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

Darko · May 2, 2020

'she hesitates "Personal' not 'she hesitates Personal'

And I think 'I don't understand, I'm afraid' should be 'I'm afraid I don't understand', unless it's a style choice.

KyleDaScourge · May 2, 2020

That last line raises a question that hadn't occurred to me before. When a Black Lantern, or at least this interpretation of one, consumes a heart and takes the emotion... is that enabling them to feel the emotion towards whatever they would or to feel it towards whatever their victim would have?

If I phrased that in a way that makes sense... If Black!Jade consumes someone's fear, will that allow her to feel afraid of her own fears or her victim's?

Bloodalchemy · May 2, 2020

KyleDaScourge said:
That last line raises a question that hadn't occurred to me before. When a Black Lantern, or at least this interpretation of one, consumes a heart and takes the emotion... is that enabling them to feel the emotion towards whatever they would or to feel it towards whatever their victim would have?

If I phrased that in a way that makes sense... If Black!Jade consumes someone's fear, will that allow her to feel afraid of her own fears or her victim's?

Do you mean like Jade was afraid of dogs but her victim was afraid of spiders. Would eating the victims heart feel afraid of dogs or spiders?

Mr Zoat · May 2, 2020

thebishop8 said:
Add "ago" after "years".
Change "though" to "thought".

Darko said:
'she hesitates "Personal' not 'she hesitates Personal'

Thank you, corrected.

And I think 'I don't understand, I'm afraid' should be 'I'm afraid I don't understand', unless it's a style choice.

It is.

Chojin Patriarch · May 2, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
16th May 2011
15:42 GMT -5

I smile at this parallel's version of Wonder Woman.

"I realise that I'm pushing my luck here-" She smiles faintly. "-but is there any chance at all you could spend a year or two on my parallel once this is over?"

Ha! Thinking the 'Boys' universe could use some Truth, Justice and Heroism? She'd certainly get lots of attention...

She raises her eyebrows very slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"We.. don't have much of a superhero tradition. Everyone with super powers gets it from a substance called Compound V, either injected or inherited. And… For various reason, the people who are referred to as superheroes have never developed the skills or moral probity to truly be superheroes." Her expression grows somewhat more serious. "The least bad are well-meaning celebrities with powers; the worst… Well, there was a… An event two years and they're mostly dead now, but we're left with a void in leadership and direction. I'm doing what I can, but I don't have the experience or charisma to.. bring as many people as I need to with me."

I'm guessing the Ring's programming encourages a more behind-the-scenes methodology...

"You shouldn't underestimate yourself."

"Yes… But… I'm fully aware that my staff has altered my mind and that another version of me who hasn't had his mind altered collects the skulls of his fallen enemies so that he can decorate his home with them. I'm not even sure that I'm the sort of person who should be in such a position. And while I can probably… Succeed in managing something like what I'm trying to achieve eventually, the presence of you, or… If you can't spare the time, another highly motivated and capable League member would speed things up considerably."

Hmm... Wonder if there're any suitable candidates, especially in mind of a permanent stay. I doubt there's going to be much in the way of travel once this blows over...

She nods thoughtfully.

"Prepare a full brief, and I will give it the consideration it deserves."

I'm amazed she's taking it so seriously, but, well, literal Goddess of Truth. She knows he means what he says...

I smile. "Thank you. Were..? Have you fought Krona before?"

"No, though I was involved in both the event which merged many parallel universe into one, and in the event where the Society of Super-Villains attempted to recreate them. I am all too aware of the devastation such events can cause. Even if the people involved are all too likely to forget them in the aftermath."

And that's not just the 'I need brain bleach' kind of forget. With Crises, it tends to involve literal memory erasures...

I frown. "Is there a.. way to know if you've had a memory erased like that? I've long.. though of memories as a vital part of a person's existence, and the idea that I'd just.. forget my whole reality is one I find extremely troubling."

She nods.

Let's not forget the whole 'erased memories of local canon' thing Pauls suffer from. Though given his timeline at this point, he's long past the events of Canon for 'The Boys' anyway...

"If it is any comfort, I met a version of myself who had been part of a universe which was unmade. Though we were different in some ways, we were still recognisably the same woman."

