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

[Vaermina]

No. Honestly, it doesn't look like armour that anyone would want to try fighting in. It's bulky and the head is built into the torso.

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So... The institute power armor from fallout...

I guess the moral of this story is he should stop trying to design stuff himself and hire actual specialists to do the job.

 

[PDV]

"We are the manifestations of the Source! It has granted her this power! You cannot use powers or equipment she does not have, save to balance her! And the same applies to her!"

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Hmm. How do you fight, if you're distinctly under-skilled in the combat you have to fight? First couple of ideas:

• Frame judo: Pull a McNinja and try to switch sides, or try to argue her down rather than fight
• Plan 'Final Strike': really, explosively destructive suicide. Ends the fight, and Paul will recover much more easily than her.

It didn't take long for putting his rings in his body to backfire.

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How is it backfiring? Inability to give her a ring, I guess?

 

[Tyrantviewer]

Hmm. How do you fight, if you're distinctly under-skilled in the combat you have to fight? First couple of ideas:

• Frame judo: Pull a McNinja and try to switch sides, or try to argue her down rather than fight
• Plan 'Final Strike': really, explosively destructive suicide. Ends the fight, and Paul will recover much more easily than her.

How is it backfiring? Inability to give her a ring, I guess?

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More specifically implanting the rings means he cant remove them when an enemy's countermeasures would make that a good idea- in the season 1 finale he took his ring off to shoot at klarion since the bugger was leaching off of it with help from a Genie? if I remember right- basically he avoided the common way of disarming him, but made it nigh impossible to counter an exotic way of disarming himself- I don't think he ever considered someone being able to keep him from using a ring without taking it away from him, which is fair since he han't fought anyone with the right sort of exotic abilities for that- ie a new god who basically has limited reality hacks- since the orange light is already high up their conceptually.

This is the first time he would be facing someone who could nullify his access to the rings- and most ones I could think of would be godlike to the point that he would have bigger things to worry about- New gods just have the specific kind of reality warping that lets them hit above their apparent weight class- which is the whole reason they call themselves the new gods, they all have the potential to basically have cheat codes for reality via their domain abilities- yet then they basically just shoot or stab like a typical super but MORE because since they are a god they are inherently MORE.

In the end this is a very niche ability- hard countering any gadget or tool focused fighter- heck i wouldn't be surprised if his power armor only works because the zombgod is so strong and fast, or because it locking up would be uneven itself. IT is a very fitting power for someone who apparently is the child of a new god neanderthal- the sort of tech level of the opponents she would have normally faced is impossible to gaige due to the time travel and new god aspects- but an ability that enforces "equality" in weapons would hard counter anyone more prepared than her, and as a new god she can always default to punches and kicks... I wonder if it would be possible to nerf her if she used it on the wrong opponent, unlikely since it is purely equipment.

It reminds me of Kuwagawa from Madaka Box- his base power is literally bringing people down to his level- which bit him in the ass when he uses it instead of the very broken Alll fiction power he had gained in a fight with the protag- since for all his twisted pride in how weak he was, he and the MC had a hell of a slugfest when on the same level, largely because he was truely determined and brave despite his self depreciation, so the ability he thought would utterly demoralize his foe still left her with the will to win, because he still had it himself.


On ways Paul could get out of this- the way the god magic seems to be working it only nullifies equipment- maybe paul could pull a Malthusian and control the orange light directly long enough to turn the tide, maybe via moving his rings?

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Things we Know about OL's Current Generation Power Armor:

- Large enough to add some significant height (he gained I think about a foot when he donned it for one of the Amazons when he first showed up there)

- Strong enough for him to wrestle with the likes of Aqualad or Post Danner Artemis.

- Gauntlets are Large enough to house weaponry, consisting of blades, cold guns and purple rays. But fully formed fingers that can manipulate objects like the Sword of the Fallen, and other hand held weaponry (like manual rail guns he's used from time to time)

- Built in Kinetic Belt for shield and flight systems.

