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

[Baladar]

Looks like the death beams do just that. Kills life on the ship, leaving the ship itself intact.

That's an easy way to get extra ships I suppose.

 

[Gilhelmi]

He did ask for them to open communications, all the records indicate that. (Almost) every advanced civilization in the Galaxy would have respected that and at least tried to communicate.

Even an American citizen can not just stroll into on of our military bases without prior authorization. If would be like if someone dressed up as a Russian soldier and tried to storm a US military base during the height of the Cold War.

Some won't be "happy", but few governments can complain without it coming off as hypocritical. I suspect that the UN will try drafting something to create their own unified space defense force along with a treaty prohibiting nations from building one, but Lex is so far ahead in space technology that they would probably try and just buy them from him.

I worry more about a military force that is not loyal to any government though. If something happens to Lex, then who would the fleet go to? I would not trust anyone else from taking over the world with it. (heck, I don't exactly trust Lex not to. But he would be more inclined to buy power rather than take it by force.) What sort of "checks and balances" on Lex's behavior are there going to be? This is a whole new level political intrigue for me.

 

[hkim]

Ah...

I was kinda going to skip it, actually.

Click to shrink...

What if we said "please"?

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

He did ask for them to open communications, all the records indicate that. (Almost) every advanced civilization in the Galaxy would have respected that and at least tried to communicate.

Even an American citizen can not just stroll into on of our military bases without prior authorization. If would be like if someone dressed up as a Russian soldier and tried to storm a US military base during the height of the Cold War.

Some won't be "happy", but few governments can complain without it coming off as hypocritical. I suspect that the UN will try drafting something to create their own unified space defense force along with a treaty prohibiting nations from building one, but Lex is so far ahead in space technology that they would probably try and just buy them from him.

I worry more about a military force that is not loyal to any government though. If something happens to Lex, then who would the fleet go to? I would not trust anyone else from taking over the world with it. (heck, I don't exactly trust Lex not to. But he would be more inclined to buy power rather than take it by force.) What sort of "checks and balances" on Lex's behavior are there going to be? This is a whole new level political intrigue for me.

Click to shrink...

There is the fact that the invaders in this case have cause to be here and threaten earth due to Gravyen harbouring several members of their race that didn't exactly go through customs. Hope he filed asylum / refugee papers when they arrived, Like Paul did for Xor.

Maxima and her consort are on American soil, (unless Gravyen's mountain has been given Embassy status by Horn and his government at some point). So they've entered the nation illegally. While America doesn't have an extradition agreement (nor any formal ties) with their planet/nation, nor would they be likely to recognize an attempted political assassination fleet as representatives of such, pretty sure they'd have something to say about having their nation (oh and the rest of the planet) stuck in the middle of an interstellar civil war by proxy.

Gravyen better have a nice gift for General Lane when the smoke clears, or he's going to lose a lot of political good will with this stunt.

 

[Bomaz]

Ah...

I was kinda going to skip it, actually.

Click to shrink...

But but but that's the finale and expected best part of the episode

 

[Stsword]

No movement of energy could happen in a 0K environment even if one were possible, so it's not actually possible to design any kind of machine that would operate in one.

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As if physics actually apply in the DC multiverses.

In JLA: Scary Monsters they had to deal with invading entities from a universe of 0K. "Demons" who were nuclear based lifeforms like Mr Atom 1.

Nasty buggers. "Evolved" like Doomsday and were infectious, Wonder Woman and Superman were being hellformed into new recruits.

Fortunately they ran into a firefighter who was an untrained shaman whose lineage had been guarding that particular Hellmouth for millennia.

Kishana Lewis was a love interest of Martian Manhunter's, but her being a shaman whose patron was Fire- The Fire of Life that Warms the Sun and the Earth and the Fire of Creation that birthed the Universe, well that made things a little awkward considering MM's fire phobia.

Considering the author was of X-Men fame, basically Kishana was a shaman of the Phoenix- the fiery symbol of the unending life to death to life cycle.

 

[Mquz]

It has been demonstrated here that freeze raying an apple just makes it freeze and shatter when hit. That sounds more like all the water inside turned to ice than anything else. I think the whole reduce to 0K thing is an exaggeration. Most likely just reduces the entire object it hits to 0C and skips the extra energy it takes to change from one state to another. So all water inside immediately freezes, but no other weird physics happen. Or it may get just change the phase of something so that it automatically becomes solid but doesn't actually lose much temperature / energy. A "hold still why don't you" gun.

