoning laws is… It's a bit odd, and not something that would come up in normal crime fighting, but if they need to temporarily set up a aid centre or… A mortuary, it makes a degree of sense.
But the difference is that while the draft version described things like that as a temporary measure to deal with an immediate problem, the version being voted on doesn't. I… I'm not sure if the normal zoning authority could change it back, or if in theory if a member of the League rezones something then that's just how it is now. Even the provisos relating to an emergency have been stripped out, replaced with some waffle about 'as the situation requires' and 'proportional use of authority'.
And it's not just… Zoning. It's… It's everything. Arbitrary arrest, yes, the League is getting the authority to detain, hold, and interrogate anyone who isn't a head of state as they choose. Now… Yes, some members of the Justice League performed.. aggressive interrogations, and not just Batman. But this is a… A criminal justice system bypass.
I mean…
Okay, this does retroactively authorise us letting everyone out of Belle Reve and then imprisoning people overwhelmed by the Anti-Life in the Tower of Fate… So that is something that in extremis we might.. need. And… The various legislatures probably don't want the League to get back into the habit of doing what seems right at the time without some sort of guidelines…
I think…
Ring, check my working?
Confirmed.
Yes, this is actually more power with less day-to-day accountability than the Justice Society International had. And the J.S.I. strictly limited itself to signatory countries.
And… There's no built-in mechanism for rescinding it.
In fact… I think they'd need to get a majority vote in the Security Council and the assent of all Permanent Members to start the process of rescinding this, because they're ratifying an international agreement.
Ring… Who's awake?
Approximately two thirds of the human species.
Heh. Okay, lack of mental clarity; that was on me. Who on my team?
Squire, Canis Minor, Red Star, Osiris, Star Sapphire and New Supergirl.
Huh. I'd have thought that Supergirl III would be asleep by now. But I don't think that she'd have any useful input anyway. Canis Minor… No, he'd dismiss the whole thing. Red Star… I'd have thought that the Russian Federation would be the last people to approve something like this. Squire and Osiris…
Ring, contact Osiris.
Calling.
I can't see anything here about Kahndaq signing it. Greater Kahndaq isn't economically powerful enough to warrant a permanent seat yet, but with Adom finally making something of the place -particularly in the agricultural sector- they might get there in a decade or two. I know that there was some suggestion on Earth Prime that Brazil might get there, but… Well. That isn't going to happen here. Not now. Accalacan just isn't interested enough in the rest of the world and barely has an economy.
"Osiris. Go."
"Orange Lantern here. I-."
"Oh! Good morning. If it is morning where you are?"
"It is, and good morning to you too. Are Dawn and Manitou settling in alright?"
"Manitou is mostly ignoring things. Dawn is mostly angry. She reminds me of Adriana."
"Who I'm assuming is too far away to hear you say that."
"I have the Wisdom of Zehuti, not the Rock-Head of Ged."
"Good show. Ah. Look, I'd like to talk to you and Squire about something. Can you spare a couple of hours?"
"I would like to help, but I am supposed to be helping Dawn today. The gods' blessing lets me understand her language where few others can."
"Not a problem. Beryl might have some insight into what she could do with herself, and after talking to me she'll be ready to try anything."
"I do not think you are quite that bad."
"Hark at you! Super-tact, too."
"Perhaps… It will help. What did you want to talk to us about?"
"Batman's managed to get some legislation passed that I'm not.. sure about, and I was hoping that the two of you could look it over. Make sure I'm not missing something obvious."
"My brother will be pleased to see that my lessons on legal documentation have been useful."
"Thank you. I'll pick up Beryl and be with you shortly."
"I will prepare for your arrival."
"Very ominous. Orange Lantern out."
Right. Hand to forehead,
and step out, travelling towards the desire to organise and fix that marks Beryl as.. surprisingly similar to me, actually. And then step
back in, appearing in… Side Beryl's house as she steps out of the bathroom wearing a towel.
We stare at each other for a moment.
"I apologise. I-"
"Yes."
