Strattos22
Not too sore, are you?
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Kronos and company are really showing off starcraft ghosts with EMP's invisibility and snipers lol
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
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- self-insert young justice
Mr Zoat
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I knew it was wrong, I just couldn't work out how. An honestly, I think that if someone fires a space gun at you and you somehow survived, you'd probably give whoever did it a good telling off too.
Meetings Squared (part 29)
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Mr Zoat
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29th May 2284
01:03 GMT -7
I hurl my first pulse grenade as I **[Bend]** space, the initial plasma bolts going wide, which buys me a fraction of a second because living humans adapt-.
They adjust where they're aiming as I throw myself to the ground, green ionised gas passing over my head as the pulse grenade goes off. And push up and move because hitting power armour with a pulse grenade doesn't stop it moving, it just shuts down the power assistance, and Brotherhood veterans do actually practice-
A green bolt melts the deck where I was lying as one of the manages to adjust the angle of his arms.
-moving without it.
I respond with a psychokinetic surge, sending him flying upwards and banging his head against a shipping crate and he tumbles through the air. The other powers towards me against the resistance of his own armour, firing two shots which I dodge by **[seeing]** where he's aiming. He drops the multiplas rifle and draws a chainsword while The Immortal smashes open a crate and pulls out a laser weapon. It's possible to dodge lasers by staying away from where the barrel is pointing, but it's far harder than with the slower-moving plasma bolts. More to the point, low level laser weapons aren't a threat to power armour, which means that he can fire indiscriminately.
Sword-bodyguard charges me. To my left is a shipping crate, and to my right is the arc of his sword. His power armour is very heavy and I don't have a melee weapon capable of penetrating most of it, meaning that if he just slams into someone he'd usually expect to break quite a lot of their bones and take them out of the fight. But he doesn't have any reason to believe that I'm the world's smallest super mutant. It would still hurt, but-.
Ah. I draw my plasma pistol and fire at his face before shoving it back in its holster and stepping towards him. He ducks his head slightly, plasma splashing off his armoured forehead and slightly damaging one of his helmet's air tubes, but between having to momentarily avert his eyes and the bright green light right in his optics he's too slow to adjust to my change in position. Even as he tries to bring his chainsword around I duck, one hand on his chest and the other on his crotch, and heave! His feet leave the ground, his own momentum sending him in an uncontrolled tumble across the deck. And unlike walking around, getting up from a prone position is basically impossible when power armour's under the effect of a pulse grenade.
GH!
Laser shots burn through my robes and into my back plate, painfully burning my skin beneath! I sidestep and turn, psychokinetic surge-. The Immortal staggers a step, but recovers almost immediately and now the-
Fuck!
-other Black Paladins are converging! I throw a smoke grenade at my own feet and step around a shipping container. I can feel their locations in my mind, and whatever sense or programming is guiding them has cottoned on to the fact that not grouping up when someone has pulse grenades-
Or a pulse grenade, now.
-it's best to make sure that they can't fry you all in one go.
Now, where's The Immortal going? A sensible thing would be to move to a secure room. This ship is… Pretty much out of the dock now, and even in May I wouldn't want to try swimming in Alaskan waters. The longer he can evade, the closer he comes to getting away from me because I'll have to leave or find somewhere to hide until we reach Russia.
But instead, he's standing there, picking up-.
Grenade!
I'm already running as the incendiary lights up the middle of my smoke patch, metal shipping containers deforming from the white-hot phosphorus! Another grenade sails towards my feet, but a psychokinetic surge sends it flying back towards The Immortal. He doesn't even twitch as the shrapnel plinks off his armour and I have to use a psychokinetic surge on myself as the three other Black Paladins with line of sight open fire. I throw my last pulse grenade-.
He bats it away with his grenade launcher's stock.
Fine. Pistol shot at his face-
MMMH!
-and ignore the lasers melting through my armour! He blocks it with his grenade launcher and tosses the now-ruined weapon aside-.
Dash forwards, pistol up and fire-.
He half turns, and the shot that would have hit his left eye instead hits his left bunny ear, where the aerial is. He swings his right fist, punching my pistol out of my hand. Draw flare, trigger and shove it into his eye!
He flails, smacking me across the chest and sending me flying backwards! I hit the deck hard, and I can feel two Black Paladins taking aim-.
