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

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-08-27T08:04:26+0100

Mr Zoat said:
23rd July 2013
11:42 GMT

Mantis rasps disgruntledly as we appear in front of Roy and the serpentine New God, crouching behind a patch of shrubbery. Roy nods and points towards… A camouflage net.

Why a.. net?

Low-tech solution. Suggests a low-tech mind. This will be interesting to see what happens from here. Although I suspect Mantis feels like he left his lunch back at the Primitive's camp. First-time FTL transitions, am I right?

A hologram would be a better disguise… If it was going to be viewed from one direction, and the user was confident that no one with precision electromagnetic sensors was around because holograms can be detected. Magic-. We're on New Genesis. The world's thaumically active, so while magic would work, the use of it would almost certainly get picked up by someone. So they.. go low-tech, and that covers it from casual observation.

Or the creator simply didn't have anything more advanced. I mean, it's entirely possible it could be some steampunk thing, forgotten for years...

Why didn't Supertown detect it? Who owns it? Why did they come here?

"What makes you think it came from Earth?"

All very good questions, especially the identification of its origins.

"I recognize the camo netting. It's NATO-standard."

The ship has landed on a patch on bare rock at the bottom of a cliff, next to the trees it's using as cover. A thin ribbon of water is flowing over the cliff nearby and flowing in a thin stream next to the ship. I can't see any defences or defenders.

Huh. Suggests a fairly modern origin, then. But who would be out here, especially this far from Earth?

Odd.

"You want it?"

Roy lifts his right arm a little, then stops. "I mean, it's a starship, so, yeah."

Assuming the current owner isn't around, anyway. They may well be.

Construct armour, heavy armour and scan in detail… I throw out orange filaments which punch through the outer cases of the dozen sensors scattered around the clearing and subvert them. And… That looks like it's it. Genetic traces in the area… A lot of New God animals. No tracks.

Huh, guess it's up for grabs, because it sounds like the last owner hasn't been around for a while. Or didn't leave any DNA traces.

Ah…

"Is there a problem?" Roy looks mildly concerned. "You're the toughest guy-."

"Just me being over cautious." I fly at a moderate pace towards the vessel. "Ahoy the ship!" Something moves under the camo netting. "Anyone-?"

Best to be polite, never know if someone's present, or possibly injured aboard.

Brilliant yellow bolts blast out from the hull! They have no difficultly at all in tracking me, but… Construct armour seems to be holding. I could attack the ship, but I am fairly intimidating and I don't want to overreact.

Instead I just fly closer. Construct armour getting mildly abraded, but not to the point where I'd actually be worried.

Indeed, casually ignoring energy blasts directed at you tends to put most people off.

"Anyone home? This is jolly unfriendly!"

The guns stop firing, the camo netting having partly burned off to reveal parts of the hull. It's gold, and I think that's a figurehead on the prow. Okay, that-.

Loose like they decided to stop wasting energy on shooting. Although... A figurehead? Flashy.

The turrets are glowing-.

Construct thrusters throw me to the side as beams of golden energy roar past me, cutting through the trees behind me and slicing a swath through the forest!

Not progress, then!

Ah, a charge attack. Might have been effective, had their target been less agile.

The turrets start charging again as construct scissors slice through the remains of the netting, revealing the art deco ship, a sort of strange cross between a galleon and a submarine. The turrets… An effort's been made to make them fit in with the style of the rest of the ship, but they clearly don't. A later addition to an unarmed ship? So I could destroy them without feeling too bad about it-. Except that if they're a later addition they might have skipped surge protectors, or there might cause the an explosion in the capacitors and I don't know for certain whether there's anyone on board or not.

Oh, I think I know what this is. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find a good picture of it...

Entry hatch seems to be on the top-.

I dart up, another volley of high powered shots shooting past me. Not designed for anti-attack craft work then. Or anti-Lantern fire. The dorsal turrets take a shot when they have one, but a simple thruster construct pushes me aside and then there's the hatch. Construct grapple, twist-. Locked. Electronic, or-? No, manual. Lock pick construct-.

Logical, given it was made in the fifties or so. Very Raygun-gothic in design, hence the figurehead.

And dodge.

If there was someone on board they'd be taking off or calling for help about now.

So you're looking at automated defences, or someone on board who can't access the navigation and flight controls. Making it all the clearer who's aboard...

Click.

Open the hatch and inside-

Bztzap!

