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

[Chojin Patriarch]

Guy sits down next to me on the lump of defence satellite hull I dragged here from the Wombworld. I suppose that we may as well call it something else, now. I'll vote for 'Sheol' if anyone bothers talking to me about it.

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I doubt anyone will care to call it anything, now it's a burnt cinder.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"I won't feel completely terrible about it."

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That's about the best you could expect, after all this...

"'least it wasn't tha Queen causin' trouble."

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Should that 'least' have a capital?

I turn my head and glare at him for a moment.

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Yeah, not in the mood.

"Had a crazy AI turn a planet inta paperclips one time. I mean, we evacuated it before it killed everyone, but I still got a ringside seat at a whole world getting' 'maximised'."

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...Seriously, a planet actually had that happen? <facepalm> This is why you code limits on programmed routines.

"Psions are vat-grown from tailored genes. Then they get raised by other psions. As a technique it's not-. It wasn't quite as reliable as what the citadelians did, but it was pretty close. That isn't like the gordanians, where they're just 'martial' and 'aggressive'. There aren't any non-mad scientists psions any more than there were non-warrior citadelians."

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Single-Hat races. yay, DC.

He nods. "Logic, right. No point holdin' up yer end of tha treaty when tha other fellah's 're all dead."

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Well, Vega's getting cleaned up one way or the other now.

"They didn't complain too loud."

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Given they could still easily be prosecuted by the Guardians for Genocide...

I send a tether down, then yank, a surprised karnan woman with a simple laser weapon appearing in front of me.

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Man, this is the kind of things that get religions started...

She hesitates, then releases it and I let it float away into the void.

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Yeah, she could sense his last nerve vibrating like a violin string...

"I can search large groups for particular desires. You should be able to do something similar."

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Searching large groups for what, determination? Resolve?

"I'm making sure this bit goes alright, then I'm… Going back to Earth. I'm going to try putting Doctor Roquette in touch with Leonard Snart, she was having problems setting up cold fields for her nanofabricator… Unless you think there's something else I'm missing?"

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At least on Earth, things make sense.

Guy nods. "Think I can handle that. Keep tha kitties from shootin' the crocs, right?"

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And vice-versa, if necessary... I don't doubt a few Gordanians are chafing at the situation.

"You are unhappy."

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...Gee, you think?

She nods solemnly, walking closer and… Hugging me? I instinctively hug back, but I'm.. not sure why she's doing th-.

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Ah, Kory... Full of the positive Lights...

"Komand'r, I don't care about that. And neither should you. What matters is creating a decent civilisation, providing succour to the good and making sure that the bad can't hurt the good. The whole reason why we have a Corps is so that the parts which are faced with more opposition, the parts which are having a hard time, can get help from the rest. You feel bad calling for help? Lantern Ragnar would feel that he was being lazy because he missed out on the fight. This job doesn't just require that we put our bodies on the line, but sometimes our pride as well because the outcome for the people in our care is what matters most."

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Selflessness amidst avarice. An unusual concept.

"Okay. Now then, since the 'New Vega Alliance' has things planned out so well, where can I make myself useful?"

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So much for a minute or two?

So many colored quotes... I bet writing chapters with Guy and OL can get annoying, eh? Even if you have a macro for the quotes...

 

[thebishop8]

"The psion civilisation is evil, but it's a relatively small and contained evil.

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I guess you could make this past tense? *was evil, but it was
Don't really see anything else wrong.

Well Paul sure is feeling down about the whole thing. And it looks like the episode isn't over quite yet, my bad.

 

[Rebu]

"Had a crazy AI turn a planet inta paperclips one time. I mean, we evacuated it before it killed everyone, but I still got a ringside seat at a whole world getting' 'maximised'."

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I understood that reference.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Wrong sister.

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I guess you could make this past tense? *was evil, but it was

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Handlewithcare]

I feel like the sisters should have got a talking to.

At least a "Now you get to tell your parents how many helpless prisoners you let die"

 

[Buggy123]

I understood that reference.

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Knowing how DC works, I bet it was just a normal human-but-with-metal-skin AI that went crazy and turned everything into paperclips because they read about that thought experiment.