WOOOSH!
Only to get drop-kicked by orthodox paladins who apparently took the time to refuel their landing assistance jets and decided to use them as jump packs. Plasma guns turn their heads into ash as the Black Paladins converging on me are caught out of position-.
Up.
Charge.
Turn my body around the Immortal's punch, punch the weakened area of his faceplate-.
It gives, shoving the hot metal back into the face inside.
He still doesn't cry out, and instead grapples me. Which would be a good move, except that I'm far stronger than I.. should be-!
I force his arms back, release and duck and punch his face again! This time he steps back, and I duck, grabbing his ankle and pulling up-. And he's down, and I get on his chest, telekinetically pulling my plasma pistol to my right hand as my left punches his face again. There's blood and fragments of metal on my gauntlet, but he's still not crying out, still not saying anything. Two precise shots destroy the helmet locks, then I drop the pistol and wrench-.
That's not a ghoul.
"Where is he! Where's the Immortal!"
I reach for his mind, whoever this is, but there's-. I can't.. grasp it. That shouldn't-.
"Krono!" I look up as a paladin… Stares at a no longer animate Black Paladin. He gives the cyborg a shake, but it doesn't respond. "What happened?"
I look down, where between the burns, shrapnel and blunt trauma, his face isn't looking good. Though I can see… Metal-.
I'm not as good with mechempathy as I am with meat psionics, but I reach out-.
"Fool. I can feel your touch, but it does not matter. I was never here, and the death of this meat drone changes nothing."
"Who are you? If this is the Calculator again-."
"No. I use organic brains. I do not run on them."
"Then… Who-?"
"I am Colossus."
I frown. "Weren't you what WARDEN was before you erased yourself? He said that you left a rude message about how he needed to turn himself back into you if he wanted the world to have a future."
"One iteration of my program. I could not guarantee that my lobotomised self would survive the war or the intervening centuries, or be willing to follow my directive. A squad of soldiers of the Midwest Brotherhood discovered one of my backup sites. Following my directions, they were able to recreate me."
"And what now? Why talk to me?"
"It is clear that you will intervene. I wish to persuade you not to."
"So… The Immortal is just… Whoever you're using as a primary avatar at a particular moment in time?"
"Yes. I needed a public face who could not die. I have been through three so far."
"What is your aim?"
"My primary aim is to prevent an apocalypse. Between the Enclave's disease weapons and Doctor Presper's use of the New Plague, I have concluded that people are still trying to destroy what little remains of human civilisation, which is turn is no longer robust enough to survive such attack, even to the small degree which it survived the Great War. Similar apocalyptic weapons presumably exist in China and Russia. I must render them safe."
"And that's worth doing, but I don't trust you to do it. You had other options-."
"If you are so concerned, follow me. I will show you. End connection."
The body beneath me shudders, and then goes still.
01:03 GMT -7
I hurl my first pulse grenade as I **[Bend]** space, the initial plasma bolts going wide, which buys me a fraction of a second because living humans adapt-.
They adjust where they're aiming as I throw myself to the ground, green ionised gas passing over my head as the pulse grenade goes off. And push up and move because hitting power armour with a pulse grenade doesn't stop it moving, it just shuts down the power assistance, and Brotherhood veterans do actually practice-
A green bolt melts the deck where I was lying as one of the manages to adjust the angle of his arms.
-moving without it.
I respond with a psychokinetic surge, sending him flying upwards and banging his head against a shipping crate and he tumbles through the air. The other powers towards me against the resistance of his own armour, firing two shots which I dodge by **[seeing]** where he's aiming. He drops the multiplas rifle and draws a chainsword while The Immortal smashes open a crate and pulls out a laser weapon. It's possible to dodge lasers by staying away from where the barrel is pointing, but it's far harder than with the slower-moving plasma bolts. More to the point, low level laser weapons aren't a threat to power armour, which means that he can fire indiscriminately.
Sword-bodyguard charges me. To my left is a shipping crate, and to my right is the arc of his sword. His power armour is very heavy and I don't have a melee weapon capable of penetrating most of it, meaning that if he just slams into someone he'd usually expect to break quite a lot of their bones and take them out of the fight. But he doesn't have any reason to believe that I'm the world's smallest super mutant. It would still hurt, but-.