 

[Ganurath]

But but but that's the finale and expected best part of the episode

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I'm pretty sure that the epic boss battle with Mr. Atom was the finale and expected best part of the episode.

 

[Gantradies]

About 5 seconds after Zoat started writing it.



Grayven's not exactly one to throw stones about being trigger happy.



No movement of energy could happen in a 0K environment even if one were possible, so it's not actually possible to design any kind of machine that would operate in one.



Doesn't China have an operational Durlan ship? And the Hawks definitely have one. And I find it extremely unlikely that the Russians with all their secret programs and the likes of Starfire on their payroll don't have at least an early prototype. And there are a couple dozen metahumans who can operate in space to oppose Lex if they so chose.

So, in short, even by the canon of this story that you yourself have established, yes.

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i think the PRC does, but there's... issues with it killing/eating pilots, from memory- and it's training intensive/ maybe needs interface implants on top of training that'd just be a wasted investment after 1-2 sorties (memory is vague) - id honestly say it barely counts as a warship unless there's a fix for the crew-fatality problem (unless im being stupid and getting my alien fighter craft/starships confused again?) its..well, despite how advanced it might be, a borderline-useless technological dead-end-
in a actual prolonged open conflict, it'd be imperial japan's "keep the aces at the front till they're all fed into the grinder at all costs" blunder all over again (comparatively, in the pacific, the US was fairly regularly rotating them back to the mainland to de-stress/help pass on practical knowledge to the trainees)- would bleed competent/trained personnel left and right-a was a little surprised they were still playing around with it at all in the present after discovering that flaw- trained, ideologically loyal space-rated personnel don't come cheap, no matter how ruthless you are about losses...

 

[Pinklestia]

There's no reason to be gratuitously hurtful.

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Actually Lex in New 52 had a few victories, was the new Superman for a while, saved the World and almost became a God. While it sucked for most people, for Lex it was basically awesome.

Then Rebirth happened like five minutes later but.... eh victory is boring.

Read 'Superman: The Black Ring" and then we talk, okay?

Is it wrong that in my head, I see Lex spinning around in his chair/throne going "wheeeeeeee" the first time opportunity he got when no one was looking?

Maybe childish, but humanity no longer being so dependent on the pants on the outside brigade would be a hell of a trip for him.

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Now I demand for Lex Luthor to be replaced by Doctor Evil.

Edit: About the Black Ring, let's face it, a world or universe of eternal bliss would be fun at first then basically kill all life in the universe. Because if you are "happy" no matter what then what motivation you do have to do anything? Life is struggle, life is conflict, life is the pursuit of happiness. To be happy all the time would be the anathema of Life...

 

[The Unaligned Player]

Actually Lex in New 52 had a few victories, was the new Superman for a while, saved the World and almost became a God. While it sucked for most people, for Lex it was basically awesome.

Then Rebirth happened like five minutes later but.... eh victory is boring.

Read 'Superman: The Black Ring" and then we talk, okay?


Now I demand for Lex Luthor to be replaced by Doctor Evil.

Edit: About the Black Ring, let's face it, a world or universe of eternal bliss would be fun at first then basically kill all life in the universe. Because if you are "happy" no matter what then what motivation you do have to do anything? Life is struggle, life is conflict, life is the pursuit of happiness. To be happy all the time would be the anathema of Life...

Click to shrink...

It is Anathema to the current forms of life.

 

[moralrelativity]

I was kinda going to skip it, actually.

Click to shrink...

NnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[Pinklestia]

It is Anathema to the current forms of life.

Click to shrink...

That universe ended like five minutes after Lex lost his powers so it would have been pointless anyway. And even if it didn't, you know who would have undone the change anyway.

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd March
14:01 GMT

The holoscreen shows a picture of the fully recovered Mr Atom glowing brilliantly, while all around him Geiger counters drop off to near baseline levels of radioactivity. A jump in the recording, and then a video clip of Mr Atom walking around Ozyorsk with three children on his shoulders, the red object built into his chest plate glowing.

"In case you're wondering, that's why the Russian government was happy to let us use the Chelyabinsk Oblast as a staging area."

Superman nods, smiling. He looks a good deal less sunburned than he was yesterday. And a good deal less naked. I've got no idea how his underwear survived and I'm not going to check for some sort of 'censor physics'.

"Um." William raises his right hand. "Is that really Mister Atom?"

