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

Is he accidentally trying to assimilate the old god via the infection and causing them to wake up?
I would be surprised if so given how quickly the assimilation progressed. It could just be that the Old God has a link to its cells (wouldn't be surprising) and it felt the attack. Or it could be one or several of the Supertown New Gods coming down to fuck with the Primitives, since we just heard they're going crazy and picking fights.
 
23rd July 2013
11:31 GMT


Aarden looks disconcerted as Mantis and I walk into the Primitive's settlement. "Is.. that a bug?"

"Yes. His people are suffering from the same disease. Given the physiological differences between your two peoples that should be impossible, but it turns out that it might not be a disease organism in the strict sense."
And where Old Gods are concerned, petty little things like mere science are of no significance... Let's hope that whatever OL might be planning, it doesn't accelerate the awakening, or New genesis might be in peril.

He actually looks relieved. "Clearly, the oracle has given you a powerful vision. If-."

I nod. "Instead of just telling me, yes. I've got an idea for a cure, but it'll be slow going and uncomfortable."
Which isn't great, but if Roy keeps treating the symptoms, OL can work on speeding up the process. I guess Aarden and Mantis get to play guinea pigs.

He nods. "We will endure. What need do you have for me?"

I nod to a stone bench. "Sit down."
I suspect whatever you plan to do, he'll be fine standing. The news on the other hand...

He chuckles, shaking his head. "I am steady as a mountain. I do not need-"

"You've been infected by a solution of an Old God's body tissues."
Just like pulling off a band-aid. Don't let them psyche themselves up for the pain... Just yank it off fast.

"-a-." He looks at my face to determine whether or not I'm playing some sort of joke. "An..?" Realising that I'm not joking, he makes a clenching motion with his right hand.
Support Me
The ground behind him buckles, extruding as seat of stone. He sits down heavily, gazing sightlessly ahead of himself. "An Old God."
Why do I get the feeling the regular bench might have struggled with his weight anyway? Presumably he's much heavier than he looks to go with his stone powers.

"I haven't seen it directly myself, but that was what Ms. K'Zandr said."

"Such a thing could corrupt our connection to the Source…" He nods. "And that is making us ill."
Good, yes. Eminently logical conclusion.

"Something like that." I generate a construct dialysis machine. "So what I'm going to try and do is assimilate the cells without assimilating the rest of you."

"What is 'assimilate' in that context?"
So, filtering his blood, collecting the cells and converting them without affecting him? That'll be tricky.

"That's where I turn things into constructs."

"For how long?"

"About a hundred trillion years, give or take."
In other words, until the heat death of the universe. Or the Orange Light runs out, whichever comes first.

"So it's permanent."

"Well, we won't know for certain for a hundred trillion years, but probably. Now, if I start assimilating you by mistake, that's not a problem. I-."
I think by that time, you'd have other things to worry about anyway.

He looks disconcerted. "It is a problem."

"I can just stop it. You don't become a construct until the process is fully complete."

"And if it is completed?"
Though it can be a bit disconcerting to see part of yourself transforming into Orange Light. That's not likely to happen with a New God though, given their resistances.

"That's… Bad. So far I've only seen one person assimilated where I wouldn't have killed them if assimilation wasn't an option. He acts like himself for the most part, but I'm not sure if that's because he's still alive in a sense or if the ring's just best guessing how he'd behave and making the construct do that. But if this is a viable treatment, then I can remove the contamination matter from the bodies of everyone here, and then Mantis's colony, and then go looking for the source of the infection."
How about not assimilating the cells of an Old God, and just, you know, filtering them into a secure container? Then again, bringing them together may have bad results.

"What if we become reinfected?"

"Well, it should be possible for me to check your food sources. I already know that it's not in the air, so a few scans of your farms or hunting grounds should let me find it."
Logic would suggest that the point of emergence, if it's singular, would be equidistant between the Primitives and the Bugs. If there's multiple, you may have bigger issues.

"And the Old God?"

"Hopefully, it'll go back to sleep. Failing that, some sort of telepathic sleep-inducer?" I nod to the machine. "Ready?"
I doubt technology would so easily affect something called an Old God. Maybe divinely-empowered technology, but even then, it would be an uphill battle.

"Yes."

Two x-ionised cannulae pierce his arm, a small amount of cloned blood being added to the mix as blood flows out of his artery and through my filter. Detect the right particle… And… assimilate.
I still say assimilating it is a bad idea. Collect, fine, but what happens when the cell-constructs die and re-enter the Ring?

Identity theft in progress. One percent complete.

"Have you begun?"

"Yes. Ring, announce progress."
Surprised he can't feel a tickle, but the initial effect is minor.

Identity theft in progress. Two percent complete.

"
Are you feeling anything?"

Aarden frowns. "A pinch, but nothing else."
And that could easily be attributed to the unfamiliar medical device.

"Okay, good, let me know if you feel anything else."

Two clicks from Mantis. "I will go next."
Brave, but risky. They haven't even determined if this will work.