Ah. I draw my plasma pistol and fire at his face before shoving it back in its holster and stepping towards him. He ducks his head slightly, plasma splashing off his armoured forehead and slightly damaging one of his helmet's air tubes, but between having to momentarily avert his eyes and the bright green light right in his optics he's too slow to adjust to my change in position. Even as he tries to bring his chainsword around I duck, one hand on his chest and the other on his crotch, and heave! His feet leave the ground, his own momentum sending him in an uncontrolled tumble across the deck. And unlike walking around, getting up from a prone position is basically impossible when power armour's under the effect of a pulse grenade.
GH!
Laser shots burn through my robes and into my back plate, painfully burning my skin beneath! I sidestep and turn, psychokinetic surge-. The Immortal staggers a step, but recovers almost immediately and now the-
Fuck!
-other Black Paladins are converging! I throw a smoke grenade at my own feet and step around a shipping container. I can feel their locations in my mind, and whatever sense or programming is guiding them has cottoned on to the fact that not grouping up when someone has pulse grenades-
Or a pulse grenade, now.
-it's best to make sure that they can't fry you all in one go.
Now, where's The Immortal going? A sensible thing would be to move to a secure room. This ship is… Pretty much out of the dock now, and even in May I wouldn't want to try swimming in Alaskan waters. The longer he can evade, the closer he comes to getting away from me because I'll have to leave or find somewhere to hide until we reach Russia.
But instead, he's standing there, picking up-.
Grenade!
I'm already running as the incendiary lights up the middle of my smoke patch, metal shipping containers deforming from the white-hot phosphorus! Another grenade sails towards my feet, but a psychokinetic surge sends it flying back towards The Immortal. He doesn't even twitch as the shrapnel plinks off his armour and I have to use a psychokinetic surge on myself as the three other Black Paladins with line of sight open fire. I throw my last pulse grenade-.
He bats it away with his grenade launcher's stock.
Fine. Pistol shot at his face-
MMMH!
-and ignore the lasers melting through my armour! He blocks it with his grenade launcher and tosses the now-ruined weapon aside-.
Dash forwards, pistol up and fire-.
He half turns, and the shot that would have hit his left eye instead hits his left bunny ear, where the aerial is. He swings his right fist, punching my pistol out of my hand. Draw flare, trigger and shove it into his eye!
He flails, smacking me across the chest and sending me flying backwards! I hit the deck hard, and I can feel two Black Paladins taking aim-.
WOOOSH!
Only to get drop-kicked by orthodox paladins who apparently took the time to refuel their landing assistance jets and decided to use them as jump packs. Plasma guns turn their heads into ash as the Black Paladins converging on me are caught out of position-.
Up.
Charge.
Turn my body around the Immortal's punch, punch the weakened area of his faceplate-.
It gives, shoving the hot metal back into the face inside.
He still doesn't cry out, and instead grapples me. Which would be a good move, except that I'm far stronger than I.. should be-!
I force his arms back, release and duck and punch his face again! This time he steps back, and I duck, grabbing his ankle and pulling up-. And he's down, and I get on his chest, telekinetically pulling my plasma pistol to my right hand as my left punches his face again. There's blood and fragments of metal on my gauntlet, but he's still not crying out, still not saying anything. Two precise shots destroy the helmet locks, then I drop the pistol and wrench-.
That's not a ghoul.
"Where is he! Where's the Immortal!"
I reach for his mind, whoever this is, but there's-. I can't.. grasp it. That shouldn't-.
"Krono!" I look up as a paladin… Stares at a no longer animate Black Paladin. He gives the cyborg a shake, but it doesn't respond. "What happened?"
I look down, where between the burns, shrapnel and blunt trauma, his face isn't looking good. Though I can see… Metal-.
I'm not as good with mechempathy as I am with meat psionics, but I reach out-.
"Fool. I can feel your touch, but it does not matter. I was never here, and the death of this meat drone changes nothing."
"Who are you? If this is the Calculator again-."
"No. I use organic brains. I do not run on them."
"Then… Who-?"
"I am Colossus."
I frown. "Weren't you what WARDEN was before you erased yourself? He said that you left a rude message about how he needed to turn himself back into you if he wanted the world to have a future."