"Sort of. After you destroyed the central processor of the original, its remains were taken into custody by the Department of Energy. The Sivanas stole them, studied them and created a design based on them: Mister Atom 2, the giant robot version I saw on Venus. This Mister Atom is the restored original."

Red Tornado studies the image carefully.

"Another sibling of mine?"

"More of a cousin, but it's the same core technology. Only he uses radiation rather than the classical elements. Oh, and his chassis was built by the Sivanas so it's far more advanced. He did say that he wanted to meet you."

"I would like that as well."

William looks a little sceptical. "When I met him he kept going on about how he was going to rule the world. How exactly did you talk him down?"

"He was only a day old at the time. Artificial intelligences can have a mental sophistication that far outpaces their emotional maturity. He was basically doing the robot equivalent of shouting 'no' when someone tried to feed him vegetables."

"Oh."

William looks shamefaced. I raise my hands.

"But there's no way you could have known that, and he was still genuinely dangerous. And not sophisticated enough to listen when you tried to talk him down."

"I didn't.. try all that hard." He shrugs awkwardly. "Just 'stop', really."

"But you did this time, and that's what you're getting evaluated on."

I look around at the seated Justice League.

"So, quick summary. The 'mysteriously' revived Mister Atom, aided by Mirror Master and a large number of hirelings, committed a number of high tech thefts around the world. This was to enable him to upgrade himself, build robotic avatars with the powers he had and shield his minions against his powers. Ultimately, his plan was to attack the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository with General Lane's access codes and get enough high-grade nuclear material to make himself unbeatable."

"And thanks to you, he didn't even get close."

Jordan shrugs, only slightly sullenly. And he's been a good sport about wearing the 'Be nice to me, I died today' sticker. "All his help ran off."

Mr Queen put his sticker on while insisting that Ms Lance comply with its instruction. Mr Allen noted it and then ignored it, and it's still on the table in front of him. Ms Thal disintegrated it with a tap of her mace when she thought I wasn't watching.

"Because you and Flash pressured him into rushing the final stages. The wargame allowed for the villain side to make mistakes as well as the hero side; pressuring someone into making errors is a perfectly viable approach in real life as well. If I'd wanted to throw you up against a flawless opponent you'd have been fighting me."

Guy snorts.

"You took down Mister Atom, and apprehended a small number of metahuman mercenaries and a larger number of baseline human robbers." Images of the League's successes appear on the holographic display behind me. "With the Lanterns stabilising all the dust thrown up from Lake Karachay, there wasn't a horrible nuclear incident. General Lane was recovered alive and in one piece. Damage to the locations which the villain team attacked was generally minimised."

I shift that screen to the side.

"You didn't get Mirror Master, and the leader of the metahumans evaded capture along with an indeterminate number of his colleagues. There were quite a few deaths, as a result of their use of short-lived disease weapons and radiation attacks in addition to conventional attacks."

Major Adams points to one image.

"I don't remember us being called in to China."

"The Chinese government elected not to inform the League of the attack in the belief that they could handle it without external intervention. Technically, they were right, though the casualties they suffered would have made it a national tragedy."

If they would have allowed the news to spread. Sometimes, totalitarianism can be really useful.

"The League has good contact procedures in place, but they rely on the other party actually using them. The League has good reasons for not butting in whenever it feels like it, but sometimes that approach has adverse consequences. And, of course…"

Mug shots of Mr Queen, Mr Allen, Ms Thal and Lantern Jordan appear on the screen with red X's over them.

"Four League members died. Green Arrow, from a weaponised disease. Flash, from intense gamma radiation. Hawkwoman, from being repeatedly shot and Lantern Jordan from being shot once. I'm going to suggest that everyone have a look at their personal protective equipment and feed back to Batman, Aquaman or myself with their updated requirements."

Mr Allen glances at Mr Queen, who just nods. Clearly deducing that we've already had that conversation, Mr Allen looks my way.

"Have you got anything that would protect us against gamma radiation that strong?"

"Several things. Automatic emergency teleport recall, certain types of force field…" I shrug. "We'd need to test how they interact with your speed, though."

King Orin nods. "We should be able to produce wards against radiation. It's not something Atlantis has needed before now. We don't enrich radioactive materials ourselves, but Mera tells me they can make wards against just about anything now."

"This is especially important because a significant proportion of the Justice League doesn't have superhuman resilience. A lot of you weren't able to participate in the Lake Karachay fight at all because the radiation would have killed you."

