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

[Buggy123]

Hmm, I don't think these timestamps make sense.

He teleports:

18th February
17:43 GMT +1:00

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And then has a short conversation, grabs the thingy, goes back and searches long enough to find 5 Mind Killers and its:

18th February
10:41 GMT -6

Click to shrink...

Two minutes before he left?

 

[Grimnar]

Okay, that was hilarous. OL playing it straight was just perfect.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Wow wow wow, hold on, that was totaly unexpected, what the fuck...that the hero assumption was actually correct I mean, not Nyssa, that one was obvious

 

[AidanMorgan]

Oh my...

I wonder if Paul is about to get a pet Sheeda.

 

[lancelot]

Give the gun to the people their trying to find fuck and then have them blow the mind killer away.

 

[Mr Zoat]

A co-worker, I assume. Or Doctor 'Iron' Munro?

Click to shrink...

Did you think that 'Iron' was his real first name?

Correction: operational might sound better here.
Correction: 'my forehead.'

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Thank you, corrected.

Well, that's a useful tidbit to know.

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titbit

Hmm, I don't think these timestamps make sense.

He teleports:

And then has a short conversation, grabs the thingy, goes back and searches long enough to find 5 Mind Killers and its:

Two minutes before he left?

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Lucidum]

I'm going to enjoy the eventual group conversation about the sheeda.

"OL what are you looking at?"

"Oh, you know those space fairies that I've been talking about? well I've captured a few for study"

"OL there's nothing there?"

"Exactly"

 

[Buggy123]

I'm going to enjoy the eventual group conversation about the sheeda.

"OL what are you looking at?"

"Oh, you know those space fairies that I've been talking about? well I've captured a few for study"

"OL there's nothing there?"

"Exactly"

Click to shrink...

See, the wonderful thing about moving the moon and making a cake large enough to feed a entire city is, it doesn't really matter if people think you're crazy or not. They're still going to listen. I mean, would you ever ignore someone who once spun the entire moon on a whim? I wouldn't.

 

[Prince Charon]

It says something about Nyssa that she kept up her... work... through that conversation.

 

[Maxx Crowley]

It says something about Nyssa that she kept up her... work... through that conversation.

Click to shrink...

As someone who has been on both the giving and receiving end of such...work. Basically if you're caught your caught, and if you're not, you're not.

If they aren't making a huge deal about it, no reason to stop. You were there first, and for a reason.

If they haven't caught on, then even less reason to stop, and it's amusing for your boy to struggle to maintain his composure under your mouth.

 

[Mr Zoat]

It says something about Nyssa that she kept up her... work... through that conversation.

Click to shrink...

That's actually significant.

Magnificus Sivana has recently turned eighteen. He acts much more mature, because he values intellectual achievement above just about everything else. His upbringing was extremely unusual and he's never really bee able to fit in with other people his age.

Nyssa Raatko is several hundred years old. When she was younger she could have fit in with other people her age, but instead chose to pursue her father. Her work for him was very serious and quite murderous. Her life after was very serious, because her father wanted to abduct her son and raise him as an heir. Then she ended up in a Nazi concentration camp, which is serious when it's not terminal. Now that she has a new lease of life she's deciding to be a bit frivolous.

 

[Impartial Panic]

Hey Doc pack up the kids and get ready for a trip to Oregon!

Why in the world would I want to go there?

There's an infestation of Sheeda mindkillers.

CHILDREN TO THE SILVANA-MOBILE!

[everyone turns to Look at Beautia]

Oh please you were going to say something hammy like that.

actually my dear I gave up that kind of thing after my exile.

it was still a nice bit of Ham.

 

[Coda]

I move the device in an arc, and we spot the fifth Mind Killer floating along behind a local girl.

Click to shrink...

Are they yellow light constructs?

"You seem a little distracted. Something on your mind?"

Click to shrink...

I don't think she's on his mind, as much of an erogenous zone as it is.

He acts much more mature, because he values intellectual achievement above just about everything else.

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Well, if his emotional development parallels my own (that describes me at 18 fairly well), having a healthy interpersonal relationship like this suggests he'll probably be pretty well-balanced by his 30s.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

But it's a song lyric. I even linked to the song.