That would be the ghostly Golden Age Wonder Woman who helped her reach Earth Two during the finale... One experience you would remember well...

"I appreciate the thought, but I'm recognisably the same man as the heart-ripping vampire and the skull collector with the blood-horns. Other than the fact that we appear to be natural at being Lanterns, it… Doesn't really reassure me."

Indeed, one common trait between every Paul so far is the Rings. Even the Fallout-verse Paul had a spent ring... One more note for the puzzle...

16th May 2011
15:42 GMT -5

The local Koriand'r regards me with a warm fascination, but I find my eyes drawn to her hair. It's mountainous. I can't.. smell any hairspray-.

Yeah, Earth-one Starfire has big... curls. And don't forget, it leaves a fiery trail when she's flying. Tamaraneans are weird.

"Most people do not stare at my hair." She smiles. "Why do you find it so fascinating?"

"Tamaraneans.. in my parallel, their hair doesn't get quite that… Voluminous. Do you do.. something special to it?"

Ha! Inadvertent compliments. Truly, you are a Paul...

She raises her right hand and runs it through her bouffant, forcing the local Garfield and… Some guy in blue armour I don't recognise, to back up to avoid being haired.

Jaime Reyes' Blue Beetle? And that doesn't ring a bell? Damn that memory-wipe of canon!

"It has been like this for my entire life."

"So it didn't get like that when the psions..?"

Heck, it may have made it fluffier, but nope. She had that as a kid too...

She shakes her head, making blue armour sidestep. "No. Most Tamaraneans have hair like this." She smiles curiously. "What is Tamaranean hair like where you are from?"

"Our Koriand'r's hair is completely straight. No volume to it at all. She has the.. fringe cut short and the rest brushed straight back. Komand'r's the same. There are… A few Tamaraneans with bushy hair, but it's not really a… Common trait."

Never mind the difference in clothing style... She normally wears metal boots, bracers and sling bikini... Her brother Ryan'dr started out wearing boots, collar and a posing pouch...

"It is strange to hear anyone speak of my sister with such affection."

"My.. Komand'r isn't your Komand'r. Mine.. is more about personal freedom than domination."

Koriand'r smiles, apparently genuinely pleased.

Given her relationship with her sister, the alternate version is probably sounding so much better...

"How long have you been together?"

"About a year and a half. She's so… Passionate. The way she.. throws herself into everything she does, probably… Because it's all new, all.. something she couldn't do growing up with Vega being.. Vega. Being with her is what makes all the killing… Have concrete meaning for me. And trying to keep up with her has made me live more than I did before meeting her."

Sounds like she was very good for Raul. Good for them...

"Then I am glad that you have found one another."

I nod, smiling. "Thank you."

"And how does the other me feel about it?"

Heheheeh... Oh, boy.

"She finds it delightful in the abstract, but she gets a bit disturbed about exactly how we express our affection for one another."

Garfield snorts in amusement, while Koriand'r seems more confused.

The couple that slays together...

"On my Tamaran, my people are completely open with our feelings, both in what they are and in how we demonstrate them. I would not think that there is much you could do that would disturb me."

I suppose that projectile vomiting is a pretty open display. Super strength stomach evacuations are not for the faint of heart.

"Some girls just don't like excarnation, I guess."

And that goes over the heads of all present but him. Such a Paul...

16th May 2011
15:42 GMT -5

"I've never been undead before."

Jade Nguyen examines her right hand, and the power ring upon it.

Quite a peculiar sensation, eh?

"Okay?"

"I don't know how old I am. I used the materioptikon to live so many lives, I never kept track of how many subjective years I was integrating back into the whole. But I never tried undeath. If a version of me died, I just wrote them off."

So no curiosity towards, say, a vampire lifetime? Too many weaknesses, I suppose.

"I don't understand, I'm afraid."

"On my Earth, a supervillain named Doctor Destiny brought the entire population of the Earth into a dream realm he could control. When the Justice League defeated him he lost control of the tool he used to do it; the materioptikon. I took it, and used it myself. I created illusory worlds and lived illusory lives, becoming stronger and more knowledgeable until that began to lose its appeal."

Sounds like a dull, lonely life...

"To what end?"