-and I take one last shot to the face from the interior turret, which… Visible power cable. Snip that, and use a construct to siphon power just in case-.

Heh. That's almost petty, both the shot and the dismissive disabling.

That's cosmic energy. I thought the shots looked familiar. The owner's using Doctor Theodore Knight's technology. Which is notoriously safe, and… One of the few competitors that my Bleed torsion generator has as far as modern electrical generation goes. Definitely from Earth, then, because there are no records of that form of power generation from anywhere else that I've got records for.

And there we are. The original Starman, Ted Knight, created a space-vessel using his technology. I want to say it was called the 'Starfarer'? Been quite a while since I read the Trades that Starman Volume 2 was collected into...

We saw its design used in the Renegade's timeline to create Lex's spacefleet. But here...

And… He wouldn't had built in a self-destruct, but if the turrets were added…

The interior looks a little like a first class train carriage from a century ago. The furniture is carved wood and richly upholstered, but the sleeping area and galley are tiny. The control computer is…

Say what you will, Ted have a sense of style.

Is that a Mother Box?

Ping.

"Well, then. This is a fine mess. How to sort all this out, I wonder?" Not just any Mother Box, you'll find. This one...

"Ah. Well, good. Do you mind me taking control of the compu-"

Theodore Knight appears in front of me and swings at me with his fight fist!

"-tor?"

...Has a copy of a younger Ted Knight's mind imprinted on it like a personality engram.

It-. Goes through me, because it's a hologram. Why-?

Distraction. I shove filaments through the outer casing of the ship's control system and grab…

I have to wonder how much of a kludge the computers are, given it would likely have been made with vacuum tubes and...

What the heck is this? Half of it's some sort of Babbage engine, and-. Okay, that's the modern bit, take that. And… Reset the user permissions…

The Theodore Knight hologram flickers, then appears to relax, theatrically mopping his brow. "Thanks. I thought I was going to be stuck like that."

...Huh, a mechanical computer. I see someone else did the equivalent of hacking by plugging in newer tech, though.

I peer at him. "You're not Doctor Knight. He died years ago."

"Ah." The hologram nods. "I didn't know that, but I guess it's been long enough that I shouldn't be surprised. I'm a computer program designed to think and act like him."

Young, healthy in mind and hopefully not suffering any of the mental issues some versions did. At least one version of Ted took part in the Manhattan Project and its result nearly broke him.

"Pleased to meet you. What are you doing here?"

"Here? Couldn't tell you. But I've been stuck flying Vandal Savage around ever since be brought this ship out of mothballs and I'm sick of it."

Just to be specific: How long ago was this? Anytime after the last couple of years, and, well...

I sigh. "He's not dead, then?"

"He's immortal."

Why do I get the feeling he recovered, went to the ship and fucked off from Earth for a while? Perhaps in search of alien allies...

"Yes, but sometimes that doesn't stop them being killed if you're really thorough." I sigh again. "Do you know who I am?"

"You said 'Orange Lantern'. Is that anything like Green Lantern?"

I nod. "Alan Scott is one of my mentors, and a good friend."

Joy of knowing the right people.

"Do you know what my son Jack's doing now?"

"He retired from being Starman to look after his children. Aside from an emergency six months ago he mostly just runs his shop. Okay, how about you tell me what you're doing here, and I'll fill you in on everything else?"

That emergency would have been the Anti-Life, wouldn't it? Wonder if he or Shade took over Star City?

Ah, this is going to be a fun time. Stealing the ship Vandal Savage already stole, and letting Roy have some space adventures in the meantime. That does raise the question of what Vandal was doing here on New Genesis, and where he is now? Remember, he was canonically playing stupid games by working with Apokalips by Season 2. Perhaps this is how he gained a meeting?

Frozen20XX · 2025-08-27T11:52:56+0100

Mr Zoat said:
I'm reasonably sure that's not correct.

Actually, My Little Pony: Rise of Cadance reveals Cadance was still a pegasus when she came to Canterlot. She became Twilight's foalsitter not long after she became an alicorn, though she and Shining did see each other in passing but didn't properly have a conversation until after she ascended.

Stsword · 2025-08-27T12:08:05+0100

Well when they show Cadence was Twilight's babysitter Cadence does look noticeable younger.

So Cadence wasn't an adult when Twilight was a child, so yeah, I'd say Cadence and her husband are at least relatively close in age.