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Speaking for myself (YMMV), I've found that clicking on YouTube links rarely improves my appreciation of the story I'm reading (and can annoy the... heck out of me, partly by wrecking my immersion (music can be a very personal thing)). Also, links that rely on listening to them don't work well in an office environment, even during allowed break-time. (Yes, I've also worked in offices where they disable the sound on all office PCs, and don't allow headphones/ear-pieces while you're at your desk. Or sending or receiving any (non-emergency) personal phone calls.)

So, sorry, I usually skip the YouTube links. Now, a link which pointed me at the lyrics in text form...

 

[Massgamer]

Of course now the question is why Sheeda are sending the things to attack youth in some random ass town in Oregon.

 

[Vaermina]

"Is there any reason why the sheeda would be interested in the place?"

"Not that I can think of. I doubt it will be one of them, but I want to be able to eliminate them from our enquiries."

Click to shrink...

You're stilling thinking in only three dimensions.

Just because a place isn't important now doesn't it won't be important in the future.

 

[Gilhelmi]

I am enjoying the suspense. I haven't kept up with comics so I have no idea what is coming next.

Also, I did not realize what Nyssa was doing to Magnificus until I started reading the comments...... OK, that was a bit slow of me.

Though now I am left to wonder about their children. She can have kids again since Paul gave her a complete heal and reversed the hysterectomy that the Nazis gave her. IIRC he gave her 30 years worth of eggs as well. I am glad they are getting a happy ending.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Of course now the question is why Sheeda are sending the things to attack youth in some random ass town in Oregon.

Click to shrink...

This seems nore like a random outbreak. A "who let the mindkillers out woo. Woo. Woo" situation.

 

[Buggy123]

You're stilling thinking in only three dimensions.

Just because a place isn't important now doesn't it won't be important in the future.

Click to shrink...

In fairness, you can't think in four dimensions in the DC universe. Time and time travel doesn't make sense. Some '12th level intellects' claim they understand it, but frankly I call BS.

 

[Ardy]

I am enjoying the suspense. I haven't kept up with comics so I have no idea what is coming next.

Also, I did not realize what Nyssa was doing to Magnificus until I started reading the comments...... OK, that was a bit slow of me.

Though now I am left to wonder about their children. She can have kids again since Paul gave her a complete heal and reversed the hysterectomy that the Nazis gave her. IIRC he gave her 30 years worth of eggs as well. I am glad they are getting a happy ending.

Click to shrink...

Oh they're getting a happy ending all right...

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th February
11:26 GMT -6

Beryl shakes her head as the waitress leaves our table.

"Seven."

"Unless they can change their appearance and switch between hosts without killing them, yes. And that's just in Kennedy. No one's checked anywhere else."

"So-." She nods. "We don't know how many people they're influencing worldwide. If there's only one in an area, there won't be a spike in suicides like there is here. We've no idea why they're targeting particular people, or why they've stayed here rather than gone somewhere else, or… How they'll react to us trying to get rid of them."

Leonid's face tightens slightly. "I am not comfortable with imprecise language. We will destroy them, yes?"

"Much as I'd like to, Justice League rules of engagement and American law are clear. Since they're intelligent, we should attempt to detain and contain them and question them."

"Is that possible?"

"It's our job to make it possible."

"But if they kill-."

"I'm keeping an eye out. If I see a hint of black then this becomes an overt operation." I take a sip of my apple juice and look at the other three members of the team. "Ideas on containment?"

Linda's coffee bubbles. "They are synthetic. They doubtless have physical redundancies which living creatures lack. There are few things I cannot burn if I apply myself. I merely need to stop before they are entirely unmade."

"Let's leave that-."

Her right fist clenches. "Do you understand what the existence of these abominations means?"

"Yes."

Leonid nods. "We are unprepared, and must adapt to a new challenge."

Beryl shakes her head. "She's not talking about that. She thinks it means that we lose."

"Lost? We have not even started fighting them."

"They're from the future, Leonid. A horribly broken future." She gestures to Linda with her tea. "No wonderful future of universal communion with the One True God, of people living in harmony according to divine law." Then to me. "No technocratic transhuman paradise, no…" She looks slightly blankly at Garth and Leonid. "Whatever it was that you hoped would happen."

"The surface world using magic and Atlantis joining global society."

"A prosperous and strong Russia."

"Uh, actually those two things could happen. We don't know where on Earth the sheeda come from. It could be Russia or Atlantis."