"I-." She hesitates. Personal protection. I hate feeling vulnerable, so I tried to make sure that I never.. would. I… Don't feel that way now. Is that because of you?"

"It's hard to feel, as a Black Lantern. You'll need to feed your ring a few fearful hearts."

Too full of the still of the grave. Hmm... Are they planning to feed her a few demons too to get her fighting fit or just leave her be?

She shakes her head.

"I'm not keeping this me. Once we free them, I'll merge with another version of me. Then you can have your ring back."

That'll be an... Experience. And two black rings on one Lantern? Wonder how they'd handle charging? 50-50 split?

"That… Might… Ah…"

"It's worked through every change I've gone through so far. Including death." She looks out into the briefing theatre at the superheroes who are filing in. "Let's get this briefing done so we can all go back to normalcy."

Wow, these folks are so much more organised than Earth-16's little club... Then again, this isn't their first time around the track of a Crisis...

I frown at her.

"Are you sure that you really want to?"

Normalcy is overrated anyway. You always need a little weird in your life.

A nice little transition period. I suppose the briefing is next chapter. And then the action begins. Or a cut back to Equestria...

Vaermina · May 2, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
"I'm not keeping this me. Once we free them, I'll merge with another version of me. Then you can have your ring back."

I rather doubt Death will let you go that easily.

Darko · May 2, 2020

Vaermina said:
I rather doubt Death will let you go that easily.

Death is a nice girl who doesn't care if people get ressurected seeing as they all come to her eventually.

Hey Zoat did all the versions of Paul possess the same personality the paragon had before and a bit after they came to their respective universes, unlike renegade who was different before he came to his version of Earth 16, and just got theirs changed due to their rings or the things they did?

KyleDaScourge · May 2, 2020

Bloodalchemy said:
Do you mean like Jade was afraid of dogs but her victim was afraid of spiders. Would eating the victims heart feel afraid of dogs or spiders?

Exactly!

Cuchulin · May 2, 2020

I miss Paragon! I wonder when will he be back and what is he up to?

Handlewithcare · May 2, 2020

Seeing these Pauls is interesting.

But is the Paul talking to Jade Balck Paul? Is his speech white because he currently has emotions?

KyleDaScourge · May 2, 2020

Actually, let me phrase my question better...

Black-Lantern Lois Lane pops in and extracts Talia al Ghul's heart during a particularly romantic moment between her and Batman, gaining a decent amount of Love that she is now capable of feeling. Does she feel that love towards Superman or Batman?

Ancalador · May 2, 2020

KyleDaScourge said:
Actually, let me phrase my question better...

Black-Lantern Lois Lane pops in and extracts Talia al Ghul's heart during a particularly romantic moment between her and Batman, gaining a decent amount of Love that she is now capable of feeling. Does she feel that love towards Superman or Batman?

She shouldn't. Consuming the heart only gives the emotional energy, not the reasons for the emotion. It doesn't appear to form any other connection between the Black Lantern and their victim as far as I know.

Ace Dreamer · May 2, 2020

Some research strongly suggests emotions are made, or to some extent constructed by society, rather than being fixed things, hard-wired into certain parts of the brain.

My being an awkward person (people have used rather less polite terms...), I wonder how this sort of thing impacts on the 'emotional spectrum' of DC Comic's Green Lantern? In the DC Universe(s) are people's brains wired differently? Is it something to do with the basic structure of reality? Did the emotional spectrum mess badly with our SI, as it didn't exist in the world he came from?

Sometimes I wonder if my 'willing suspension of disbelief' is hanging on a spring, so it *boings* up and down.

Old Knife · May 2, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
It's worked through every change I've gone through so far. Including death." She looks out into the briefing theatre at the superheroes who are filing in. "Let's get this briefing done so we can all go back to normalcy."

Do not disregard the fact that death is the province of a different Endless. This time Death might stick.

hance1986 · May 2, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
And… For various reason, the people who are referred to as superheroes have never developed the skills or moral probity to truly be superheroes

should be ' reasons '

Mr Zoat said:
"No, though I was involved in both the event which merged many parallel universe into one, and in the event where the Society of Super-Villains attempted to recreate them. I am all too aware of the devastation such events can cause. Even if the people involved are all too likely to forget them in the aftermath."

should be ' universes '

Mr Zoat · May 2, 2020

hance1986 said:
should be ' reasons '
should be ' universes '

Thank you, corrected.