 

[rkyeun]

To be fair, Braniac is a paperclipper.

 

[TheEyes]

I feel like the sisters should have got a talking to.

At least a "Now you get to tell your parents how many helpless prisoners you let die"

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I'd be shocked if the ruler of Tamaran didn't know what was going on, in particular given how many of the principals here have duties on Tamaran.

And I expect that the "talking to" that Komand'r is going to get is going to include the words "You're fired" in it. Koriand'r apparently wasn't a fan of the "Kill 'em all and let the Source sort them out" plan, and is wishy-washy enough that this can be written off as being new to having agency and responsibility, but Komand'r was, to all appearances, an active participant in the action. If this isn't a fire-able offense in the Orange Lantern Corps I'm not sure there is one.

 

[ForeverShogo]

I'd be surprised if he fired her over it. He openly admitted that he didn't actually care that the Psions were genocided. His only objection was that they did it inefficiently, and a bunch of slaves and test subjects died with the Psions.

 

[Bigreader]

To me it seems as if Paul should maybe go somewhere away from all this for a while take off his own drain and vent a little bit because I really feel that even if he doesn't care about the pscion civilization he should still be pretty upset about the lies the lack of communication the lack of informing their Commanders about the situation it just well even if you don't care about all the people that got killed you'd still be kind of really angry about all this happening without you being aware of it

 

[X18999]

I'd be shocked if the ruler of Tamaran didn't know what was going on, in particular given how many of the principals here have duties on Tamaran.

And I expect that the "talking to" that Komand'r is going to get is going to include the words "You're fired" in it. Koriand'r apparently wasn't a fan of the "Kill 'em all and let the Source sort them out" plan, and is wishy-washy enough that this can be written off as being new to having agency and responsibility, but Komand'r was, to all appearances, an active participant in the action. If this isn't a fire-able offense in the Orange Lantern Corps I'm not sure there is one.

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Unfortunately OL set the precedent of genociding 'evil' species so he can't really punish them for it.

 

[Buggy123]

Unfortunately OL set the precedent of genociding 'evil' species so he can't really punish them for it.

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Except, he's not upset that they killed the Psions, he's upset that they did so in a sub-optimal manner that resulted in innocent civilians, slaves, and test subjects getting killed. "Consult me or at least ask for help if you're planning something massive that will result in lots of innocents dying if you do it on your own" is a pretty reasonable expectation.

 

[BR549]

If this isn't a fire-able offense in the Orange Lantern Corps I'm not sure there is one.

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Do you want a new Beast? Because that's how you get a new Beast.

 

[azqs]

Should that 'least' have a capital?

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It was a capital " ' "

I wonder if we're going to get Koriand'r on earth now that Vega is clearing up, she superheroed there for a while in other timelines, that could be interesting and she probably needs time to clear her head a little.

Also, yeah I can see OL being pissed at people for hiding everything from him, he probably needs to work on how he's perceived as well, I think a lot of the people in Vega expected him to object to the genocide. It was a mixture of pride (don't want to ask for help) and not wanting to be told to stop. Both of those could have been mitigated with better communication but he doesn't have the time. OL needs a secretary/personal assistant.

 

[jaelin910]

"Had a crazy AI turn a planet inta paperclips one time. I mean, we evacuated it before it killed everyone, but I still got a ringside seat at a whole world getting' 'maximised'."

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Rather amusing timing....

 

[Chaoswind]

Except, he's not upset that they killed the Psions, he's upset that they did so in a sub-optimal manner that resulted in innocent civilians, slaves, and test subjects getting killed. "Consult me or at least ask for help if you're planning something massive that will result in lots of innocents dying if you do it on your own" is a pretty reasonable expectation.

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Paul wouldn't have a leg to stand considering he placed all the citizens of London at risk when he attacked Nabu there.

Also I wouldn't blame the sisters for this, they hero worship Paul AND Adam Blake and are barely adults that both suffered a lot of trauma quite recently; Blake is a massively powerful telepath and empath, all he would have to do to get both sisters to not report to Paul would be to play their feelings of Hero worship towards both of them and their desires for revenge.