"And what is it you want?"

"Don't you know?"

"Of course I do. I just wonder if you do."

She thinks for a moment. "Mm, I'd like a Star Trek future."

Leonid nods. "Space communism through universal class consciousness. Yes, I would like that as well."

I nearly raise an eyebrow at that. The Russian Federation has been ruled by Unified Russia since the Soviet Union fell apart, and while their leadership appears to have an unsettling degree of respect for Communist-era strongmen rulers their position on Communism itself appears to be 'what were we thinking?'. I think that's the first time I've heard Leonid voice a badthinkful opinion.

"And a really bad record on AI rights and augmentation technology is completely illegal."

Beryl shrugs. "Better than the sheeda. But… Yeah. I don't know how things got that bad. Do you think you could just give them your unlimited energy generation technology and they'd leave us alone?"

"No. At this point their culture is dependent on the Harrowing. And more importantly, their leader's position is dependent on it."

"But what if-?"

"If we're in a position to ask, I'll offer it. But look. Nylor Truggs came back in time because -having studied the problem- he believed that the timeline was malleable. Just because the sheeda are returning from the future and we shouldn't be able to remember them if they get prevented from ever existing, that doesn't actually mean that we can't prevent them from existing."

Leonid frowns as he tries to follow my statement.

"But as for ideas on how to trap them?"

Linda gazes moodily into her coffee. "In this form I lack the power to bind them with theurgy. Zauriel may not be so limited. If burning them is insufficient I am uncertain as to what I can offer."

"This is a majority Christian area. Showing up in full angel mode might be enough of a reassurance to whoever they're attacking to let them fight it off."

"That does not help with trapping the Mind Killer."

"Doesn't it? We don't know how their relationship with their targets works. For Magnificus, it attacked using psychological levers he already had."

Beryl quirks. "You think if we gave everyone in Kennedy therapy then the Mind Killers would give up? I think you've been in America too long."

"Garth?"

"I know some binding spells, but they're designed for elementals and creatures which depend on magic. Since I couldn't even detect that the Mind Killers were here, I doubt that they will work. The other forms of magic binding I know are physical attacks, and we already know that those won't work."

I nod. "Leonid?"

"I have never tried shooting suspendium. I do not know what my energy blasts would do. Other than that… I am not suicidal. I could lure them to me, if that would help."

"If it came to that, I'd do it myself. Beryl?"

"I don't know enough about suspendium. Do you know anyone who's an expert on it?" She watches my reaction. "What?"

"The world's only expert on suspendium is Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana."

"Oh. Forget it, then. The cure's worse than the disease."

"Well then. We can either keep monitoring them to try and learn more, or directly confront one. Does anyone have a strong feeling either way?"

Beryl and Leonid shake their heads, and the other two don't contradict them.

"Alright then. Beryl, you and I will talk to…" My ring shows me the Mind Killer sufferers. "Kimberly Ryan, once we're finished here. Garth, Linda, Leonid, you'll be monitoring our immediate environment and the other sufferers. Let us know if anything changes."

 

[Mquz]

If there's only 7 of them, and they can only manipulate existing mental triggers, can't you just hand out guns to the 7 people and ask them to shoot at the big black thing behind them? And if they try to go for suicide, you have a ring that you can use to mind / body control people temporarily.

 

[Lucidum]

In this form I lack to power to bind them with theurgy

Click to shrink...

I think you meant to use "the" there.

Otherwise, another good update and looking forward to more.

 

[Yog]

Unless the history is different in DC, United Russia was only formed in 2001, well after the collapse of the Union. Further, nostalgia for and glorification of Soviet Union is not an uncommon trait among the youth.

 

[Gantradies]

If there's only 7 of them, and they can only manipulate existing mental triggers, can't you just hand out guns to the 7 people and ask them to shoot at the big black thing behind them? And if they try to go for suicide, you have a ring that you can use to mind / body control people temporarily.

Click to shrink...

im guessing a combination of the unwrittern/assumed rules about minimum force, and a pragmatic hope to collect actionable intelligence

 

[Aeess]

Couldn't the SI just brand them and order them to allow themselves to be captured?

Just because they can hide themselves from empathic vision doesn't mean they dont feel avarice, and I strongly doubt that they are one of the few being that can resist the orange light.