Stsword · May 2, 2020

Old Knife said:
Do not disregard the fact that death is the province of a different Endless. This time Death might stick.

Considering she's reintegrated dead parallels zillion times already I have absolutely no idea why on Earth anyone would think Death would object the zillion +1 time.

No, if there is an issue, it certainly won't be from that.

Coda · May 2, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
the tool he used to do it; the materioptikon

Should be either a comma or a colon.

Ace Dreamer said:
Some research strongly suggests emotions are made, or to some extent constructed by society, rather than being fixed things, hard-wired into certain parts of the brain.

I mean, it's the nature vs. nurture debate. I have serious doubts about this research, especially since other species are capable of recognizing emotional cues in humans, and there are clear emotional responses in other species. If it were totally an emergent phenomenon of highly-social society, then you would expect the qualia and presentation of emotions to vary from species to species or even from population to population within a single species -- indeed, you would even expect there to be a different set of emotions present. But at least in the broad strokes, they appear to be consistent across time and culture. Some cultures might have different conceptualizations of those emotions (particularly with regards to where the emotions are felt to originate in the body) and certainly the nonverbal communication cues have some variability because those can certainly be learned, but when it comes down to it the underlying palette of basic emotional responses does seem pretty universal among human societies.

Mr Zoat · May 3, 2020

Hell if
I know

I think I fucked up.

Ah, who am I kidding? Yeah, I fucked up. Was my life really so good that a few years in prison would be that bad? No, no it wasn't, but I still thought that getting grabbed by a giant hand like I was some kinda prize in a fairground claw machine was better. And now I'm back on ice, surrounded by killer robots, at the end of the fucking universe, and the second I can't keep up this shape… I don't know what they're gonna do, but I don't think I'm gonna like it.

No, forget that. I didn't 'fuck up', I am a fuck up.

I mean, what the fuck was I even thinking?

Shit.

Okay, I'm about… Halfway up the right fork of the giant tuning fork thing. So I.. guess the view's an improvement. Except that I can't look around, 'cause the robots think this thing wrapped around my head is messing up my thoughts like it is everyone else's. I mean, I guess that's what they think. It's not like they talk to me, just 'wham, bam, back in the can'.

View's better. All of the… What was his name..?

Shit, I didn't even ask.

I sure used to be a whole lot more sociable than this. Guess being a giant mud monster did a number on my people skills.

I mean, the hole in the sky.. thing said 'Peter Wynne', so I guess that's it. But seeing as how it grabbed me maybe I shouldn't just assume that it knew what it was talking about. So okay, a couple of… Hundred? Clones of that Peter Wynne guy are plugged into one side of a giant tuning fork, and hundreds of clones of some chick I've-. No, wait, that one's-. She's wearing the same mask as that Cheshire chick. If they're all the same woman…

I.. don't know what that means. Being a Gotham mud man does not prepare you for this stuff. You think you've seen some shit, then you get strapped to a tuning fork by a robot.

Okay, think. What's this place even for? The… House… Villa… Whatever it is over on the asteroid… Someone built that. On an asteroid. In the middle of nowhere. So… I mean, it doesn't look like a space station or anything… But these robots look pretty high-end. And the giant hand…

Okay, so some crazy alien with a robot army built a holiday home on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere. Think I was an extra in a flick like that one time.

Though… I guess, if he can open those portal things to anywhere, he doesn't need to live near anything. The robots probably need… Electricity? Or.. whatever alien robots run off. Was that what the tuning fork was f-? No, that was stupid. Not even a crazy alien is gonna kidnap a bunch of clones to make electricity.

Think I was in a sci-fi channel special with that plot…

Crazy alien-. Ah! No. Not a crazy alien. No way is an alien who gets a whole bunch of robots working for him crazy-crazy. And I guess if you're crazy on an asteroid house then you get spaced and die.