If we are going to blame anyone it should be Blake because where I am standing it feels like he left Paul out of the plan to be the corner stone of this fleet raid, Blake may be a super human, but he is still human and I would think he would want personal revenge on ONE of the main causes of his imprisonment and original failure. Having Paul there would diminish his importance to a massive degree, so best to not call Paul.

 

[Buggy123]

Paul wouldn't have a leg to stand considering he placed all the citizens of London at risk when he attacked Nabu there.

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If someone who, up to that point, at least behaved somewhat like a superhero (tried to protect innocents and minimize collateral damage) starts throwing punches that cause collateral damage outside of a fairly large park, I don't think it makes sense to blame the guy trying to stop him.

Also I wouldn't blame the sisters for this, they hero worship Paul AND Adam Blake and are barely adults that both suffered a lot of trauma quite recently; Blake is a massively powerful telepath and empath, all he would have to do to get both sisters to not report to Paul would be to play their feelings of Hero worship towards both of them and their desires for revenge.

If we are going to blame anyone it should be Blake because where I am standing it feels like he left Paul out of the plan to be the corner stone of this fleet raid, Blake may be a super human, but he is still human and I would think he would want personal revenge on the ONE of the main causes of his imprisonment and original failure. Having Paul there would diminish his importance to a massive degree, so best to not call Paul.

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Agreed, Blake should have included OL. Out of everyone there, he's the most capable and likely of understanding the negative consequences of the raid and how to avoid or reduce them.

The fact that he participated in it is... strange. I'd be very surprised if he didn't anticipate those casualties; he's a wizened and highly intelligent person who's led fleet actions before. And he doesn't seem like the sort of person to just brush away a few civilian casualties like that when there were known, and easily available options for reducing them.

 

[Chaoswind]

If someone who, up to that point, at least behaved somewhat like a superhero (tried to protect innocents and minimize collateral damage) starts throwing punches that cause collateral damage outside of a fairly large park, I don't think it makes sense to blame the guy trying to stop him.


Agreed, Blake should have included OL. Out of everyone there, he's the most capable and likely of understanding the negative consequences of the raid and how to avoid or reduce them.

The fact that he participated in it is... strange. I'd be very surprised if he didn't anticipate those casualties; he's a wizened and highly intelligent person who's led fleet actions before. And he doesn't seem like the sort of person to just brush away a few civilian casualties like that when there were known, and easily available options for reducing them.

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Those extra options would have greatly diminished his role and importance. Thus the only plausible explanation is that Blake decided to not involve Paul because he wanted to have nominal command of the entire operation and Paul was the only person that would have the qualifications and reputation to challenge his command.


The only explanation is that he had a selfish desire to get revenge on those that so greatly wronged him and since the Citadelians and Tearing Bite were pretty much destroyed by Paul, all he had left were the Psions.

 

[BartlettMagic]

I was hoping OL might check in on Maltus and get an update on Larfleeze's progress in the blue light therapy, or to talk to the Ophidian and see if she's happy with Paul fulfilling his promise and giving her a Corps.

 

[Steelplaza]

I exhale. "If they'd actually talked to me,

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To see OL of all people dropping that line....

What a time to be alive!

 

[Dur'id the Druid]

I was hoping OL might check in on Maltus and get an update on Larfleeze's progress in the blue light therapy, or to talk to the Ophidian and see if she's happy with Paul fulfilling his promise and giving her a Corps.

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It has been awhile since we've seen any interaction between Paul and best snake.

 

[iamnuff]

Rather than the sisters attacking, i'm more concerned that blackfire didn't help or try to stop her sister. Instead, seemingly perfectly content to sit on the bridge of the ship and watch her sister get blasted into goo, along with the rest of the planet.

 

[Lord Ernest]

Wait, the Illustres did put London in danger with his confrontation of Nabu, but at the same time he did everything possible to minimize that danger and he choose London precisely because it would be the best place (apparently) to minimize the danger of the confrontation itself. I wouldn't equate that with what happened here at all. I would compare with the attack on the Citadel itself, but even then the Illustres made sure to rescue the possible innocents from the Citadel Complex; he could as easily have just blasted the station from afar with singularity beams or engineered something equally destructive, he just choose not to because it was sub-optimal.