"-will wait downstairs."
06:32 GMT
That is not the legislation that was in the draft paper.
Or rather, it is, with some quite significant additions and the oversight changed from concrete to vague. And… I don't know if it's meant to be read this way, but…
Okay, so the Justice League in theory can't operate in places that haven't consented to having the Justice League operating in their territory. In practice, that… Well, Batman wasn't exactly slow to send the team in, and the Charter was always a fig leaf to cover the fact that the most powerful superhumans on the Earth had been operating in concert for years without so much as a by your leave. While in theory there were all sorts of things that the Security Council could do if the League acted beyond its authority, in practice the only thing they could really do is withdraw the Charter when they were the ones who wanted it in first place.
So the Charter allowed Justice League members to -for example- intervene in non-signatory countries in response to a natural disaster, because they knew full well that telling Superman that he had to stand there and watch an earthquake or tsunami demolish a town was a non-starter. He just wouldn't do it, regardless of any Charter.
Similarly, dealing with aliens is something that there's more leeway about, because they knew that the Green Lantern Corps requires its members to do that. The allowance only lasts a few days, after which the diplomatic side is supposed to pass to whatever country they've landed in. The idea presumably being that a Green Lantern could move a ship out of an area that might be inclined towards hostility within a few hours, and if nothing particularly terrible has happened in a few days then it probably isn't an emergency any longer and they can pass it over to a government. In practice, that never came up because only a few aliens came to Earth for anything other than a fight, and patching their ship up and sending it on its way only took a few hours both times it happened.
In a sense, the agreement is about how the League does the thing they were going to do anyway, along with given them just enough of an incentive to accept a few restrictions.
But… But this is throwing out the whole thing…
I mean, I was worried that I might be breaking zoning laws when I started working on Hub City. Which is daft. The place was such a wreck that those laws served no purpose. And I doubt that the mayor would have tried holding me to them anyway. So… Saying that the League can ignore zoning laws is… It's a bit odd, and not something that would come up in normal crime fighting, but if they need to temporarily set up a aid centre or… A mortuary, it makes a degree of sense.
But the difference is that while the draft version described things like that as a temporary measure to deal with an immediate problem, the version being voted on doesn't. I… I'm not sure if the normal zoning authority could change it back, or if in theory if a member of the League rezones something then that's just how it is now. Even the provisos relating to an emergency have been stripped out, replaced with some waffle about 'as the situation requires' and 'proportional use of authority'.
And it's not just… Zoning. It's… It's everything. Arbitrary arrest, yes, the League is getting the authority to detain, hold, and interrogate anyone who isn't a head of state as they choose. Now… Yes, some members of the Justice League performed.. aggressive interrogations, and not just Batman. But this is a… A criminal justice system bypass.
I mean…
Okay, this does retroactively authorise us letting everyone out of Belle Reve and then imprisoning people overwhelmed by the Anti-Life in the Tower of Fate… So that is something that in extremis we might.. need. And… The various legislatures probably don't want the League to get back into the habit of doing what seems right at the time without some sort of guidelines…
I think…
Ring, check my working?
Confirmed.
Yes, this is actually more power with less day-to-day accountability than the Justice Society International had. And the J.S.I. strictly limited itself to signatory countries.
And… There's no built-in mechanism for rescinding it.
In fact… I think they'd need to get a majority vote in the Security Council and the assent of all Permanent Members to start the process of rescinding this, because they're ratifying an international agreement.
Ring… Who's awake?
Approximately two thirds of the human species.
Heh. Okay, lack of mental clarity; that was on me. Who on my team?
Squire, Canis Minor, Red Star, Osiris, Star Sapphire and New Supergirl.
Huh. I'd have thought that Supergirl III would be asleep by now. But I don't think that she'd have any useful input anyway. Canis Minor… No, he'd dismiss the whole thing. Red Star… I'd have thought that the Russian Federation would be the last people to approve something like this. Squire and Osiris…
Ring, contact Osiris.
Calling.