Would I die if I got exposed to space? Or… Just stop moving until something warmed me up? Four years out was bad, but I could.. float around in space… Forever. Except… There isn't anything around here, so wouldn't I just..? Float back? No, if it actually happened the robots would spot me and pick me up. And take me to the alien running the place. Or…

Could they kill me? Gotta admit, there've been times… I mean, if anyone could…

Nah. Nah, that ain't healthy.

So. Do.. I.. think that Peter Wynne guy is gonna try and bust me out? I… Dunno. Superheroes don't stop until they win, but… I dunno if he was a superhero. And if he was-. Ah, how would he get here, anyway? And he said he wasn't, and I tried ditching him the first chance I got. So I don't think I got any credit there.

So what are my options here?

I could stay here. I don't need to eat or breathe. Or scratch myself. I can move my insides around so I don't feel like I need to twitch. I can stay here until the alien does whatever it wants to do, and then…

Yeah. I guess aliens don't have to think like humans, but if this guy was a human? I don't think he'd be the kinda guy who'd just send everyone home with a thank you note. And 'giant tuning fork with people strapped to it' doesn't exactly shout 'art installation'. So I need to escape. Somehow.

None of the robots… Look like they're looking this way. There are plenty around the tuning fork, but they're clustering around the handful of clones who are… Glowing, or… Something. My body is basically mud. Are they gonna be able to tell the difference between my mud and asteroid mud? I'd have thought they would, but then I don't get how they haven't spotted that I'm not that Wynne guy already, so what do I know?

And… If I can get out of this pod without anyone noticing… Where would I go? The… House? I guess if I squirmed really slowly and made myself really thin, I… Could pull that off. Creep down the side of the tuning fork…

No, no, that wouldn't work. Sure, they might not notice that I'm not plugged into whatever this thing is, but they'd spot an empty booth. And there's no way I could stretch that far. So.. I.. guess I'm…

…

I could try doing that thing that made that Robin kid nearly kill me. How old is he now? I mean, it's been four years, plus the time before Edge got me… In his twenties? Late teens? Whatever. If he hears about it, I don't think he's gonna try killing me where Batman can stop him. But if I give it really clear instructions and make sure I absorb it before anyone finds out…

Not like I've got any better ideas.

Okay. Where is it easiest..? I can't just chop off a limb, but it's gotta be hard to see the back of my legs from outside. Go from there. Shift a little mass around, make sure I keep my outside looking the same… A hollow space grows in my middle as extra clay leaks out of my right foot. It spreads out, mimicking the color and texture of the bottom of the pod I'm being held in. Still.. connected to me.

I always figured that if I did something like this, I'd just have a little me around the place. Up until I did it, and a piece of me wandered off on its own and started living its own life. Still don't really know how or why that happened. Was it because of the chemicals? That would kinda make sense, and it shouldn't be a problem any more. All of my mud is definitely me.

Okay. It's just connected to me by a thin thread now. Focus. Maybe that'll work better than just thinking 'go and look around'.

Stay hidden. Look around. Find a way out. Then come back.

I can't look down, but I can… Faintly hear my own thoughts echoing back to me.

Stay hidden. Look around. Find a way out. Then come back. Stay hidden. Look around. Find a way out. Then come back.

And sever.

Can't hear it now. I risk moving my eyes to the back of my body so I can watch it, closing the faux eyes on my face. It's… Sort of laying there, slightly… Rippling. Right, staying hidden. It isn't gonna move unless it's sure it's safe. Which is good-.

It extends itself very slightly out of our recess, carefully mirroring its surroundings all the while. Okay, fine. I move my eyes back up and take another look around at the robots. Not moving. Or not moving over here at least.

I take a closer look at them. Another thing Gotham doesn't prepare you for: alien super-robots. They've got a red and blue theme going, but there are a whole lot of different shapes. Not like in They Come!, where we had one design to cut down on costume costs. Guess if you're building them for real-.

No, no, hang on. You'd set up a production line. Wouldn't you? I haven't seen the different types doing different things to each other. And they're not all custom jobs, or they'd all look different. Robots of the same types are sticking together, but they're working with each other no problem.

I don't know what's going on.

Idkusername · May 3, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I could try doing that think that made that Robin kid

Thing

Darko · May 3, 2020

Ah Clayface you really did screw up.