- Helm is an immobile domed faceplate with sensors rather then transparent materials. (Inhuman enough that Darkstars assumed him to be a robot when first meeting him in armor)

- Internal systems to force feed Kid Flash Brand Healing Potions via tube to mouth.

- He's got enough mass to shoulder through brick walls and the like, and a fair turn of speed for something of it's size and bulk. Some flexibility issues due to size, where standing up from getting knocked on his back is a bit of a process.

For me Size wise, the descriptions have it closer to full battle armor like a Clan Elemental from BattleTech, then something more form fitting like the power armor from Halo's Master Chief or 40k Tactical Space Marine. Something closer to a StarCraft Marine?

As for aesthetics, he's not gone for 'pretty' armor like tony stark's Iron Man, or Eldar aspect warrior plates. Something Plain, and utilitarian, with no jaggy bits for things to grab or catch on.

If I was gonna point at something for a starting 'look' for it? For KISS principles of armor that tick most of these boxes I'd say something like the Mock from Gundam Build Fighters. No Frills, just bulky grunt suit, smooth lines and big dome head.

Spoiler: Hi-Mock (For an example)

 

[Vaermina]

Here's a real question.

Why is he still using the shit tier power armor he kludged together using copied human tech instead of going to someone like that Qwadrian Armorer and having them build something super high tech for him?

 

[Artemisnemo]

Things we Know about OL's Current Generation Power Armor:

- Large enough to add some significant height (he gained I think about a foot when he donned it for one of the Amazons when he first showed up there)

- Strong enough for him to wrestle with the likes of Aqualad or Post Danner Artemis.

- Gauntlets are Large enough to house weaponry, consisting of blades, cold guns and purple rays. But fully formed fingers that can manipulate objects like the Sword of the Fallen, and other hand held weaponry (like manual rail guns he's used from time to time)

- Built in Kinetic Belt for shield and flight systems.

- Helm is an immobile domed faceplate with sensors rather then transparent materials. (Inhuman enough that Darkstars assumed him to be a robot when first meeting him in armor)

- Internal systems to force feed Kid Flash Brand Healing Potions via tube to mouth.

- He's got enough mass to shoulder through brick walls and the like, and a fair turn of speed for something of it's size and bulk. Some flexibility issues due to size, where standing up from getting knocked on his back is a bit of a process.

For me Size wise, the descriptions have it closer to full battle armor like a Clan Elemental from BattleTech, then something more form fitting like the power armor from Halo's Master Chief or 40k Tactical Space Marine. Something closer to a StarCraft Marine?

As for aesthetics, he's not gone for 'pretty' armor like tony stark's Iron Man, or Eldar aspect warrior plates. Something Plain, and utilitarian, with no jaggy bits for things to grab or catch on.

If I was gonna point at something for a starting 'look' for it? For KISS principles of armor that tick most of these boxes I'd say something like the Mock from Gundam Build Fighters. No Frills, just bulky grunt suit, smooth lines and big dome head.

Spoiler: Hi-Mock (For an example)

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I would definitely believe that the above description would accurately apply to this suit. Did we ever get a color, I always assumed red with orange highlights for some reason?

 

[Darko]

I would definitely believe that the above description would accurately apply to this suit. Did we ever get a color, I always assumed red with orange highlights for some reason?

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I think it's mostly just orange in color, with maybe se black or grey thrown in.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

It has been described by OL himself using terms normally associated with knightly armor. Gauntlets, Vambraces and Cuirass for example are words thrown around in the story so far. Likely it's got some passing resemblance to medieval armors at least enough to describe the segments used.

Spoiler: Parts Names, and Yes Sabaton is more then just a Band Name

 

[Lord Ernest]

If I was gonna point at something for a starting 'look' for it? For KISS principles of armor that tick most of these boxes I'd say something like the Mock from Gundam Build Fighters. No Frills, just bulky grunt suit, smooth lines and big dome head.