Darko · 2025-08-27T12:26:59+0100

GhostKing 666 said:
At least the technology is being used to some degree in the Paragon timeline. Guess Savage felt he actually needed it enough that setting on it just to spit an old enemy was no longer practical.

Here's hoping that Paul can make sure the technology of that ship gets replicated, modernized and started putting into use by people other than Vandal Savage.

The tech is already bring used on Earth.

I can't remember which chapter, but it was mentioned that because Paul released those Bleed generators other companies also released their own stuff.

The cosmic energy was released by Stagg Industries.

BartlettMagic · 2025-08-27T13:07:37+0100

excellent update. and i agree that vandal savage needs assimilated... but didn't that cause Grayven to delete him or purge him from the ring somehow? something to do with an immortal's life being too big of a data packet for the human brain to absorb, and it was causing some problems. or was it the combo of assimilating both Savage and Ras AlGul and having two functionally immortal memory banks?

regardless, i do miss OL using assimilation as a weapon.

Arsenal getting Theodore Knight's ship gives me Tom Paris vibes and i'm here for it

Frozen20XX · 2025-08-27T13:31:23+0100

BartlettMagic said:
excellent update. and i agree that vandal savage needs assimilated... but didn't that cause Grayven to delete him or purge him from the ring somehow? something to do with an immortal's life being too big of a data packet for the human brain to absorb, and it was causing some problems. or was it the combo of assimilating both Savage and Ras AlGul and having two functionally immortal memory banks?

regardless, i do miss OL using assimilation as a weapon.

Nope, Renegade Savage is still a construct same with Ra's (the only ones he's confirmed to have removed were Sportsmaster, Bane, and Nabu via the Sword of the Fallen). Paragon OL did mention he was going to look for non sapient creatures to assimilate after he got the Hydra Heads.

Steelplaza · 2025-08-27T13:38:33+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"You said 'Orange Lantern'. Is that anything like Green Lantern?"

I went back and searched the dialogue and I cannot find OL actually saying "Orange Lantern" in the presence of the ship, though he might have said something offscreen.

Agumentic · 2025-08-27T13:39:41+0100

GhostKing 666 said:
At least the technology is being used to some degree in the Paragon timeline. Guess Savage felt he actually needed it enough that setting on it just to spit an old enemy was no longer practical.

Here's hoping that Paul can make sure the technology of that ship gets replicated, modernized and started putting into use by people other than Vandal Savage.

I think Roscosmos actually already has at least a few ships based on that technology.

Duke Long · 2025-08-27T14:54:20+0100

Mr Zoat said:
The turrets start charging again as construct scissors slice through the remains of the netting, revealing the art deco ship, a sort of strange cross between a galleon and a submarine. The turrets… An effort's been made to make them fit in with the style of the rest of the ship, but they clearly don't. A later addition to an unarmed ship? So I could destroy them without feeling too bad about it-. Except that if they're a later addition they might have skipped surge protectors, or there might cause the an explosion in the capacitors and I don't know for certain whether there's anyone on board or not.

'it might cause an explosion'?

Mr Zoat said:
And… He wouldn't had built in a self-destruct, but if the turrets were added…

'have'

Mr Zoat said:
"Ah. Well, good. Do you mind me taking control of the compu-"

Theodore Knight appears in front of me and swings at me with his fight fist!

"-tor?"

'right'?
'-ter?'?

The linked image made me guess we were seeing some more time travel, but Savage makes sense too. Wonder what he's up to on New Genesis.

Steelplaza · 2025-08-27T16:11:59+0100

"So 'Cosmic Energy' is probably one of those power sources that most species discover as party of standard technological progression, right?"

"Nope, just Earth! Nobody else knows what the fuck Cosmic Energy even is."

Earth do be crazy. I wonder if "Cosmic Energy" is another way of tapping into the Source. Source stuff seems to break the rules on not being explicable by science, but not 'magic' in that it's not tied to planetary thaumospheres.

mastermenthe · 2025-08-27T18:30:00+0100

KharnTheBrotrayer said:
If Vandal is still around it's time for OL to turn him into a construct for the good of the species.

That's a bit risky to OL's psyche. I suggest having a different Orange Lantern be brought in to assimilate Vandal, one that won't be affected by incorporating a living memory as deep as humanity itself.

Remember, you have to plan for the worst here, and the worst is that something manages to trick OL into summoning Construct-Vandal, and then successfully *pop* Construct-Vandal to force OL to absorb the entirety of his experiences.