I can't see anything here about Kahndaq signing it. Greater Kahndaq isn't economically powerful enough to warrant a permanent seat yet, but with Adom finally making something of the place -particularly in the agricultural sector- they might get there in a decade or two. I know that there was some suggestion on Earth Prime that Brazil might get there, but… Well. That isn't going to happen here. Not now. Accalacan just isn't interested enough in the rest of the world and barely has an economy.
"Osiris. Go."
"Orange Lantern here. I-."
"Oh! Good morning. If it is morning where you are?"
"It is, and good morning to you too. Are Dawn and Manitou settling in alright?"
"Manitou is mostly ignoring things. Dawn is mostly angry. She reminds me of Adriana."
"Who I'm assuming is too far away to hear you say that."
"I have the Wisdom of Zehuti, not the Rock-Head of Ged."
"Good show. Ah. Look, I'd like to talk to you and Squire about something. Can you spare a couple of hours?"
"I would like to help, but I am supposed to be helping Dawn today. The gods' blessing lets me understand her language where few others can."
"Not a problem. Beryl might have some insight into what she could do with herself, and after talking to me she'll be ready to try anything."
"I do not think you are quite that bad."
"Hark at you! Super-tact, too."
"Perhaps… It will help. What did you want to talk to us about?"
"Batman's managed to get some legislation passed that I'm not.. sure about, and I was hoping that the two of you could look it over. Make sure I'm not missing something obvious."
"My brother will be pleased to see that my lessons on legal documentation have been useful."
"Thank you. I'll pick up Beryl and be with you shortly."
"I will prepare for your arrival."
"Very ominous. Orange Lantern out."
Right. Hand to forehead,
and step out, travelling towards the desire to organise and fix that marks Beryl as.. surprisingly similar to me, actually. And then step
back in, appearing in… Side Beryl's house as she steps out of the bathroom wearing a towel.
We stare at each other for a moment.
"I apologise. I-"
"Yes."
"-will wait downstairs."
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Ngamer11
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I thought he already changed his name to Red Star because an analysis found people liked that name better?
I didn't think we'd see this gag again. I'm glad this can still happen and will eventually happen again in the future.
Darko
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I think he changed his name to Red Star after he found out about Koriand'r.
He'd probably view it as a natural thing.
Osiris really doesn't know Paul all that well.
Duke Long
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xSieg
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Not that I don't understand Paul's hesitance in giving Bruceman basically absolute legal power but I'm really struggling to see this as such an emergency as Anarky put it.
Hell, Nabu already did the "imprisoning people with no due process" and the League didn't exactly give much of a shit. This just feels like a formality ratifying that the League will operate however they want, as they always have.
Hell, Nabu already did the "imprisoning people with no due process" and the League didn't exactly give much of a shit. This just feels like a formality ratifying that the League will operate however they want, as they always have.
Darko
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Batman apparently lead to the creation of this document.
This shows that one of the mist high-ranking members of the League is basically on the first steps into taking over.
It also shows that the governments of the world will basically allow it to happen, which is not good for anyone that wants the world to start working again.
Paul has always been critical on too much reliance on superheroes.
And this document is apparently vague in its wording that the League could basically use any justification it sees fit and they'd be legally covered.
Plus there's the fact that it's not easy to repeal.
And that Nabu thing could be excused because the people he imprisoned were powerful and dangerous magic users.
Most of the governments of the planet don't have ways of dealing with them.
But with this document they can potentially do those things for any crime.
Chojin Patriarch
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Oooh. Sounds like someone did some editing between the draft and the final release. Or the legislatures involved were 'persuaded' to modify it. Now, was that persuasion modest or hostile, I wonder...
And given the power levels of their strongest members, it's purely a matter of courtesy for them to follow those provisions.
Admittedly, it'd be a rare state that wouldn't accept his help for the duration, unless they're ultra-paranoid or xenophobic.
And the ones looking for a fight usually focus on America, because it's where all the heroes are anyway...
So someone's definitely stuck an oar in and stirred the pot.