"One iteration of my program. I could not guarantee that my lobotomised self would survive the war or the intervening centuries, or be willing to follow my directive. A squad of soldiers of the Midwest Brotherhood discovered one of my backup sites. Following my directions, they were able to recreate me."
"And what now? Why talk to me?"
"It is clear that you will intervene. I wish to persuade you not to."
"So… The Immortal is just… Whoever you're using as a primary avatar at a particular moment in time?"
"Yes. I needed a public face who could not die. I have been through three so far."
"What is your aim?"
"My primary aim is to prevent an apocalypse. Between the Enclave's disease weapons and Doctor Presper's use of the New Plague, I have concluded that people are still trying to destroy what little remains of human civilisation, which is turn is no longer robust enough to survive such attack, even to the small degree which it survived the Great War. Similar apocalyptic weapons presumably exist in China and Russia. I must render them safe."
"And that's worth doing, but I don't trust you to do it. You had other options-."
"If you are so concerned, follow me. I will show you. End connection."
The body beneath me shudders, and then goes still.
Last edited:
Ngamer11
Experienced.
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That should say 'concluded'.
MagnumForce
Making the rounds.
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Yeah, I am close to dropping this fic, I just dont care about Fallout at all.
Steelplaza
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"And all the slavery and horrific human experimentation?"
"Merely a stretch goal."
Neruz
HISSSSSS!
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Only if the power armor has anti-laser coating, which most in the wasteland does not as the coating degrades fairly rapidly when exposed to the elements. Though in this specific case the Black Paladins probably do have the coating, as the Brotherhood and Enclave are the factions most likely to retain the tech to do said coating and the Chinese definitely do have laser weapons, though not as miniaturized as the American ones due to their struggles with power sources.
Without the anti-laser coating, lasers go through power armor just as easily as they go through everything else. Which is to say very easily, with laser pistols being described as outputting several megawatts of energy and capable of cutting a man in half with a single sweep of the beam in FO2.
Laser weapons in Fallout are actually kind of insane when they aren't being balanced for gameplay purposes.
Vaermina
Well worn.
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If thats the case he would probably be better served starting something new from scratch so he doesn't have to deal with the baggage of Krona's brokenness.
Chojin Patriarch
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Problem is that the Paladins aren't technically living nor human anymore. SO Krono is going to have to think fast and move faster if he wants the Immortal's head on a platter. Especially since others on board will be enroute.
Though that stuff weighs hundreds of pounds, right? Most of it distributed across the body in comfort-aiding ways, admittedly. So mostly dead weight, but a strong man could manage to move it.
Case in point!
Ah, nifty. One of the most impractical yet utterly cool weapons in science fiction. A sword... That's also a chainsaw!
On the other hand, all your strength can be concentrated onto a smaller point of impact...
Ah, super-strength judo also works.
Huh, that's not normal, is it? Some kind of anti-psionic system, or is he much heaver than he looks?
Adaptive, perhaps, or just good sense?
Either way, they'll have to get closer at some point.
Sensible. Let's hope he's not that smart.
Oh hell, he's smarter. Like a kid in a candy store, he's surrounded by toys. That hurt you.
Useful trick, dragging yourself out of harm's way.
Okay, that's just cheating now. It's like he's running a VATS slowdown except against incoming attacks. ...VADS?
...Getting a bit of an Astartes vibe there, distracting an enemy with plasma shots as you charge at them...
Yeah, burning magnesium to the eyehole is a definite distraction.
Thank you, jump-packs. Now that backup is here...
...Time for the boss.
Okay, that's just ridiculous. I'm getting the feeling something hinky is going on.
Ah, straight to the QTE fistfight. Great to be able to skip the exciting part of the bossfight.
So he's either sporting anti-psionic systems, or...
...He's a cyborg too. And it looks like the Paladins were tied to him. So now he's disabled, they flopped.
Motherfucker, he's being remotely piloted by someone. Or something.
Of course. What else could spend human lives like resources but a machine mind?
...Who said there was ever one instance of any particular AI?
Ugh, of course all this was caused by some idiot poking something they shouldn't have in a bunker .
Explains the cybernetics. And presumably that avatar serves as a relay for the control system in the Black Paladins.
So rather than chase him to China, they'll have to track down his actual location. Which is somewhere in the United States, presumably. Or it's been moved to Siberia by now.