Ah…. I give him a quick scan, and there's appreciably less resistance than from Aarden. Shouldn't be any harder. "Alright, I think I can manage that. Though I can't completely guarantee that it will work in exactly the same way. Particularly given that your metaphysique is weaker than a New God's, so you'll be less able to resist if something goes wrong."
To some degree, filtering his blood would be easiest, as well as any non-vital cells that may be infected.

Identity theft in progress. Three percent complete.

Aarden looks curious. "Do the bugs have a connection to the Source?"
All living things should. I think what you mean is 'How strong is their connection?'

"I have no idea. Mantis has a stronger metaphysique than the average human, but anything else is outside of my area of expertise. If you need to know, I could call in an expert?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I had assumed-." He looks awkwardly at Mantis, who is quietly clicking to himself as he watches the blood purification process. "No, I suppose that was unfair."
Wonder if the Bugs have castes other than Forager and Warrior? Well, besides Queen and Consorts, obviously.

"What's unfair? I knew that the New Gods of Supertown don't like them, but I don't remember hearing why."

"Their forebears come from Apokolips. They were sent here as living weapons. For a long time our hunting parties worked together with warriors from Supertown to destroy them. But if one of them can stand here and not lash out at everyone then they must have gained some degree of restraint."
I'd say something about hunting sophont beings, but they are New Gods. It's likely they didn't even care that the Bugs are thinking beings. Especially if they've never had peaceful contact.

"Mantis?"

Three clicks this time. "I am not hungry."
Logical enough.

"That wasn't-." My ring flashes. "Excuse me." I hold my left hand up to my ear. "Orange Lantern, go ahead."

"Paul, we have a problem."
Ah, trouble in Supertown? Wonder what this could be...

"Hello Lantern Rrab. Is it a disease outbreak? Because I'm working on that."

"No, there is no disease. But the people here are going crazy! They're picking fights with each other over every little thing and they're laughing about it!"
Not lethal fights? Just... Punchy arguments? Sounds like Orion might be leaking a bit...

"Apparently, an Old God is stirring in its sleep. Down here that's having a knock on effect on people's physical health. Perhaps its affecting their minds up in Supertown?"

"That.. is possible. But how do I stop it?"
Yes, I don't see a rookie Lantern being able to do much here. Far above her figurative pay-grade.

"Have you tried a telepathy jammer, just in case?"

"Yes. It didn't work."
And she probably isn't proficient enough to directly infuse people with Green Light to maintain calm and focus. If that's even a thing.

"Then, try to stop them doing anything permanent, and when I deal with the Old God it should subside. I can-."

Identity theft in progress. Four percent complete.


The ground around us begins to shake!
Ah, sounds like you may have poked the proverbial sleeping bear, OL.

I'm guessing that's the Old God rolling in its sleep. Assimilating a few separate cells shouldn't do too much to the main body of it, unless sympathetic magical connections are in play. It'd be like someone feeling dander shedding, if anything... The trouble in Supertown could be related, or it could just be Orion's anger issues getting distributed to the others. Can't be sure, especially if they're laughing about the fights...
 
Thank you for the chapter.

I forgot how much I like Kirby's Fourth World stuff as it's this eclectic mix of jarring and charming. I always love seeing it being depicted in this story.
 
I wonder how magnificus, Nyssa, their isolated lab site, and the whole Sivanna family is doing
 
Oh for anyone curious- The history lesson in this latest chapter is the official story.

It's also a complete lie.

New Genesis made the Bugs as biological weapons against Apokalips but they escaped the labs and colonized the surface.

The Bugs are explosive breeders, the plan was for them to eat enough food that the New Gods of Apokalips would starve.

Such explosive breeders that the race survived multiple attempts at the New Gods of Hightown trying to genocide them.

The excuse given was that without culling the Bugs would consume all the resources of the surface and everything would die, which is apparently true enough, but really the attempts at genocide was about removing the evidence of Hightown's ruthlessness and lies.

Oh and I was wrong, by the by, it was canon before Bug! that Forager was a New God, it was mentioned in New Gods #3 that revealed the origins of the Bugs and introduced Forager 2. Amusingly, she was originally blue. "The first Forager was one of you New Gods adopted by us but I have chosen a successor I believe will bring honor to his legacy."

Another thing I didn't realize before- The Bugs were described as "hybrid god insects." So the Bugs apparently have New God DNA.

So if anyone wonders why space insects look pretty human, well the fact they are the result of splicing insect DNA into a humanoid base would make that a bit more understandable. Or splicing humanoid DNA into an insect, it wasn't specified,

In New Gods #3 Orion was trying to broker a treaty between Hightown and the Bugs. The Bugs would give soldiers in the fight against Apokalips, the Bugs in return would get their own land that Hightown would acknowledge is Bug legal sovereignty, and Hightown would have someone whip up a birth control method so the Bugs could control their growth.

Which would work for both sides, because the Bugs are smart enough to know that starving to death because you ate all the food is a thing worth avoiding.

Of course, how much this applies to this story we will have to wait and see.
 
Ah. Well, that explains that. The source of the Old God contamination is their *water supply* as S'ivaa is sleeping under the water.
 