Now if this separate piece develops further maybe Paul can take it with him so that it can become his sidekick.

Know that Jim Gordon could use some help with the toll Gotham is giving him.

Mr Zoat · May 3, 2020

Idkusername said:
Thing

Thank you, corrected.

RichardWhereat · May 3, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I don't know what's going on.

Me either Clayface, me either.

Ganurath · May 3, 2020

I wonder how many power rings Clayfeeler can wield at once.

Chojin Patriarch · May 3, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Hell if
I know

I think I fucked up.

Ah, who am I kidding? Yeah, I fucked up. Was my life really so good that a few years in prison would be that bad? No, no it wasn't, but I still thought that getting grabbed by a giant hand like I was some kinda prize in a fairground claw machine was better. And now I'm back on ice, surrounded by killer robots, at the end of the fucking universe, and the second I can't keep up this shape… I don't' know what they're gonna do, but I don't think I'm gonna like it.

Ah, Clayface's perspective? Refreshing, if a little vexing by the delay.

No, forget that. I didn't 'fuck up', I am a fuck up.

I mean, what the fuck was I even thinking?

Shit.

Come on, man! Don't be so hard on yourself. You might well be the fly in the ointment this plot needs to fail.

Okay, I'm about… Halfway up the right fork of the giant tuning fork thing. So I.. guess the view's an improvement. Except that I can't look around, 'cause the robots think this thing wrapped around my head is messing up my thoughts like it is everyone elses. I mean, I guess that's what they think. It's not like they talk to me, just 'wham, bam, back in the can'.

View's better. All of the… What was his name..?

Well, at least the view is nice. Still not a patch on Milliway's. They at least have a regular show.

Shit, I didn't even ask.

I sure used to be a whole lot more sociable than this. Guess being a giant mud monster did a number on my people skills.

Gee, you think?

I mean, the hole in the sky.. thing said 'Peter Wynne', so I guess that's it. But seeing as how it grabbed me maybe I shouldn't just assume that it knew what it was talking about. So okay, a couple of… Hundred? Clones of that Peter Wynne guy are plugged into one side of a giant tuning fork, and hundreds of clones of some chick I've-. No, wait, that one's-. She's wearing the same mask as that Cheshire chick. If they're all the same woman…

That's a lot of Jades and Pauls. I wonder how close Krona is to pressing start on the big experiment?

I.. don't know what that means. Being a Gotham mud man does not prepare you for this stuff. You think you've seen some shit, then you get strapped to a tuning fork by a robot.

Okay, think. What's this place even for? The… House… Villa… Whatever it is over on the asteroid… Someone built that. On an asteroid. In the middle of nowhere. So… I mean, it doesn't look like a space station or anything… But these robots look pretty high-end. And the giant hand…

Okay, so some crazy alien with a robot army built a holiday home on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere. Think I was an extra in a flick like that one time.

He's had a lot of shitty minor roles, hasn't he? One of those 'For the money, darling' types when he isn't in it for the art... Man's gotta eat, after all. Or used to.

Though… I guess, if he can open those portal things to anywhere, he doesn't need to live near anything. The robots probably need… Electricity? Or.. whatever alien robots run off. Was that what the tuning fork was f-? No, that was stupid. Not even a crazy alien is gonna kidnap a bunch of clones to make electricity.

Think I was in a sci-fi channel special with that plot…

Neo you aren't. And knowing the Manhunters, they probably have Bleed-based power generation tech...

Crazy alien-. Ah! No. Not a crazy alien. No way is an alien who get a whole bunch of robots working for him crazy-crazy. And I guess if you're crazy on an asteroid house then you get spaced and die.

Would I die if I got exposed to space? Or… Just stop moving until something warmed me up? Four years out was bad, but I could.. float around in space… Forever. Except… There isn't anything around here, so wouldn't I just..? Float back? No, if it actually happened the robots would spot me and pick me up. And take me to the alien running the place. Or…

Especially in this place. Unlike the usual time period, space right now would be comparatively small. And he'd stand out a lot against the background temperature...

Could they kill me? Gotta admit, there've been times… I mean, if anyone could…

Nah. Nah, that ain't healthy.