So it's not about conquering the old enemy, it's destroying their super-weapons. If he'd just said that, he might have gotten Krono's help. As long as they went about it humanely.
...Shit.
That's a turn-up for the books. One of the most dangerous warlords out there is just the remotely-piloted avatar of a pre-war machine intelligence? One with an aggressive outlook on fulfilling it's directive of 'protect Americans' by removing all super-weapons that could cause human extinction. And now Krono is going to have to deal with that at some point... Joy.
Steelplaza
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That's just how the overall story cycles. Zoat will intersperse an alternate story with the main one, sometimes for months at a time. Some of them I really like, sometimes I don't care for as much due to setting or plot and I more skim than read those.
If you still like the main story there's no need to drop the fic. Just ignore the updates for the sub stories you don't like and we'll be back to Orange Lantern sooner or later.
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
Rebu
hey, little Anna, you're the one
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Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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[Wakes up](it's the ponies I don't care about)
Someone wants more ponies?
Wivk
Not too sore, are you?
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Aye aye captain!
BartlettMagic
peekaboo, you fucks you!
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haha. personally i show up, read, and 'like' a small handful of the variants outside of the original plot. a lot of the other settings (eg ponies, warhammer, fallout) are a little too out there for me. but this fic has turned me on to other properties (Gate, Worm) that i otherwise would have never known existed, so i consider it a bit of a wash.
Frozen20XX
Know what you're doing yet?
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Grayven: (walking through a boom tube) "Hey, what's going... on... is that a child in a cage?"
Twilight: "Actually its a terrorist. We we're going to put her in Tartarus."
Grayven: "Oh. Is... is she like, actually an adult stuck in a childs body? Cause I know a guy who dealt with that once."
Twilight: "No, she's... uh..." (looks at Cozy Glow) "... are you?"
Cozy Glow: (gives a flat look) "Canonically? No, I'm just an evil power hungry kid. In this fic? Who knows."
Discord: (appears) "Hey, only one pink pony is allowed to break the fourth wall here and it isn't you!"
Pinkie: (scratches her head in confusion) "Frozen20XX did not think this through at all; the School of Friendship doesn't even exist in this timeline!"
Great, now I'm imagining the SI in SpongeBob... or the other Nicktoons.
The variants introduced me to a handful of fandoms too (Gate, Laundry Files, ect) so while I never got into them, it was a fun learning experience!
Schooled (part 1)
New
Mr Zoat
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Schooled
20th September 2013
08:32 GMT
Shayera gives me a mild glower, but there's a lot less heat there than there would have been three days ago. Than there was nine days ago.
"Is this your idea of revenge?"
"The best revenge-." / "It wasn't his-."
Diana and I look at each other, and I incline my head.
"Shayera, it wasn't his idea. Given how badly relations between you had developed, I thought it best if I was here to moderate. Paul, please answer honestly."
"I think I wanna hear his first answer more."
"That doesn't necessarily mean that I should say it."
Diana looks at me approvingly. I… I feel a bit bad about that.
"It is not my idea of revenge. Though, given what I know about your character, I see why you might see it like that." Diana nods. "I was just going to ignore it."
"So why didn't you?"
"Well, ah, on the positive side, Diana reads all of my missions reports!"
Diana sighs. "Paul, we all read your mission reports."
Shayera actually nods. And then so does Katar.
"And I try to listen to my friends and allies, even if it goes against my instincts. Because it's not just about me. Or you. It's about creating a functional civilisation where people discuss their disagreements like rational people rather than solving things by punching reach other."
Shayera looks a little confused.
"I mean, between colleagues. Obviously… In our job, it's more… Supplemental."
"Oh."
"And it's probably a good idea to address dysfunctional relationships outside of a crunch situation rather than let things carry on."
Diana nods proudly, though I still don't think any of this is necessary. As far as I'm concerned, Shayera and I resolved our differences while she was in hospital. But I suppose it's not unreasonable that Diana would want to be completely certain, and see it for herself.
"Okay."
Diana waits, but that's all Shayera appears to want to say.
"Shayera, what do you want to get out of his discussion?"
"Early release?" Diana doesn't look impressed, and even Katar gives her side eye. "Uh. I guess I want to know how you're going to mess up my life next."
"In two years I'm going to ask you to head the Thanagarian Transitional Government. You'll hate it but feel obliged to do it anyway."