AmericanNumbers · 2025-08-27T18:50:05+0100

So Vandal Savage either qualifies as an Old God thru his power or is fucking around with the Source? Not sure which is more unpleasant for OL

Mr Zoat · 2025-08-27T18:50:09+0100

Steelplaza said:
I went back and searched the dialogue and I cannot find OL actually saying "Orange Lantern" in the presence of the ship, though he might have said something offscreen.

I'll edit that, then.

Duke Long said:
'it might cause an explosion'?
'have'
'right'?
'-ter?'?

Thank you, corrected.

Frozen20XX said:
Actually, My Little Pony: Rise of Cadance reveals Cadance was still a pegasus when she came to Canterlot. She became Twilight's foalsitter not long after she became an alicorn, though she and Shining did see each other in passing but didn't properly have a conversation until after she ascended.

Wait... So someone was stealing love out of people with a magic amulet in the capital city, and their preparations for fighting a species that does the exact same thing were still non-existent years later?

AmericanNumbers said:
So Vandal Savage either qualifies as an Old God thru his power or is fucking around with the Source? Not sure which is more unpleasant for OL

Huh? Not sure how you reached that conclusion.

AmericanNumbers · 2025-08-27T18:55:58+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Huh? Not sure how you reached that conclusion.

Oh, I was just assuming that because the Oracle was saying this was being triggered by an Old God and Vandal is there he was the cause. Never mind then.

Darko · 2025-08-27T20:13:02+0100

mastermenthe said:
That's a bit risky to OL's psyche. I suggest having a different Orange Lantern be brought in to assimilate Vandal, one that won't be affected by incorporating a living memory as deep as humanity itself.

Remember, you have to plan for the worst here, and the worst is that something manages to trick OL into summoning Construct-Vandal, and then successfully *pop* Construct-Vandal to force OL to absorb the entirety of his experiences.

Paul has assimilated long-lives beings before.

Demon Nabu and Satanus come to mind.

None of these seemed to negatively impact him.

Frozen20XX · 2025-08-27T20:14:05+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Wait... So someone was stealing love out of people with a magic amulet in the capital city, and their preparations for fighting a species that does the exact same thing were still non-existent years later?

No, that happened in the nondescript earth pony village that Cadance was raised in. Cadance didn't come to Canterlot until she got her cutie mark after she stopped said love stealing unicorn.

But bottom line, yes, Shining and Cadance have known each other prior to the latter's ascension and the fact they attended the same high school means they're probably around the same age.

mastermenthe · 2025-08-27T23:11:57+0100

Darko said:
Paul has assimilated long-lives beings before.

Demon Nabu and Satanus come to mind.

None of these seemed to negatively impact him.

That's because Paul never let them (Nabu or Satanus) out of his ring to be killed in combat. Whenever an orange light construct is killed, the user immediately absorbs all memories of the construct.

Initial assimilation does not count as being killed, and until the assimilated individual is killed for the first time, they retain full continuity of self and full individuality of existence. It's only after a construct's first death that they become an extension of the Orange Lantern's desires.

Frozen20XX · 2025-08-27T23:19:51+0100

mastermenthe said:
That's because Paul never let them (Nabu or Satanus) out of his ring to be killed in combat. Whenever an orange light construct is killed, the user immediately absorbs all memories of the construct.

No, its whenever the construct returns to his ring that he gets the memories. Them being destroyed in battle is just what sends them into the ring more often. I think Renegade referenced that after assimilating his Light. I'll double check.

Edit: Here.

RoninSword · 2025-08-28T00:11:59+0100

AmericanNumbers said:
Oh, I was just assuming that because the Oracle was saying this was being triggered by an Old God and Vandal is there he was the cause. Never mind then.

As the Oracle said, by all appearances the White Light burst caused the Old God to stir in its slumber.

But remember the actual reason Paul and Co came here. To see if anyone on New Genesis was giving aid in understanding, using and modifying New God tech. That Savage is here just means Savage is fucking around.

Edit: and then according to Arisia, people in Supertown are going crazy.

NightmareWarden · 2025-08-28T01:31:09+0100

I wonder if Arisia and Paul went to the "wrong" sites for their respective strengths.

RoninSword said:
Edit: and then according to Arisia, people in Supertown are going crazy.

I'm saying Paul's reason for avoiding Supertown and a New God fist in his face is valid, buuuuut perhaps if he had gone there he'd recognize the optimal way to use their New God tech. He'd be able to stabilize their end of this big issue.