 

[Handlewithcare]

If there's only 7 of them, and they can only manipulate existing mental triggers, can't you just hand out guns to the 7 people and ask them to shoot at the big black thing behind them? And if they try to go for suicide, you have a ring that you can use to mind / body control people temporarily.

Click to shrink...

That won't help with fguring out how and why so many of then are here. Paul prefers long term solutions.

Ah, timetravel. Always confusing.

I think in this case the Sheeda may be a sort of temporal artefact, exist outside of time. Their own Harowings should have erased them otherwise.

 

[McGraw]

If there's only 7 of them, and they can only manipulate existing mental triggers, can't you just hand out guns to the 7 people and ask them to shoot at the big black thing behind them? And if they try to go for suicide, you have a ring that you can use to mind / body control people temporarily.

Click to shrink...

Paul literally just answered that. They're intelligent; shooting them is murder. Maybe you can make a case for self-defense, but given that they kill over a long period of time, I'm not sure the argument would hold up unless one of the teens was committing suicide like, right now.

Is it kinda dumb? Yes, Paul's been irritated by the limitations of this law before (eg. demons). But ultimately, the Team's gotta follow the law unless they have a damn good reason not to, and "somebody will probably commit suicide at some unspecified point in the future" doesn't cut it.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

Beryl shakes her head as the waitress leaves our table.

"Seven."

"Unless they can change their appearance and switch between hosts without killing them, yes. And that's just in Kennedy. No one's checked anywhere else."

Click to shrink...

Ooh, yes. How many politicians commited suicide because of them? How many potential points if resistance for a Harrowing? Scary implications.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"So-." She nods. "We don't know how many people they're influencing worldwide. If there's only one in an area, there won't be a spike in suicides like there is here. We've no idea why they're targeting particular people, or why they've stayed here rather than gone somewhere else, or… How they'll react to us trying to get rid of them."

Leonid's face tightens slightly. "I am not comfortable with imprecise language. We will destroy them, yes?"

"Much as I'd like to, Justice League rules of engagement and American law are clear. Since they're intelligent, we should attempt to detain and contain them and question them."

Click to shrink...

Ugh, the League has no provision for 'Some things just need killing'? And would these things even want anything other than what they're told to?

"Is that possible?"

"It's out job to make it possible."

Click to shrink...

Superheroes: Doing what we must because we can.
Correction: 'It's our job'

"But if they kill-."

"I'm keeping an eye out. If I see a hint of black then this becomes an overt operation." I take a sip of my apple juice and look at the other three members of the team. "Ideas on containment?"

Click to shrink...

Take a leaf out of 'Ghostbusters' book?

Linda's coffee bubbles. "They are synthetic. They doubtless have physical redundancies which living creatures lack. There are few things I cannot burn if I apply myself. I merely need to stop before they are entirely unmade."

"Let's leave that-."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I can see her not liking these things at all...

Her right fist clenches. "Do you understand what the existence of these abominations means?"

"Yes."

Leonid nods. "We are unprepared, and must adapt to a new challenge."

Beryl shakes her head. "She's not talking about that. She thinks it means that we lose."

Click to shrink...

I think she meant the religious implications of the victim's suicide, but...

"Lost? We have not even started fighting them."

"They're from the future, Leonid. A horribly broken future." She gestures to Linda with her tea. "No wonderful future of universal communion with the One True God, of people living in harmony according to divine law." Then to me. "No technocratic transhuman paradise, no…" She looks slightly blankly at Garth and Leonid. "Whatever it was that you hoped would happen."

Click to shrink...

...She has a point. Regardless of how far the Sheeda's future is away, it's a bad future.

"The surface world using magic and Atlantis joining global society."

"A prosperous and strong Russia."

"Uh, actually those two things could happen. We don't know where on Earth the sheeda come from. It could be Russia or Atlantis."

Click to shrink...

I doubt either nation would exist in any form by that era, but point taken.

"And what is it you want?"

"Don't you know?"

"Of course I do. I just wonder if you do."

Click to shrink...

Heh, OL knows what everybody wants, it's just a matter of his wanting to know...

She thinks for a moment. "Mm, I'd like a Star Trek future."

Leonid nods. "Space communism through universal class consciousness. Yes, I would like that as well."

Click to shrink...

Interesting perspective, and kind of accurate.