Yeah. Take heart in the fact that you're practically immortal right now. Baked into clay? Just need to get wet. Watered down into a sewer, you'll pull yourself back together eventually. Glassed? Might have to wait until you crumble into dust, but...

So. Do.. I.. think that Peter Wynne guy is gonna try and bust me out? I… Dunno. Superheroes don't stop until they win, but… I dunno if he was a superhero. And if he was-. Ah, how would he get here, anyway? And he said he wasn't, and I tried ditching him the first chance I got. So I don't think I got any credit there.

So what are my options here?

Oh, Peter wasn't a superhero. He's a businessman. Albeit one with an altruistic goal.

I could stay here. I don't need to eat or breathe. Or scratch myself. I can move my insides around so I don't feel like I need to twitch. I can stay here until the alien does whatever it wants to do, and then…

Yeah. I guess aliens don't have to think like humans, but if this guy was a human? I don't think he'd be the kinda guy who'd just send everyone home with a thank you note. And 'giant tuning fork with people strapped to it' doesn't exactly shout 'art installation'. So I need to escape. Somehow.

Good idea. If anything, Krona would probably spend five minutes analysing the odd clay-person, then bin him in the nearest black hole...

None of the robots… Look like they're looking this way. There are plenty around the tuning fork, but they're clustering around the handful of clones who are… Glowing, or… Something. My body is basically mud. Are they gonna be able to tell the difference between my mud and asteroid mud? I'd have though they would, but they I don't get how they haven't spotted that I'm not that Wynne guy already, so what do I know?

And… If I can get out of this pod without anyone noticing… Where would I go? The… House? I guess if I squirmed really slowly and made myself really thin, I… Could pull that off. Creep down the side of the tuning fork…

Optimistic. But can you manage to replicate the texture and colour of the fork that well? While moving?

No, no, that wouldn't work. Sure, they might not notice that I'm not plugged into whatever this thing is, but they'd spot an empty booth. And there's no way I could stretch that far. So.. I.. guess I'm…

…

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

I could try doing that think that made that Robin kid nearly kill me. How old is he now? I mean, it's been four years, plus the time before Edge got me… In his twenties? Late teens? Whatever. If he hears about it, I don't think he's gonna try killing me where Batman can stop him. But if I give it really clear instructions and make sure I absorb it before anyone finds out…

Not like I've got any better ideas.

If anyone's wondering, he's referring to an episode of Batman the Animated Series, where he had a semi-autonomous offshoot posing as a teenage girl. Robin got a little attached to her. He wasn't happy when Clayface reabsorbed her...

Okay. Where is it easiest..? I can't just chop of a limb, but it's gotta be hard to see the back of my legs from outside. Go from there. Shift a little mass around, make sure I keep my outside looking the same… A hollow space grows in my middle as extra clay leaks out of my right foot. It spreads out, mimicking the color and texture of the bottom of the pod I'm being held in. Still.. connected to me.

I always figured that if I did something like this, I'd just have a little me around the place. Up until I did it, and a piece of me wondered off on its own and started living its own life. Still don't really know how or why that happened. Was it because of the chemicals? That would kinda make sense, and it shouldn't be a problem any more. All of my mud is definitely me.

Makes you wonder just what he's really capable of. It'd be weird, if he could build full personalities and spin them off into their own lives.

Okay. It's just connected to me by a thin thread now. Focus. Maybe that'll work better than just thinking 'go and look around'.

Stay hidden. Look around. Find a way out. Then come back.

Impressive. Not quite enough to get a ping from a Ring, but who knows, maybe the clayling will grab one?

I can't look down, but I can… Faintly hear my own thoughts echoing back to me.

Stay hidden. Look around. Find a way out. Then come back. Stay hidden. Look around. Find a way out. Then come back.

And sever.

Cutting the cord, so to speak. Let's hope it isn't too dumb.

Can't hear it now. I risk moving my eyes to the back of my body so I can watch it, closing the faux eyes on my face. It's… Sort of laying there, slightly… Rippling. Right, staying hidden. It isn't gonna move unless it's sure it's safe. Which is good-.

It extends itself very slightly out of our recess, carefully mirroring its surroundings all the while. Okay, fine. I move my eyes back up and take another look around at the robots. Not moving. Or not moving over here at least.