Naturally, I checked everyone who went there over before they went home for the day. The attack which 'killed' Jordan was more simulated than anything, but I didn't like how some of the cells in his skin were behaving. Mr Freeman, Diana and William were fine, as was Major Adams when he reappeared a few hours later during the clean up. Bit of an awkward moment where he nearly attacked Mr Atom, but he realised that things had changed before he followed through on his initial impulse.

"Apart from that, I think the biggest takeaway is that there are plenty of sites storing exotic material you can't easily get to and.. and in some cases, don't officially know about. I've got a list-"

The list appears on the 'bad' screen.

"-of things which Mister Atom was able to acquire but not use, and if he'd gone for the long game things would have become quite unpleasant. But since the wargame is over, let's run through everything from the beginning."

 

[Ganurath]

1. Wasn't there a fourth casualty prior to Jordan that pulled OL from his conversation with the Flash?
2. What happened to Red Rocket Red?

 

[thebishop8]

1. Wasn't there a fourth casualty prior to Jordan that pulled OL from his conversation with the Flash?
2. What happened to Red Rocket Red?

Click to shrink...

Mr Zoat said Paul was just referring to when he killed Nabu.

 

[Ardy]

Hooray! We complained a chapter into existence!

Death stickers for all!

 

[Handlewithcare]

Nice of Mr Atom to help with the clean up.

So this wargame was what? A solid B for the League? Mistakes were made but they still did well?

I'm still a bit surprised that this was such a straightforward plan though.

I expected Paul to be sneakier, more subversive in his attack.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

The holoscreen shows a picture of the fully recovered Mr Atom glowing brilliantly, while all around him Geiger counters drop off to near baseline levels of radioactivity. A jump in the recording, and then a video clip of Mr Atom walking around Ozyorsk with three children on his shoulders, the red object built into his chest plate glowing.

"In case you're wondering, that's why the Russian government was happy to let us use the Chelyabinsk Oblast as a staging area."

Click to shrink...

Ah, good, we do get the debrief. Thank you, Mr Zoat. And I see Mr Atom is making himself useful.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Superman nods, smiling. He looks a good deal less sunburned than he was yesterday. And a good deal less naked. I've got no idea how his underwear survived and I'm not going to check for some sort of 'censor physics'.

Click to shrink...

I shudder at the cost of the indestructible underoos...

"Um." William raises his right hand. "Is that really Mister Atom?"

"Sort of. After you destroyed the central processor of the original, its remains were taken into custody by the Department of Energy. The Sivanas stole them, studied them and created a design based on them: Mister Atom 2, the giant robot version I saw on Venus. This Mister Atom is the restored original."

Click to shrink...

With a fresh CPU and core program. I wonder how that works with AIs. Is he the original reborn or a third model? I suppose a look at his soul would decide...

Red Tornado studies the image carefully.

"Another sibling of mine?"

"More of a cousin, but it's the same core technology. Only he uses radiation rather than the classical elements. Oh, and his chassis was build by the Sivanas so it's far more advanced. He did say that he wanted to meet you."

Click to shrink...

Perhaps Reddy can get some ideas for chassis upgrades he'd like. A more human-like shell perhaps?

"I would like that as well."

William looks a little sceptical. "When I met him he kept going on abut how he was going to rule the world. How exactly did you talk him down?"

"He was only a day old at the time. Artificial intelligences can have a mental sophistication that far outpaces their emotional maturity. He was basically doing the robot equivalent of shouting 'no' when someone tried to feed him vegetables."

Click to shrink...

So it was a temper tantrum. One that could have irradiated huge swatches of Russia... More than it already was...

"Oh."

William looks shamefaced. I raise my hands.

"But there's no way you could have known that, and he was still genuinely dangerous. And not sophisticated enough to listen when you tried to talk him down."

Click to shrink...

10 points for attempting diplomacy, -5 for execution.

"I didn't.. try all that hard." He shrugs awkwardly. "Just 'stop', really."

"But you did this time, and that's what you're getting evaluated on."

Click to shrink...

True, probably good to encourage methods other than righteous face-punching.

I look around at the seated Justice League.

"So, quick summary. The 'mysteriously' revived Mister Atom, aided by Mirror Master and a large number of hirelings, committed a number of high tech thefts around the world. This was to enable him to upgrade himself, build robotic avatars with the powers he had and shield his minions against his powers. Ultimately, his plan was to attack the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository with General Lane's access codes and get enough high-grade nuclear material to make himself unbeatable."

Click to shrink...

So many weak points in the plan. I'm guessing he lacked the perspective of a five-year-old child to spot them.