Ultimately, I think it's a good thing to that this setup is keeping Paul from scanning and attuning with the high end of the tech tree (new god tech). His tattoos are soaking up this part of civilization's harmonious mixture of chaos and order rather than the city's orderly state. He's on his way to becoming some cousin of the new gods's evolutionary branch rather than a normal new god.

Mr Zoat · 2025-08-28T06:19:05+0100

15th August 2000
12:37 GMT

There's a pained expression on my face as I look up from my work and towards Senior Agent Blaze.

"Sir, I don't have as much experience as you do with Senior Agent Fitzpatrick's plans. Um."

We both look around at the… Frame we're building.

"Is this..? Typical?"

Senior Agent Blaze sighs. "Oi can't say I've paid him much attention before."

"I'm hurt, Sh'lainn." Senior Agent Fitzpatrick walks closer at ground level as the last… Parts, are unloaded from Alliance biohazard transportation caskets. He takes a look inside one of them and checks it off on his clipboard. "At least I get an 'I can't believe that actually worked' from Nick."

Senior Agent Blaze huffs. "It hasn't worked yet."

He looks up, grinning. "Okay, but remember: when it does, it's 'I can't believe that actually worked'."

She rolls her eyes while I consider said plan. "Sir…" I'm not even sure how to address this. "Isn't this a waste of shadoen body parts? We can't have recovered that many?"

"Eh, the lab's already done what it can with these-" He sticks his pencil in one container and pulls out… I think that might be brain matter? "-bits and pieces." He takes a sniff, grimaces, and drops it back. "The whole ones were too valuable to lose, but this stuff's basically useless for anything else."

"And the cyclops can't tell the difference between living tissue and dead tissue?"

"No-." He taps his nose with his pencil, then drops it as he scrabbles for a tissue to wipe off the shadoen possibly-brain goo his just got on himself. "No nose. And they aren't all that clever. It got visual scans, heat scans and it might have a D.N.A. scanner, but it can't smell decay."

I suppose I didn't see an opening for an airborne chemical analyser.

He gestures up to the Frankensteinian crime against nature that Senior Agent Blaze and I have been working on.

"So if we make this look kind of like a big shadoen..?"

I nod as I stitch together some of the new parts. "Then we can control where it goes. But we still need a way to destroy it, or put it back into stasis."

"Why?"

I frown, briefly glancing at Senior Agent Blaze who looks just as puzzled as I feel.

"Because it's a giant war robot?"

"Right!" He finishes cleaning off his nose and then crouches down to carefully wipe down his pencil before picking it up. "So what's it here for?"

"To destroy its target..?"

"Right! And once that's happened, what do you think it's programmed to do?"

Ah..? "Wait for a new target?"

"Right! And since we got all the shadoen on Earth, it should just stand there and wait."

"Um. Right. Just one problem, sir?"

"Yeah?"

"If it's got a D.N.A. scanner, what stops it detecting the shadoen corpses at Alliance headquarters?"

"About six feet of TEMPEST shielding and a really big ocean." He shrugs. "I mean, honestly, if it tries walking to the U.S. from here I think that's job done."

Senior Agent Blaze and I look at each other with more concern.

"Y' didnae bring Nema along, did yeh?"

Senior Agent Fitzpatrick sags slightly. "Nah. She got promoted, then the new boss stuck her on V.I.P. escort. She's taking some guys from the D.o.D. 'round an Intracom factory right now."

"Sir, did-?"

Alert!

I look up in the direction the cyclops is coming from. "Sir, I'm afraid that we're out of time."

"Okay." He turns around to the team of technicians and engineers we've been working with. "Pack it up, people! Leave the shadoen goo here, clear out everything else!"

And he promptly clears out himself, leaving final preparations to myself and Senior Agent Blaze.

"You'd best clear off as well, sir. If it's registered you as an enemy, it might decide to pursue you even after its primary target is destroyed."

She nods, looking me over carefully. "'re yew sure you can handle this?"

"There are no certainties in life, sir, but I've got the best chance." Check distance. "Sir, it should be in range in-."

"Two seconds!"

"Yes, it-."

Eyes white, hair wild, shove and get in the meat suit!

"One second!"

Grab onto the support struts, keeping the glow concealed as much as possible, manipulate the forearms into grabbing the shadoen plasma cannon and leap!