I do think the Illustres dropped the ball not paying attention to Vega, but in his place I would be pissed as well with how he was so effectively side-lined by all these people that he has, if not directly then indirectly, helped a lot. Oh, and from what I recall Captain Comet's not an empath, doesn't seem that duplicitous to me and Tamaraneans don't seem to process trauma the same way as humans, so I wouldn't count these factors in how this situation came to be. I do think Comet decided not to include the Illustres because he left and Kom was probably a strong voice in wanting to raze the Psions' planet, understandable when they're both victims of the not-missed-at-all lizards, not sure about the specific circumstances of how the Alliance came to be though.

 

[Norgarth]

"Psions are vat-grown from tailored genes. Then they get raised by other psions. As a technique it's not-. It wasn't quite as reliable as what the citadelians did, but it was pretty close. That isn't like the gordanians, where they're just 'martial' and 'aggressive'. There aren't any non-mad scientists psions any more than there were non-warrior citadelians."
Single-Hat races. yay, DC.

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At least in these cases, it's due to the nature of their 'breeding programs/methods' rather than simply that they are just naturally all develop the same way.

 

[Maxx Crowley]

Unfortunately OL set the precedent of genociding 'evil' species so he can't really punish them for it.

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Sure he could. He'd only be slightly hypocritical for doing so, but he still could.

No matter how you slice it, all authority figures are hypocrites. Some just try harder then others.

Just look back on the first holders of supreme authority you ever meet. Your parents. "Do as I say, not as I do."

 

[AverusBlack]

Spoiler: Corrections

"Um. Just.. stories, really." Okay, I'm in a Detective Comics universe. I've met Superman. There's nothing inherently more strange about encountering someone from Wilson. "Do.. you know her?"

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He walks over to a nearby terminal and stands there while it scans his fingerprints, and retina. A moment later the exceedingly heavy door next to it slides open and he leads me inside. "Obviously, now that you're one of us I can give you the specifications so that you can build one in your own mountain. No sense in you coming here every time." I take a look around. The room itself is bare. Utilitarian. The screens at the far end and the imaging equipment are all top of the line, but… "I did consider having it decorated, but I'm not in here enough to justify it. Activate."

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"Yes way. Wolf used a Swiss passport and he picked up his brother from somewhere a few years later, once America turned its attention towards the Soviet Union. The US got dangerously close to having a blond, blue eyed, patriotically themed superhero in the employ of the federal government on one occasion. If Albrecht had been able to tone down the fascism a bit while in company…" I wiggle my right index finger at the file. "Interested now?"

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"It was worse than that. Looks like the first intelligent species they ran into were telepathic themselves, so the Star Conqueror that got stuck on one a' them could share its smarts with the rest. We're not really sure what happened next, but a couple a' decades later they'd given themselves a full upgrade." New images appear. "The big ones are Mother Stars. Their telekinesis is so strong they can fly faster than light with it, protect themselves from capital ship weapons and rip things apart. Not to mention their mind control powers."

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"Kal-El. But, yes, I know that he masquerades as Clark Kent." He chuckles. "It's funny, actually. One of my intelligence analysts correctly deduced his identity years ago using a facial recognition program. I fired her. It simply didn't seem plausible to me, that a man that powerful would choose to hide himself among mortal men." He sits back a little. "I'd apologise to her, but that would rather give the game away."

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One of the halves of the table Bobo jump kicked is suddenly shoved aside and I'm forced to create a construct shield to stop the oncoming ape train. Apes are wrestlers rather than strikers. Strong, but as long as I keep my barrier broad it should-. There's a series of impacts and it starts to crack slightly. It should hold long enough for oxygen deprivation to do its job. Then that should- There's another impact, weaker this time. -deactivate the enhancement he's getting from the Cap, which will give me the time I need to remove the armour, Cap and the invisibility module.

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**Are you familiar with 'controlled molecular destabilisation'?**

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Mostly broken links and what I think is one typo. I had more of these from the point I last posted to here but messed up and lost the quotes because I had them ready to post and my computer pooted, so theres several pages of story I haven't been able to post corrections on, sadly. The ambush bug story and a good chunk of Paul visiting Mars for the first time.