Ripples (part 12) New
23rd July 2013
11:36 GMT

Construct seismograph says… It started to the south, towards the sea. I could try and get another bearing to narrow down the exact location of the hypocenter, but I'm… Filtering a man's blood here.

Identity theft in progress. Five percent complete.

"Lantern Rrab, we just had an earthquake and I'm a little tied up. Could you please come to the surface for a moment and find out where it started?"

"Should I bring Troia with me?"

"Use your judgement. There shouldn't be anyone who can easily hurt her up there-. And the blessing of Metis is custom designed to undo mental alterations."

"Right!" Her face vanishes.

I-.

Her face reappears. "I forgot! Arisia out!"

And she vanishes again. Because Jordan's been trying to teach her communication discipline, even if it's a little obsoleted by power rings.

Identity theft in progress. Six percent complete.

I turn to Aarden. "Do you get a lot of earthquakes around here?"

"No. None. New Genesis is a garden world."

I nod. "Yes?"

"I mean, it was cultivated by our forebears to be as pleasant a place to live as possible. Its ecology and structure are artificial. It has next to no seismic activity. That shaking is more likely to have been an Apokoliptian attack than anything natural."

I suppose that Apokolips didn't just go on hold because we fought them off…

"I assume that Supertown will deal with it if it was."

"Normally, yes, but if they are… If something is twisting their minds, they may not do so."

My ring flickers as Arisia sends the first bearing. It's from the west of here.

"What sort of weapons do you have?"

"Our innate powers. Beyond that, simple bows and spears."

"Are Apokoliptian raids a regular thing?"

"Not large ones. I can kill dog soldiers well enough, and we know these forests well enough that those who cannot fight can disappear."

"But, ultimately, you're dependant on Supertown."

His eyes narrow slightly. "You… Don't like the way we live, do you?"

"I can see the disadvantages. But I'm not the one who has to live with them."

Identity theft in progress. Eight percent complete.

"How is it on your world?"

"We have all forms of life from remote hunter-gatherers even more primitive than you to post-industrial megalopolises. We don't have any true arcologies yet and it'll be a while before we can colonise other planetoids, but…" I raise my left ring slightly. "My masters have experience with literally every form of society that's ever existed, and trialled most of them themselves."

Arisia sends another bearing, this time from the east. Triangulating the times and intensity puts the most probable location… Right along the wall of the continental shelf. Based on the speed of the waves through the ground…

Whatever caused the quake happened exactly when.. I started-

I construct-grab everyone as another shake rocks the settlement.

-assimilating the cells inside Aarden's bloodstream.

"Okay, we might have a problem."

Aarden and Mantis both give me a funny look.

"Another problem. The earthquake started when I started assimilating, which means that the Old God might possibly-."

"Stop at once."

"Yeah." I dismiss the construct. "I thought you might say that. Ah. Okay, I'm going to go and check-." K'Zandr lives in a cave. "Check on K'Zandr, and then check on where that earthquake came from. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to do about the Old God, but I'll come up with something when I get there."

Aarden looks concerned. "That does not sound wise."

"'Something' might be 'hand the whole matter over to Highfather', so it's basically what you'd do. Don't worry: I don't intend to engage a high-end arcane life form unless absolutely essential, and so far a being in that class has only killed me once."

"You.. look well for a dead man."

"Thank you. You don't look bad for a terminally ill man." I pick up my purple healing ray. "Mantis."

He clicks… Once.

"I can give you this." I offer him the ray. "If you use it on members of your hive who are ill, it should fix their symptoms. Alternately, you can come with me so that you can report back what I've found."

"I will do both. Others have followed by pheromone trail. I will give the ray to them. Then I will go with you."

"Alright. We'll also be picking up a colleague of mine." I reach out, putting my right hand on his left shoulder and transition us to the edge of the Primitive's clearing. "Alright, how-?"

Mantis click-hisses, and a mound of earth bulges up in the ground. Mantis tosses the the healing ray to it, and green limb reaches out and grabs it. Mantis clicks twice. "Healing tool of the gods. Take to All-Widow."

The other insectoid clicks twice back and then turns tail and runs.

Right, next thing. I transition us to K'Zandr's cave. "K'Zandr! Are you alright?!"

"Neither these stones nor these bones break easily. Get on with it!"

I nod, and transition Mantis and I to a cliff top overlooking the sea closest to where the earthquake originated.

"Orange Lantern to Arsenal. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, and I got some good news. Looks like I won't need you to build me a ship."

"Oh? Are you planning on staying?"

"No, I found one. Looks like it was made on earth, too."

I study the water for a moment, but while it appears choppy it doesn't appear to be getting more choppy. In that case…

"I'll be with you in a moment."
 
"Orange Lantern to Arsenal. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, and I got some good news. Looks like I won't need you to build me a ship."

"Oh? Are you planning on staying?"

"No, I found one. Looks like it was made on earth, too."

I study the water for a moment, but while it appears choppy it doesn't appear to be getting more choppy. In that case…

"I'll be with you in a moment."
Does anyone have any idea what Arsenal could be referring to?
 

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