"And thanks to you, he didn't even get close."

Jordan shrugs, only slightly sullenly. And he's been a good sport about wearing the 'Be nice to me, I died today' sticker. "All his help ran off."

Click to shrink...

Hahaha... Well, that's one way to get them to use their heads, rather than their fists.

Mr Queen put his sticker on while insisting that Ms Lance comply with its instruction. Mr Allen noted it and then ignored it, and it's still on the table in front of him. Mr Thal disintegrated it with a tap of her mace when she thought I wasn't watching.

Click to shrink...

Oh-ho, some hard feelings, I see.

"Because you and Flash pressured him into rushing the final stages. The wargame allowed for the villain side to make mistakes as well as the hero side; pressuring someone into making errors is a perfectly viable approach in real life as well. If I'd wanted to throw you up against a flawless opponent you'd have been fighting me."

Guy snorts.

Click to shrink...

Don't laugh, you may not have read his report on Earth -14, but I'm sure the others did take note of his takedown of the other League.

"You took down Mister Atom, and apprehended a small number of metahuman mercenaries and a larger number of baseline human robbers." Images of the League's successes appear on the holographic display behind me. "With the Lanterns stabilising all the dust thrown up from Lake Karachay, there wasn't a horrible nuclear incident. General Lane was recovered alive and in one piece. Damage to the locations which the villain team attacked was generally minimised."

Click to shrink...

+5 points for each success...

I shift that screen to the side.

"You didn't get Mirror Master, and the leader of the metahumans evaded capture along with an indeterminate number of his colleagues. There were quite a few deaths, as a result of their use of short-lived disease weapons and radiation attacks in addition to conventional attacks."

Click to shrink...

-5 for each of these. So a net win, barring the team casualties.

Major Atom points to one image.

"I don't remember us being called in to China."

"The Chinese government elected not to inform the League of the attack in the belief that they could handle it without external intervention. Technically, they were right, though the casualties they suffered would have made it a national tragedy."

Click to shrink...

Ah, China... Let's hope it doesn't take a real disaster to shake them out of that bad habit... Their super-functionaries can only do so much.

If they would have allowed the news to spread. Sometimes, totalitarianism can be really useful.

"The League has good contact procedures in place, but they rely on the other party actually using them. The League has good reasons for not butting in whenever it feels like it, but sometimes that approach has adverse consequences. And, of course…"

Click to shrink...

A fine balancing act is needed. Or getting more moderate super-functionaries involved in international work.

Mug shots of Mr Queen, Mr Allen, Ms Thal and Lantern Jordan appear on the screen with red X's over them.

"Four League members died. Green Arrow, from a weaponised disease. Flash, from intense gamma radiation. Hawkwoman, from being repeatedly shot and Lantern Jordan from being shot once. I'm going to suggest that everyone have a look at their personal protective equipment and feed back to Batman, Aquaman or myself with their updated requirements."

Click to shrink...

This isn't the first time he's had to point this out, people. Pay attention!

Mr Allen glances at Mr Queen, who just nods. Clearly deducing that we've already had that conversation, Mr Allen looks my way.

"Have you got anything that would protect us against gamma radiation that strong?"

"Several things. Automatic emergency teleport recall, certain types of force field…" I shrug. "We'd need to test how they interact with your speed, though."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, a passive defence that trips every time he goes supersonic isn't going to be too useful.

King Orin nods. "We should be able to produce wards against radiation. It's not something Atlantis has needed before now. We don't enrich radioactive materials ourselves, but Mera tells me they can make wards against just about anything now."

"This is especially important because a significant proportion of the Justice League doesn't have superhuman resilience. A lot of you weren't able to participate in the Lake Karachay fight at all because the radiation would have killed you."

Click to shrink...

Then again, how many of them would have been useful in that fight anyway? The mages could have stopped or slowed down Mr Atom, yes... But Pointy-Stick-Launcher-man? Man Dressed Like A Bat? yeah...

Naturally, I checked everyone who went there over before they went home for the day. The attack which 'killed' Jordan was more simulated than anything, but I didn't like how some of the cells in his skin were behaving. Mr Freeman, Diana and William were fine, as was Major Atom when he reappeared a few hours later during the clean up. Bit of an awkward moment where he nearly attacked Mr Atom, but he realised that things had changed before he followed through on his initial impulse.

Click to shrink...

I'm guessing that happens a lot after his Leaps. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug...