 

[Mr Zoat]

"Um. Just.. stories, really." Okay, I'm in a Detective Comics universe. I've met Superman. There's nothing inherently more strange about encountering someone from Wilson. "Do.. you know her?"

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Unfortunately, Jareisa removed her video from youtube and there are no mirrors. Decades from now, people will stare at Grayven's line in complete incomprehension.

More so than they do now.

He walks over to a nearby terminal and stands there while it scans his fingerprints, and retina. A moment later the exceedingly heavy door next to it slides open and he leads me inside. "Obviously, now that you're one of us I can give you the specifications so that you can build one in your own mountain. No sense in you coming here every time." I take a look around. The room itself is bare. Utilitarian. The screens at the far end and the imaging equipment are all top of the line, but… "I did consider having it decorated, but I'm not in here enough to justify it. Activate."

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"Kal-El. But, yes, I know that he masquerades as Clark Kent." He chuckles. "It's funny, actually. One of my intelligence analysts correctly deduced his identity years ago using a facial recognition program. I fired her. It simply didn't seem plausible to me, that a man that powerful would choose to hide himself among mortal men." He sits back a little. "I'd apologise to her, but that would rather give the game away."

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Replaced.

"It was worse than that. Looks like the first intelligent species they ran into were telepathic themselves, so the Star Conqueror that got stuck on one a' them could share its smarts with the rest. We're not really sure what happened next, but a couple a' decades later they'd given themselves a full upgrade." New images appear. "The big ones are Mother Stars. Their telekinesis is so strong they can fly faster than light with it, protect themselves from capital ship weapons and rip things apart. Not to mention their mind control powers."

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**Are you familiar with 'controlled molecular destabilisation'?**

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These both work for me. Anyone else having trouble?

One of the halves of the table Bobo jump kicked is suddenly shoved aside and I'm forced to create a construct shield to stop the oncoming ape train. Apes are wrestlers rather than strikers. Strong, but as long as I keep my barrier broad it should-. There's a series of impacts and it starts to crack slightly. It should hold long enough for oxygen deprivation to do its job. Then that should- There's another impact, weaker this time. -deactivate the enhancement he's getting from the Cap, which will give me the time I need to remove the armour, Cap and the invisibility module.

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What's wrong with deactivate?

 

[Lord Ernest]

Theses both work for me.

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Works fine for me as well, for what's worth.

 

[AverusBlack]

Spoiler: stuff

"I ask because I picked this-" I take a cold gun out of subspace. "-up in Central City yesterday." I hold it up. "It's called a 'Cold Gun'. It works by arresting molecular vibration in the target area. The beam moves at light speed and at maximum intensity stops molecular vibration completely. By my estimation a strike anywhere on an airborne F Thirty Five would kill it. It was designed by a Human with no higher education.. while he was in prison." I return it to subspace before taking out a purple death ray. "The forerunner of this gun was built in the nineteen forties. It nullifies life. A normal Human can only take the beam for a second or two before their body completely ceases functioning. Again, a light speed weapon." I make eye contact with each committee member in turn. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I uses these guns. They are superior to their nearest Apokoliptian equivalents. Why aren't you using them?"

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"-above the world you fly,
Like a tea tray in the sky!"

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What's wrong with deactivate?

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Oh. That seems to have been me being a dipshit, because I had a brainfart and didn't realize it was the end of an interjection in the middle of the sentence, sorry about that. My internet absolutely hates certain sites - for instance, I can't load the DC wiki, BBC or most of the booru's at all, or pintrest for that matter - so if I post a link and it's not broken feel free to just call me a numpty and ignore those parts. Sometimes a link appears broken to me when it isn't.

 

[Coda]

Oh. That seems to have been me being a dipshit, because I had a brainfart and didn't realize it was the end of an interjection in the middle of the sentence, sorry about that. My internet absolutely hates certain sites - for instance, I can't load the DC wiki, BBC or most of the booru's at all, or pintrest for that matter - so if I post a link and it's not broken feel free to just call me a numpty and ignore those parts. Sometimes a link appears broken to me when it isn't.

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Sounds like your ad blocker is overzealous.