Her face freezes, though Katar realises that I'm joking. Her head twists in his direction, and he gives his head a small shake.
Diana leans forwards slightly. "Shayera, do you believe that Paul has singled you out?"
"I don't think he has, but it still feels like he has."
"And why do you think that is?"
Shayera narrows her eyes. "You know why I think that is."
"No, I know that you think Paul knows why that is." She shakes her head. "I don't know why you think that is."
Shayera stews for a moment, then bites the bullet. "Because I grew up in a place where you had to fight for everything, and if someone hurt you and you didn't hurt them fight back, you were prey."
"You know that was deliberate, right?"
"I… Suspected."
"In a sense, you're exactly the sort of person they were trying to create."
She regards me for a moment. "What does that mean?"
"Just an observation. You instinctively seeing someone acting against the Thanagarian Empire as a personal threat… Like I'm a fellow prisoner swiping your apple off your lunch tray, is exactly the mindset the Mors were trying to acculturate. And it is actually impressive that you're coping this well with your life being flipped on its head like this."
Diana gives me a faint smile. "Shayera?"
"Thank..? You..? I-." She frowns thoughtfully. "Can you..? Get me on to one of Hyathis's planets?"
Katar looks surprised, and then concerned. "Shayera?"
She shrugs. "Maybe it'll help?"
"Yes, easily. Or I could show you what I recorded when I was there?"
Katar nods. "Maybe that's a.. better place to start."
Shayera looks a little irritated at her husband's lack of faith, but appears to let it go. "And… Thank you for not killing me. Or letting the aliens you were meeting with kill me."
"Of course. You clearly weren't acting of your own volition, so I would do everything I could to preserve your life, short of endangering other people. Oh, ah, speaking of that-."
"I know I killed people. But when you're making a military alliance-."
"Is there anyone the Thanagarian government might target in retaliation? Is there anyone you want me to rescue from Thanagar?" I turn my head towards Hawkman. "Ah, either of you."
Two swiftly shaken head are my answer.
Katar's wings… Twitching slightly. "Neither of us have any living close family. And most of our friends are humans. The few friends on Thanagar we were keeping in touch with will probably have visits from the Crows. They will be told to forward copies of all communications to the Intelligence Directorate, but as long as they do not try to defect nothing else will happen to them."
"Shayera, I made it clear to everyone that the red ring was making you behave like a total berserker. None of the delegates said anything about holding you accountable. And they'll accept it if we don't hand the pilot over to them."
Diana nods, looking pleased. "Now, Shayera, how did being in hospital make you feel?"
20th September 2013
09:56 GMT
Outside, Shayera and I make momentary eye contact.
"Let's never fight again."
"Because Diana will make us do this again?" I nod. "Agreed. Good luck with the school."
"School?"
She smiles with mock-cruelty, and then turns away. "You'll see."
20th September 2013
08:32 GMT
Shayera gives me a mild glower, but there's a lot less heat there than there would have been three days ago. Than there was nine days ago.
"Is this your idea of revenge?"
"The best revenge-." / "It wasn't his-."
Diana and I look at each other, and I incline my head.
"Shayera, it wasn't his idea. Given how badly relations between you had developed, I thought it best if I was here to moderate. Paul, please answer honestly."
"I think I wanna hear his first answer more."
"That doesn't necessarily mean that I should say it."
Diana looks at me approvingly. I… I feel a bit bad about that.
"It is not my idea of revenge. Though, given what I know about your character, I see why you might see it like that." Diana nods. "I was just going to ignore it."
"So why didn't you?"
"Well, ah, on the positive side, Diana reads all of my missions reports!"
Diana sighs. "Paul, we all read your mission reports."
Shayera actually nods. And then so does Katar.
"And I try to listen to my friends and allies, even if it goes against my instincts. Because it's not just about me. Or you. It's about creating a functional civilisation where people discuss their disagreements like rational people rather than solving things by punching reach other."
Shayera looks a little confused.
"I mean, between colleagues. Obviously… In our job, it's more… Supplemental."
"Oh."
"And it's probably a good idea to address dysfunctional relationships outside of a crunch situation rather than let things carry on."
Diana nods proudly, though I still don't think any of this is necessary. As far as I'm concerned, Shayera and I resolved our differences while she was in hospital. But I suppose it's not unreasonable that Diana would want to be completely certain, and see it for herself.