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I dig it. Although I don't think his legs would be as bulky, he doesn't seem to have anything special on them except possible propulsion, nor would he have a jetpack since (I think) he has redundant kinetic belt systems for flying. Now I'm imagining that the red "eye" in the dome moves around like Mad-Eye Moody is eye, is orange (obviously) and has the Orange Light symbol). Besides, I think at some point or on a previous version of his power armor he described it as "man sized attack craft" or something like that, so that's practically how I would describe a miniature Mobile Suit.

It has been described by OL himself using terms normally associated with knightly armor. Gauntlets, Vambraces and Cuirass for example are words thrown around in the story so far. Likely it's got some passing resemblance to medieval armors at least enough to describe the segments used.

Spoiler: Parts Names, and Yes Sabaton is more then just a Band Name

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I think that's more for ease of identification than anything else. None of the parts in the image have enough size for even housing the mechanical and hydraulic muscles that the power armor has.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Finally found a decent render of the Starcraft suit

Spoiler: Thats the Stuff

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th May
03:11 GMT -5

Aurakos approaches me slowly, sword partially extended. She's got better reach than me, because my blade is a backup weapon at most and certainly wasn't designed for duelling.

"Canis, is there any way we can swap?"

"Why?"

"Because you're tr-"

A small lunge which turns into a feint as I go to parry, then a stab aimed at my gauntlet which I counter with a power stomp which sends me into the air and lets me parry while sideways.

"-trained for this. I'm artlessly-"

Aurakos punches with her left hand, hitting me in the cuirass and sending me tumbling backwards.

"-flailing."

Things slow again as I correct my fall. My armour's movement calculation systems are clearly working; I'd never be this mobile without it. The question is: what do I do? Duelling the undead won't result in them tiring first. The only thing I can think of is taking a hit to give myself a clear strike at her forehead, but given that that's a New God sword and the fact that she knows what she's doing with it I can't guarantee that she won't simply use the opportunity to kill me. And while enough of her face is on display that I can hit the witch-sign if I get the right angle, there's a pretty good chance that I won't get that angle. And then it will simply be a matter of slashing into me and I'll die of blood loss.

"Ah… That.. is true. But I don't think that I can alter her use of her God Name. She is a lot older than me."

"What happens if I toss my swords away?"

"I imagine that she would-"

Aurakos stabs, letting me parry so that I can't stop her punching me in the faceplate. No real damage, but the sensors built into my armour aren't designed to take sustained punishment.

"-probably stab you."

"With a sword that-"

Okay, my kinetic barrier isn't working. How about plasma shield?

"-isn't equal?"

I hear the signature faint hum of my plasma barrier as it actually responds to my activation instruction. I.. suppose that's working because it's a pure toughness boost, not a negation of a particular type of attack that she can't mirror.

"Throwing weapons away isn't the same-"

Another weapon lunge, another parry, but this time when she tries to punch me I reinforce the plasma barrier and counter, forcefully knocking her empty left hand away and giving me an openi-. No, damn it! Missed the damn witch-sign and just poked her in the cheek!

"-as never having had them. That-"

Grab her sword forearm, undeploy right blade, deploy left and it works, slash-

"-doesn't make sense."

She turns her head and I scour a line along the side of her helmet, while she twists her arm and stabs weakly at my right shoulder just about going through the plasma shield and poking a hole in the armour without hitting anything significant.

Undeploy both blades.

"Okay, what counts-"

Push off and slam us both against the far wall, because while super strength fights are usually resolved by grapples neither of us are dropping our blades, she's undead and I'm in full armour. Choke holds are right out, she doesn't feel pain and if Canis is anything to go by she'll regenerate chip damage faster than I can inflict it.

"-as armed?"

I strain my legs to keep her pinned against the wall, letting my armour and plasma shield soak the punches and knee strikes she uses to try and force me back into sword range. I reciprocate with my right fist and she grabs it and pushes it aside so that I punch the wall behind her.