The brilliant ray of energy flashes past me and bores into the hillside I was standing on, throwing up-. A rain of baked clay and carbonized plant matter. I raise the plasma cannon to fire while doing my best to replicate the scrabbling motion of the shadoen. Since they never landed we only had recordings of two examples of them walking, but-. I'm getting it.

My earpiece buzzes.

"Y-?"

"One second!"

I leap again, the cyclops's second shot missing as the beam slashes across where it thought I'd be running. My own shots take longer to hit, and-. Upper torso and head, no visible damage. But that's fine, I don't want to destroy it, just make the fight realistic and then get out.

"One-"

Leap and a slight redirect by using the ring's flight ability-

"-second!"

-and the beam slashes through where I would have been if my leap had matched the previous two.

I scurry towards a copse of trees for concealment, deciding not to shoot. It's not distracted by me shooting it so there's no point until I've got a better shot.

"I definitely have its attention, sir."

I change my vector and a beam impacts in the centre of the copse, throwing chunks of burned tree in all directions.

"I believe that unless something major changes, I can complete the mission."

I hear a male sigh. Senior Agent Fitzsimmons?

"You had to-"

The hillside to my left explodes, as-. A second cyclops pulls itself free of the rock.

"-say it, didn't you?"

Neruz · 2025-08-28T06:44:03+0100

Tis human nature to tempt fate, and tis fate nature to smack the human tempting fate upside the head.

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-08-28T07:05:59+0100

Mr Zoat said:
15th August 2000
12:37 GMT

There's a pained expression on my face as I look up from my work and towards Senior Agent Blaze.

"Sir, I don't have as much experience as you do with Senior Agent Fitzpatrick's plans. Um."

It's bad, isn't it? Not as in likely to fail, just... Really unlikely to work correctly either. Because while unconventional may get the job done, it usually does so with complications, usually spread out across an acre of local terrain...

We both look around at the… Frame we're building.

"Is this..? Typical?"

Senior Agent Blaze sighs. "Oi can't say I've paid him much attention before."

I mean, given that Nick isn't exactly hard on the eyes, I can see why...

"I'm hurt, Sh'lainn." Senior Agent Fitzpatrick walks closer at ground level as the last… Parts, are unloaded from Alliance biohazard transportation caskets. He takes a look inside one of them and checks it off on his clipboard. "At least I get an 'I can't believe that actually worked' from Nick."

...They're using chunks of dead shadoen to build a dummy? Gruesome.

Senior Agent Blaze huffs. "It hasn't worked yet."

He looks up, grinning. "Okay, but remember: when it does, it's 'I can't believe that actually worked'."

It'll be a cold day in hell before she says it, I suspect.

She rolls her eyes while I consider said plan. "Sir…" I'm not even sure how to address this. "Isn't this a waste of shadoen body parts? We can't have recovered that many?"

"Eh, the lab's already done what it can with these-" He sticks his pencil in one container and pulls out… I think that might be brain matter? "-bits and pieces." He takes a sniff, grimaces, and drops it back. "The whole ones were too valuable to lose, but this stuff's basically useless for anything else."

...Ew. I have to wonder why they needed the brain matter? Or was it a case of 'grab everything! No time to sort it!'?

"And the cyclops can't tell the difference between living tissue and dead tissue?"

"No-." He taps his nose with his pencil, then drops it as he scrabbles for a tissue to wipe off the shadoen possibly-brain goo his just got on himself. "No nose. And they aren't all that clever. It got visual scans, heat scans and it might have a D.N.A. scanner, but it can't smell decay."

Seems a bit of an oversight. Will it stop attacking before the remains are reduced to ash, or...

I suppose I didn't see an opening for an airborne chemical analyser.

He gestures up to the Frankensteinian crime against nature that Senior Agent Blaze and I have been working on.

Admittedly, it sounds impressive. Hopefully it's as simple as standing it upright and letting the cyclops shoot it...

"So if we make this look kind of like a big shadoen..?"

I nod as I stitch together some of the new parts. "Then we can control where it goes. But we still need a way to destroy it, or put it back into stasis."

Especially if it gets angry when you or she get close.

"Why?"

I frown, briefly glancing at Senior Agent Blaze who looks just as puzzled as I feel.

"Because it's a giant war robot?"

Feels kind of sloppy to leave it just standing around, and god forbid it should start hunting.

"Right!" He finishes cleaning off his nose and then crouches down to carefully wipe down his pencil before picking it up. "So what's it here for?"

"To destroy it's target..?"

And then what, though..?