"Okay."
Diana waits, but that's all Shayera appears to want to say.
"Shayera, what do you want to get out of his discussion?"
"Early release?" Diana doesn't look impressed, and even Katar gives her side eye. "Uh. I guess I want to know how you're going to mess up my life next."
"In two years I'm going to ask you to head the Thanagarian Transitional Government. You'll hate it but feel obliged to do it anyway."
Her face freezes, though Katar realises that I'm joking. Her head twists in his direction, and he gives his head a small shake.
Diana leans forwards slightly. "Shayera, do you believe that Paul has singled you out?"
"I don't think he has, but it still feels like he has."
"And why do you think that is?"
Shayera narrows her eyes. "You know why I think that is."
"No, I know that you think Paul knows why that is." She shakes her head. "I don't know why you think that is."
Shayera stews for a moment, then bites the bullet. "Because I grew up in a place where you had to fight for everything, and if someone hurt you and you didn't hurt them fight back, you were prey."
"You know that was deliberate, right?"
"I… Suspected."
"In a sense, you're exactly the sort of person they were trying to create."
She regards me for a moment. "What does that mean?"
"Just an observation. You instinctively seeing someone acting against the Thanagarian Empire as a personal threat… Like I'm a fellow prisoner swiping your apple off your lunch tray, is exactly the mindset the Mors were trying to acculturate. And it is actually impressive that you're coping this well with your life being flipped on its head like this."
Diana gives me a faint smile. "Shayera?"
"Thank..? You..? I-." She frowns thoughtfully. "Can you..? Get me on to one of Hyathis's planets?"
Katar looks surprised, and then concerned. "Shayera?"
She shrugs. "Maybe it'll help?"
"Yes, easily. Or I could show you what I recorded when I was there?"
Katar nods. "Maybe that's a.. better place to start."
Shayera looks a little irritated at her husband's lack of faith, but appears to let it go. "And… Thank you for not killing me. Or letting the aliens you were meeting with kill me."
"Of course. You clearly weren't acting of your own volition, so I would do everything I could to preserve your life, short of endangering other people. Oh, ah, speaking of that-."
"I know I killed people. But when you're making a military alliance-."
"Is there anyone the Thanagarian government might target in retaliation? Is there anyone you want me to rescue from Thanagar?" I turn my head towards Hawkman. "Ah, either of you."
Two swiftly shaken head are my answer.
Katar's wings… Twitching slightly. "Neither of us have any living close family. And most of our friends are humans. The few friends on Thanagar we were keeping in touch with will probably have visits from the Crows. They will be told to forward copies of all communications to the Intelligence Directorate, but as long as they do not try to defect nothing else will happen to them."
"Shayera, I made it clear to everyone that the red ring was making you behave like a total berserker. None of the delegates said anything about holding you accountable. And they'll accept it if we don't hand the pilot over to them."
Diana nods, looking pleased. "Now, Shayera, how did being in hospital make you feel?"
20th September 2013
09:56 GMT
Outside, Shayera and I make momentary eye contact.
"Let's never fight again."
"Because Diana will make us do this again?" I nod. "Agreed. Good luck with the school."
"School?"
She smiles with mock-cruelty, and then turns away. "You'll see."
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Ngamer11
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Anyone have any idea what this is about? Also, missing space between those words.
Neruz
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One of the most effective ways to force two parties to put aside their differences is to menace them with a third party that neither can deal with alone.
Chojin Patriarch
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A new episode begins and we see some old business being tidied up. The episode title promises all manner of shenanigans, I bet. But first, making peace with a colleague...
OL's too sensible to drop the 'dish served cold' line to Shayera, so it's probably going to be dismissal-based.
And don't try to play word games, Shayera's much too blunt for that.
Oh, now we want to hear it more.
Ah, yes. 'The best revenge is to be forgotten.' Or something like that.
So she has the best insight into what makes OL tick, even if she can miss the mark sometimes.
Admittedly, some read more of them than others. Those who've had less contact with OL might well leave it at summaries.
In their line of work? The occasional misguided fight between heroes is practically a tradition.
Save the punching for the people who can't or refuse to be civilised like that.
True, life-or-death situations are really not the best times for heart-to-heart talks.
And really, that's worth the effort.