And is an extremely odd edge-case, as you noted. Most of the heroes don't really do that sort of thing.
...Oh, that is pure Palpatine doublespeak. Someone definitely wants to set this crap up and then 'reveal' it later to smear their names, I bet.
I mean, laws that foolish can result from political overreactions. Consider America post-Pearl harbour, for instance.
Well, good to know that's covered. But this is...
Sure it checked accurately? You know how it responds to desires, after all, and if you want this to read a certain way...
Oh, that's going to be trouble.
Big trouble. Given the state of the world, and the good favour the League has right now... Good luck getting that kind of support.
So, most of the European and Mediterranean team members.
Squire might be useful for her analytical skills. Osiris... Wisdom of Zehuti?
And what isn't Accalacan down there is Ivy and Euanthe's turf, for the most part... I don't see them being offered international recognition.
Ah, of course, the niceties must be observed.
Gee, I don't see either of those attitudes rolling out well.
Especially when said sister has her own divine powers.
Surprised she hasn't been using translation magic of some kind, or acquired a translator device from someone.
...To be fair, he hasn't hung out with OL that much. He hasn't seen him at his worst.
Now, I wonder how much involvement he's been having in the duties of state alongside Adam? The passing of laws, enough to make sense of political doublespeak?
Wait, Batman pushed this through? Oh dear...
A very good way to put it, though, given how trouble sometimes follows in OL's wake?
<facepalm> Dangit, OL. You know better than this. When was the last time you got involved in any anime-tier shenanigans like this?
Not even a though of looking down, I see. Good man.
I get the feeling that once she gets some pants on, he would have been spitting up teeth if he were any other man.
Of the available team members, these two probably are the best options for analysing the text and implications of this bill. And hopefully they can track down the source of all this tomfoolery and work out why it's so ludicrously casual about the transfer of powers... I have a feeling Batman might be letting Fear get the best of him, perhaps?
We'll see, we'll see...Darko
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Hmm, good point.
I was honestly wondering if after experiencing what Paul did to him and wearing the yellow ring, Bruce was starting to go down on a bad path.
She and her husband may not know any such magic.
And as for a translation device, Earth either doesn't have them, or they need to input their language into it in order to translate.
They're from five thousand years in the past.
Aside from them and the remaining Ancients, their language has probably been dead and forgotten for a long time.
Coltsguy
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That might be the most menacing, multi-faceted yes I've ever seen.
Bigking321
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Hmm...
Still feels like the bill is better than nothing. Most of it seems logical and just acknowledges the realities of a super hero setting. And it does have a way to repeal it even if it seems onerous.
A few adjustments and it should be fine.
Unfortunately there is almost certainly something happening in the background to be concerned about.
Perhaps messing with Batmans brain had some side effects causing a slow shift into pushing for more control when the opportunity presents itself. Nothing overtly sinister. But over time, if it continues...
Still feels like the bill is better than nothing. Most of it seems logical and just acknowledges the realities of a super hero setting. And it does have a way to repeal it even if it seems onerous.
A few adjustments and it should be fine.
Unfortunately there is almost certainly something happening in the background to be concerned about.
Perhaps messing with Batmans brain had some side effects causing a slow shift into pushing for more control when the opportunity presents itself. Nothing overtly sinister. But over time, if it continues...
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Lord Ernest
At the End...
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Isn't all of this stuff that the Justice League already does or would do if the situation asked for it? It feels like just putting it on paper, so everyone knows that the League actually does that kind of stuff if or when needed, rather than it happening anyway but in secret or close to secretly.
In fact, wouldn't the Illustres do this kind of stuff as well? Am I missing something?
In fact, wouldn't the Illustres do this kind of stuff as well? Am I missing something?
Darko
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The League still had to play by certain rules and restrictions.
This told them that even their power was limited.
This document gets rid of that.
Paul is able to acknowledge from time to time that he's not sane and not all of his ways should be followed.
B00ki5h
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Anyone else think this could lead to an Eros omake set after Goo ends?