Heh, with the instructions he imprinted on it, it might well have done just that...

I take a closer look at them. Another thing Gotham doesn't prepare you for: alien super-robots. They've got a red and blue theme going, but there are a whole lot of different shapes. Not like in They Come!, where we had one design to cut down on costume costs. Guess if you're building them for real-.

You can afford to diversify when you're stealing from alternate universes...

No, no, hang on. You'd set up a production line. Wouldn't you? I haven't seen the different types doing different things to each other. And they're not all custom jobs, or they'd all look different. Robots of the same types are sticking together, but they're working with each other no problem.

I don't know what's going on.

Neither do we, but that might be useful information down the line.

A fascinating look at Krona's setup. I'm guessing he did some reprogramming on all the looted Manhunters to avoid any conflicts between models. Wonder what's going to happen to the clayling he sent off...

...like it is everyone elses.

...like it is everyone else's.

...but they I don't get...

Delete 'they'.

...a piece of me wondered off on its own...

...a piece of me wandered off on its own...

Agent Orange · May 3, 2020

Hah! Clayface always a treat

Gotta admit, I didn't expect non-MC PoV.

Mr Zoat said:
Except that I can't look around, 'cause the robots think this thing wrapped around my head is messing up my thoughts like it is everyone elses. I mean, I guess that's what they think. It's not like they talk to me, just 'wham,

... I am still baffled that Krona/Manhunters could scan across the multiverse to locate different instances of MC, that they can obviously locate a local instance (Peter) on some island in the middle of nowhere and yet somehow completely fail to realise that they captured a clay golem. Just... what? Did their scanners go on a fritz at a narratively convenient moment or something? How did the Maltusian version of straight jacket/power supressor (at least I guess that's what it is based on Clay's comment) fail to inform them of him lacking a nervous system (or any other kind of living tissue for the matter) - what with being an animated lump of clay?

Mr Zoat said:
I mean, the hole in the sky.. thing said 'Peter Wynne'

Shouldn't this be 'Peter Win' since we're watching this from Clayman's PoV? How does he know how to spell a name of some rando he met an hour ago? Even Zaul made a joke about Nguyen - Win

w34v3r · May 3, 2020

Ganurath said:
I wonder how many power rings Clayfeeler can wield at once.

Right now it looks like it might be able to manage a green, maybe. Extra green rings beyond the first are just battery capacity, not actually an improvement to your ability to wield them unless you're someone whose computing power and multi-tasking might potentially exceed that of the individual rings... So basically Shards from the Queen Administrator lineage, some hive minds, and a few unique giga-minds.

Barring such intelligences having more rings of the same color doesn't help an individual wielder all that much.

Wielding a ring of a different color in tandem is more of a boost, but only if you're clever enough, and can hold the right mentality in mind to use multiple different rings like that without tripping over your own feelings.

Hell even Grayven tends to use them in sequence rather than parallel most of the time. Largely, because outside of specific applications most of the rings share enough powers and abilities that you only need one ring active to do a thing, and most people are just flat better at focusing on a single part of the spectrum at a time, because it's easier.

That said there's not really a physical limit to how many rings you can use, even touching the wielder can be fudged at the upper tiers.

Vaermina · May 3, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Hell if
I know

I think I fucked up.

This is hilarious, so Clayface was impersonating Common Sense Paul and got grabbed by Korona instead.

Mr Zoat · May 3, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
...like it is everyone else's.
Delete 'they'.
...a piece of me wandered off on its own...

Thank you, corrected.

Agent Orange said:
Shouldn't this be 'Peter Win' since we're watching this from Clayman's PoV? How does he know how to spell a name of some rando he met an hour ago? Even Zaul made a joke about Nguyen - Win

Mr Hagen 12 is a good deal less literal than the SI, and has seen the name 'Wynne' written down before.

Agent Orange · May 3, 2020

I have a feeling that by the time Zade, Zaul, Saul, Raul and the army of Goldies come knocking "Peter Wynne" will have already released every other Paul and Jade, staged a prison riot and killed Krona. He'll do it without a power ring and without breaking his character even once.

Clayface the Saviour of the Multiverse!

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

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