"Apart from that, I think the biggest takeaway is that there are plenty of sites storing exotic material you can't easily get to and.. and some cases, don't officially know about. I've got a list-"

The list appears on the 'bad' screen.

"-of things which Mister Atom was able to acquire but not use, and if he'd gone for the long game things would have become quite unpleasant. But since the wargame is over, let's run through everything from the beginning."

Click to shrink...

Ah, the point-by-point breakdown. We don't need to see this, I think. Especially if it's going to be a powerpoint presentation...

Once again, the readers spoke, and Mr Zoat listened. And we thank you for it. Finding out just what the bad guy plan was makes the previous chapters make more sense...

Corrections:

...chassis was build by the Sivanas...

Click to shrink...

...chassis was built by the Sivanas...

 

[moralrelativity]

... wearing the 'Be nice to me, I died today' sticker.

Click to shrink...

Bwhahahahahahha!

Naturally, I checked everyone who went there over before they went home for the day.

Click to shrink...

Maybe consider "Naturally, I checked over everyone who went there before they went home for the day."?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Once again, the readers spoke, and Mr Zoat listened. And we thank you for it. Finding out just what the bad guy plan was makes the previous chapters make more sense...

Click to shrink...

Ah. No, sorry, I wrote that last weekend. When I said that I was going to skip it I meant I was going to skip the full, instance by instance evaluation.

Corrections: ...chassis was built by the Sivanas...

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Sendral]

So it was a temper tantrum. One that could have irradiated huge swatches of Russia... More than it already was...


10 points for attempting diplomacy, -5 for execution.


True, probably good to encourage methods other than righteous face-punching.

Click to shrink...

For clarity, I'm relatively sure that Captain Marvel was referring to the first incarnation of Mr. Atom, whom he defeated; he's lamenting not communicating better against the original rather than the one from the day prior, and Paul is noting that said original was essentially throwing a tantrum and unreasonable.

 

[Huttj509]

For clarity, I'm relatively sure that Captain Marvel was referring to the first incarnation of Mr. Atom, whom he defeated; he's lamenting not communicating better against the original rather than the one from the day prior, and Paul is noting that said original was essentially throwing a tantrum and unreasonable.

Click to shrink...

I agree with your assessment.

 

[Enochi]

Ugg. I really really want to slap Paul for the Flawless Opponent remark. I kinda feel like most the time I end up wanting to root for whoever he is facing rather then the protagonist.

 

[Vaermina]

"Because you and Flash pressured him into rushing the final stages. The wargame allowed for the villain side to make mistakes as well as the hero side; pressuring someone into making errors is a perfectly viable approach in real life as well. If I'd wanted to throw you up against a flawless opponent you'd have been fighting me."

Click to shrink...

Out of everyone here who's the only one that's actually died?

Oh, that's right, you Paul.

 

[AidanMorgan]

I mean, Hubris is an insidious killer. But also, he has a point; OL has extensive data on the League, and a power ring. That's a losing battle for a lot of people, if he's playing for keeps and not doing something stupid.

Strictly in the sense of a wargame, he should be able to maintain an effectively near-perfect OpFor.

 

[Mquz]

This might be modern politics, but it's bipartisan, I just read it, and I wanted to share it with a bunch of other nerds. A bipartisan agreement for the 2020 national defense budget is splitting off a section of the US Air Force and creating the US Space Force.

 

[BR549]

I mean, Hubris is an insidious killer.

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Derailment

Click to shrink...

This is relevant to this fic exactly how?

 

[FreeGod]

Ugg. I really really want to slap Paul for the Flawless Opponent remark. I kinda feel like most the time I end up wanting to root for whoever he is facing rather then the protagonist.

Click to shrink...

I sort of suspect that everyone there wanted to smack him. I am a little surprised that Guy didn't.

 

[Chaoswind]

"The Chinese government elected not to inform the League of the attack in the belief that they could handle it without external intervention. Technically, they were right, though the casualties they suffered would have made it a national tragedy."

If they would have allowed the news to spread. Sometimes, totalitarianism can be really useful.

"The League has good contact procedures in place, but they rely on the other party actually using them. The League has good reasons for not butting in whenever it feels like it, but sometimes that approach has adverse consequences. And, of course…"

Click to shrink...

I was expecting Mr. Yao to speak here or for members of the league to look in his direction as he shakes his head (hinting at a follow up later)... Mr Zoat is like you forget to include some members of the League and the team at times, something that is odd because you do have a member list you can check for both the youth team and the league.

I know Mr Yao is taciturn and all that, but he is very underrepresented in your updates.