I nearly raise an eyebrow at that. The Russian Federation has been ruled by Unified Russia since the Soviet Union fell apart, and while their leadership appears to have an unsettling degree of respect for Communist-era strongmen rulers their position on Communism itself appears to be 'what were we thinking?'. I think that's the first time I've heard Leonid voice a badthinkful opinion.

"And a really bad record on AI rights and augmentation technology is completely illegal."

Click to shrink...

Also accurate. Seriously, the Federation had enough issues for an entire newsstand.

Beryl shrugs. "Better than the sheeda. But… Yeah. I don't know how things got that bad. Do you think you could just give them your unlimited energy generation technology and they'd leave us alone?"

"No. At this point their culture is dependant on the Harrowing. And more importantly, their leader's position is dependant on it."

Click to shrink...

It's too ingrained now. The Drukhari-wannabes also enjoy the process, from what I remember of the Seven Soldiers plotline...

"But what if-?"

"If we're in a position to ask, I'll offer it. But look. Nylor Truggs came back in time because -having studied the problem- he believed that the timeline was malleable. Just because the sheeda are returning from the future and we shouldn't be able to remember them if they get prevented from ever existing, that doesn't actually mean that we can't prevent them from existing."

Leonid frowns as he tries to follow my statement.

Click to shrink...

Oh, dear, I've gone cross-eyed. Damn temporal physics terminology confusion.

"But as for ideas on how to trap them?"

Linda gazes moodily into her coffee. "In this form I lack to power to bind them with theurgy. Zauriel may not be so limited. If burning them is insufficient I am uncertain as to what I can offer."

Click to shrink...

Let's save calling in the big guns for when things go ploin-shaped.

"This is a majority Christian area. Showing up in full angel mode might be enough of a reassurance to whoever they're attacking to let them fight it off."

"That does not help with trapping the Mind Killer."

"Doesn't it? We don't know how their relationship with their targets works. For Magnificus, it attacked using psychological levers he already had."

Click to shrink...

To be fair, those were some big levers. The Sivana family is crazy in a helpful way, but still crazy.

Beryl quirks. "You think if we gave everyone in Kennedy therapy then the Mind Killers would give up? I think you've been in America too long."

"Garth?"

"I know some binding spells, but they're designed for elementals and creatures which depend on magic. Since I couldn't even detect that the Mind Killers were here, I doubt that they will work. The other forms of magic binding I know are physical attacks, and we already know that those won't work."

Click to shrink...

Man, this just gets harder and harder, doesn't it?

I nod. "Leonid?"

"I have never tried shooting suspendium. I do not know what my energy blasts would do. Other than that… I am not suicidal. I could lure them to me, if that would help."

"If it came to that, I'd do it myself. Beryl?"

Click to shrink...

Would OL's enlightenment even allow the Mind Killers to affect him at all? He does have perfect perception of his own Wants, after all.

"I don't know enough about suspendium. Do you know anyone who's an expert on it?" She watches my reaction. "What?"

"The world's only expert on supendium is Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana."

"Oh. Forget it, then. The cure's worse than the disease."

Click to shrink...

OL has told them the Sivanas are working against the Sheeda, didn't he? Or is that a more general 'These Sivanas are crazy' statement of exasperation?

"Well then. We can either keep monitoring them to try and learn more, or directly confront one. Does anyone have a strong feeling either way?"

Beryl and Leonid shake their heads, and the other two don't contradict them.

"Alright then. Beryl, you and I will talk to…" My ring shows me the Mind Killer sufferers. "Kimberly Ryan, once we're finished here. Garth, Linda, Leonid, you'll be monitoring our immediate environment and the other sufferers. Let us know if anything changes."

Click to shrink...

Fingers crossed things don't go tits-up, then. Who knows how the critters will react (besides Mr Zoat?)

Oh, the looks on their faces when they realise these are feral Mind Killers. And then comes the task of finding their source.
Also gotta wonder how the other squads' missions are going. I'm sure Hilarity is ensuing.

Also Also: Lucidum and others changing text color - You can clear text colours back to the scheme default by selecting the boxed X in the bottom right of the pallette. It'll stop weirdness like grey or black text following your colored text. Just a hint to make things easier on the thread's collective eyes.

 

[Massgamer]

Considering a enough tool of the Sheeda is involved, who are themselves capable of wiping out civilization, should they at least update Batman of the situation?