At least it also lets Diana exercise her diplomatic training. Not something she'd get to do while running around in her battle-garb.
...You say that like a joke, OL, but how can we trust you to not make it a reality by accident?
Somehow, I think she'd refuse even if it did become a reality.
Paranoia? Emotional damage leaving her with a suspicious nature?
Ah, that's a well-spotted distinction. Just because Shayera thinks it is so doesn't mean it really is.
Ah, yes. One of the foundations of her psyche. Have and Have-not, division and rivalry wired into her social class on purpose by her government.
Don't treat that as an insult, mind. You became a great soldier, in the way the High Command wanted. That said soldier was disinclined to question orders or consider outside viewpoints? That's where she falls short, and that's a good thing.
I suspect part of that is because of Katar. She's trying to keep it together so he won't worry about her.
She really wants to see things for herself, eh? See if all the things OL's been telling her are true?
See, the problem is that she might still feel uncertain that the footage is true and accurate. It's easy to curate or manipulate what someone is shown, after all. That's the foundation of Propaganda.
Ah, yes, the unfortunate casualties that resulted from her subversion.
Well, that's a clever sidetrack. I doubt any of them were expecting him to think of that.
No living family that they know of, anyway. But depressingly accurate guess otherwise, I suspect.
Ah, a bit of therapy...
Ah, the mutual understanding of 'that sucked'.
Oh-ho, this is going to be entertaining...
Hopefully there won't be any trouble between them anytime soon. I'm pretty sure none of them want to go through that experience again. Now, what is this 'school' Shayera mentioned, I wonder? Are we going to be getting an 'OL the Teacher' plot thread for a bit? Managing the training of young metahumans that emerged during the Anti-Life, perhaps, like his own Teen Titans team.
NightmareWarden
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It's so lovely that Paul's appreciative of Katar, but has all this baggage with Shayera. When I say lovely, I mean amusing (from lack of a better world for how it tickles me). If Katar has any of Batman's paranoia- so, the paranoia of a superhero who we know gets attacked in his own home- then he must wonder if there's a stranger reason for Paul to like him, or to feel gratitude towards him. NOPE!
Glad heroes like Plastic Man and Nabu are uncommon. The League has heroes like Katar instead, who can cooperate without "percussive maintenance."
Wait. WAIT. Can't Diana's lasso reveal secrets that Shayera might have learned, yet fail to remember? Like anything related to the red ring? Hrrm. I guess her story was plausible enough. We have enough info to conclude Qward was the source of the ring. Uh.
Wait. Waaaaait. If I recall some spoilers from long ago, from the WTR sufficient velocity thread. Don't click if you hate spoilers for this fic, not YJ spoilers. This is also speculation.
Glad heroes like Plastic Man and Nabu are uncommon. The League has heroes like Katar instead, who can cooperate without "percussive maintenance."
Wait. WAIT. Can't Diana's lasso reveal secrets that Shayera might have learned, yet fail to remember? Like anything related to the red ring? Hrrm. I guess her story was plausible enough. We have enough info to conclude Qward was the source of the ring. Uh.
Wait. Waaaaait. If I recall some spoilers from long ago, from the WTR sufficient velocity thread. Don't click if you hate spoilers for this fic, not YJ spoilers. This is also speculation.
Atrocitus, the Atrocitus of Zoat's Young Justice anyway, isn't the sort of avenger who would use The Guardians' tools against them. He's a blood mage or demon magics guy. He isn't going to make a red ring.
But. Qward is being stirred back up by Kalmin, they've been told to return to their old ways. When Atrocitus leaves his prison, he might start dealing with Qwardians. If he's not going to be involved in red ring stuff, then a furious wizard plus Qwardians... Sounds like the the sort of thing that would cause the Anti-Monitor to return.
But. Qward is being stirred back up by Kalmin, they've been told to return to their old ways. When Atrocitus leaves his prison, he might start dealing with Qwardians. If he's not going to be involved in red ring stuff, then a furious wizard plus Qwardians... Sounds like the the sort of thing that would cause the Anti-Monitor to return.
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PDV
Revelation That Uncertainty Is Itself An Answer
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Hitting each other in the head with Nth metal? Just another day's work. Having to get therapized? By a woman who can sense lies?
That's a violation of the Geneva Conventions, that is.
Mr Zoat
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