"Right! And once that's happened, what do you think it's programmed to do?"

Ah..? "Wait for a new target?"

Not exactly a lot of giant shadoen running around, fortunately. you'd think someone would have noticed if there were.

"Right! And since we got all the shadoen on Earth, it should just stand there and wait."

"Um. Right. Just one problem, sir?"

He did mention whole corpses, after all.

"Yeah?"

"If it's got a D.N.A. scanner, what stops it detecting the shadoen corpses at Alliance headquarters?"

"About six feet of TEMPEST shielding and a really big ocean." He shrugs. "I mean, honestly, if it tries walking to the U.S. from here I think that's job done."

No, it just means more time to wait and prepare for its arrival. And god-knows-what kind of seismic upheavals if it can do the same to the Atlantic Floor that it's doing here.

Senior Agent Blaze and I look at each other with more concern.

"Y' didne bring Nema along, did yeh?"

From context... A shadoen traitor who works with the good guys? Or at least close enough for the cyclops to aggro on her. That or someone strong enough to fight it hand-to-hand...

Senior Agent Fitzpatrick sags slightly. "Nah. She got promoted, then the new boss stuck her on V.I.P. escort. She's taking some guys from the D.o.D. 'round an Intracom factory right now."

"Sir, did-?"

Suppose that's one way to keep her out of trouble?

Alert!

I look up in the direction the cyclops is coming from. "Sir, I'm afraid that we're out of time."

And there goes any remaining prep time. Looks like it's time to clear the killzone.

"Okay." He turns around to the team of technicians and engineers we've been working with. "Pack it up, people! Leave the shadoen goo here, clear out everything else!"

And he promptly clear out himself, leaving final preparations to myself and Senior Agent Blaze.

Oh, joy.

"You'd best clear off as well, sir. If it's registered you as an enemy, it might decide to pursue you even after its primary target is destroyed."

She nods, looking me over carefully. "'re yew sure you can handle this?"

Confidence is basically a requirement for Green Light use. The determination that you can do this.

"There are no certainties in life, sir, but I've got the best chance." Check distance. "Sir, it should be in range in-."

"Two seconds!"

Ooh, it's moving quick. It must have sighted the enemy.

"Yes, it-."

Eyes white, hair wild, shove and get in the meat suit!

Took me a second to parse that was her hauling ass away and him diving for the shell.

"One second!"

Grab onto the support struts, keeping the glow concealed as much as possible, manipulate the forearms into grabbing the shadoen plasma cannon and leap!

A working gun will make the act more convincing, I suppose.

The brilliant ray of energy flashes past me and bores into the hillside I was standing on, throwing up-. A rain of baked clay and carbonized plant matter. I raise the plasma cannon to fire while going my best to replicate the scrabbling motion of the shadoen. Since they never landed we only had recordings of two examples of them walking, but-. I'm getting it.

I'm guessing the joints just naturally fall into a scuttling posture.

My earpiece buzzes.

"Y-?"

"One second!"

Eh? I'm guessing counting the cooldown for its eye-blast. Makes sense that it can't sustain fire for long.

I leap again, the cyclops's second shot missing is the beam slashes across where it thought I'd be running. My own shots take longer to hit, and-. Upper torso and head, no visible damage. But that's fine, I don't want to destroy it, just make the fight realistic and then get out.

Preferably without turning the whole area into pottery shards and charcoal.

"One-"

Leap and a slight redirect by using the ring's flight ability-

Hopefully they're known for being twisty in the air. Or this cyclops is a little fuzzy about keeping track of details.

"-second!"

-and the beam slashes through where I would have been if my leap had matched the previous two.

Predictive targetting systems, of course. I suppose necessary if the enemy are lightning-quick for their size.

I scurry towards a copse of trees for concealment, deciding not to shoot. It's not distracted by me shooting it so there's no point until I've got a better shot.

"I definitely have its attention, sir."

For now, anyway. Let's hope it doesn't get bored.

I change my vector and a beam impacts in the centre of the copse, throwing chunks of burned tree in all directions.

"I believe that unless something major changes, I can complete the mission."

...Dammit, GK. I know, he's a relatively rookie at combat.

I hear a male sigh. Senior Agent Fitzsimmons?

"You had to-"

See, he knows you don't taunt Murphy...

The hillside to me left explodes, as-. A second cyclops pulls itself free of the rock.

"-say it, didn't you?"

...Until it's too late to have something go wrong.

Aw, shoot. What's the bet this is Fingal, of Fingal's Cave fame? Might be a bit far from the place itself, but nothing says he rests there. Which means this may just have turned into a two-v-one. GK might have to abandon the plan, let the shadoen dummy get baked and try to lead them away from the others. Or worse, the new cyclops is hostile to the first.

mastermenthe · 2025-08-28T07:10:39+0100

Neruz said:
Tis human nature to tempt fate, and tis fate nature to smack the human tempting fate upside the head.

Kingdom Death in a shellnut.

boo600 · 2025-08-28T11:14:09+0100

mastermenthe said:
That's a bit risky to OL's psyche. I suggest having a different Orange Lantern be brought in to assimilate Vandal, one that won't be affected by incorporating a living memory as deep as humanity itself.

Remember, you have to plan for the worst here, and the worst is that something manages to trick OL into summoning Construct-Vandal, and then successfully *pop* Construct-Vandal to force OL to absorb the entirety of his experiences.

Darko said:
Paul has assimilated long-lives beings before.

Demon Nabu and Satanus come to mind.

None of these seemed to negatively impact him.

Yeah, I'd be worried that Renegade only powered through that because of his New God nature, but Paul's Avatar of the Ophidian status is no joke, and he probably gets bonuses specifically for safe assimilation, since it's a specialized tool for his chosen specialty (orange light). Unless some else here had a different experience with a Paragon playthrough?

Duke Long · 2025-08-28T11:36:50+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"To destroy it's target..?"

'its'

Mr Zoat said:
"Y' didne bring Nema along, did yeh?"

'didnae'?

Mr Zoat said:
And he promptly clear out himself, leaving final preparations to myself and Senior Agent Blaze.

'clears'

Mr Zoat said:
The brilliant ray of energy flashes past me and bores into the hillside I was standing on, throwing up-. A rain of baked clay and carbonized plant matter. I raise the plasma cannon to fire while going my best to replicate the scrabbling motion of the shadoen. Since they never landed we only had recordings of two examples of them walking, but-. I'm getting it.

'doing'

Mr Zoat said:
I leap again, the cyclops's second shot missing is the beam slashes across where it thought I'd be running. My own shots take longer to hit, and-. Upper torso and head, no visible damage. But that's fine, I don't want to destroy it, just make the fight realistic and then get out.

'as'

Mr Zoat said:
The hillside to me left explodes, as-. A second cyclops pulls itself free of the rock.

'my'

Mr Zoat · 2025-08-28T12:55:30+0100

Duke Long said:
'its'
'didnae'?
'clears'
'doing'
'as'
'my'

Thank you, corrected.

Someguy Somewhere · 2025-08-28T13:25:04+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
Eh? I'm guessing counting the cooldown for its eye-blast

Evidently the banshee have a natural ability to predict when someone will likely die. The time she's calling out isn't a charge time for the gun, but predictions of GK getting hit and shuffling the mortal coil.

Mr Zoat · 2025-08-28T13:46:39+0100

Frozen20XX said:
Actually, My Little Pony: Rise of Cadance reveals Cadance was still a pegasus when she came to Canterlot. She became Twilight's foalsitter not long after she became an alicorn, though she and Shining did see each other in passing but didn't properly have a conversation until after she ascended.

Whow whow whow.

She ascended in Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria, where hundreds of people had seen her as a pegasus now got to see her as an alicorn? So the whole city would know that ascension is possible? And every major city in the country a few weeks later? That... That should have had a huge impact on pony society! *Yes Victoria, you can become Jesus.* The reason I and every other fanfic writer whose work I've read assumed that she ascended in her home village is so that Celestia keeping it quiet makes any sense at all.

Frozen20XX said:
No, that happened in the nondescript earth pony village that Cadance was raised in. Cadance didn't come to Canterlot until she got her cutie mark after she stopped said love stealing unicorn.

Okay, but was she an alicorn at that point?

But bottom line, yes, Shining and Cadance have known each other prior to the latter's ascension and the fact they attended the same high school means they're probably around the same age.

Mi Amore 'Dawson's Creek' Cadenza.

Stsword said:
Well when they show Cadence was Twilight's babysitter Cadence does look noticeable younger.

So Cadence wasn't an adult when Twilight was a child, so yeah, I'd say Cadence and her husband are at least relatively close in age.

Yeah, but... See how big Twilight ended up? She was 'still growing' in her twenties, due to her 'alicorn growth'.

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