"If she has it in her possession-"

Good news is that she's not strong enough to simply squeeze through my armour. And she can't do what Printwhistle did and set us both on fire. And she can't fly, so she can't simply-.

She tries lifting me off my feet, using the wall behind her as an anchor. Except that doesn't work because I can just adjust my posture, threatening to twist her into a pose that would allow me to grapple her before she abandons the effort.

"-then she is armed-"

I stamp on her left foot with my right, to no apparent effect. Grundies apparently can't exactly feel pain in the same way that living creatures do, but the idea that being injured is bad is so ground into human psychology that it remains there even after death.

"-with it."

"If I tell you-"

Aurakos opens her mouth and tries biting my armour, and I hear a hideous noise as super strong teeth scrape across my outer plating.

"-where in my body my-"

I take a firm grip on her and the wall, then headbutt her in the forehead. I don't do any damage but I do cause her head to jerk back slightly.

"-ring is, how-"

I try to repeat the action, but she angles her helmet and pushes against my grip, threatening to throw me back if I persist.

"-quickly could you cut it out of me?"

I punch her with my right gauntlet fist, trusting my left to keep her sword out of the way and my armour to hold against-. Against her own fist.

"Not so quickly that-"

Her neck is somewhat exposed, but she doesn't need to breathe!

"-she could not slay you."

Hellwraith, go and find a Spine Rider, then come back and try using it to control her.

As you wish, Master.

The wraith emerges from the ring in my skull and flies up through the stone into the chamber above. At least that confirms that the rings are functioning.

"She's using the Source, right? What's-"

She-. Aaaaargh! She drops her sword point-down on my left boot, and all my plasma shield can do is turn it aside slightly before it slides into my foot. In armour I'm not really putting much weight on my organic foot, but the pain and blood loss are noticeable and I wouldn't be able to use the armour's purple healing ray until the sword is out.

"-the 'balance' for the Source?"

Aurakos then uses her now-empty hand to get a better grip on me in order to hurl me away. But disarming yourself counts as armed.

"Darkseid? The Anti-Life? The.. Great Darkness?"

I deploy my right gauntlet's blade and try to thrust it into her forehead, and she's forced to use all of her concentration to keep it off.

"How about the Ophidian?"

 

[thebishop8]

With a sword that-[orange]"[/color]

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Your color tags are showing.

 

[Vaermina]

"-the 'balance' for the Source?"

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There isn't one.

"How about the Ophidian?"

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The Source is way way way out the Ophidian's league.

 

[Fellow]

Ah yeah OL, whip out that snake!

 

[Citizen]

No way that ends poorly.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

The Source is way way way out the Ophidian's league.

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True. But Paul is way more closely connected to Ophidian than most New Gods are to the Source. It's not like New Gods can use the entirety of the Source as their power.

 

[DrThoth]

"How about the Ophidian?"

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I don't see how the Ophidian would balance the Source, since she's a component/offshoot of the White Light of Life, which should be pretty Source-aligned (even discounting things like the White Light being the Life Equation, which I believe is New 52 or something, but I'm not fully sure).

 

[Darko]

"Okay, what counts-"

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"-armed?"

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Maybe add 'as armed'

ground in to human psychology

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maybe 'into human, instead of just 'in to'

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

I don't see how the Ophidian would balance the Source, since she's a component/offshoot of the White Light of Life, which should be pretty Source-aligned (even discounting things like the White Light being the Life Equation, which I believe is New 52 or something, but I'm not fully sure).

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Paul's not trying to balance Ophidian against the entirety of the Source. He's balancing the Zombie New God's use of the Source with his use of Ophidian.

 

[Vaermina]

No way that ends poorly.

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I mean... The worst that can happen is the Ophidian ends up getting killed...

Which is why it's such a bad idea to actually host the Entities in the first place.

 

[RichardWhereat]

Ah yeah OL, whip out that snake!

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And spray her all over with your orange... power.

 

[firefrog600]

I mean... The worst that can happen is the Ophidian ends up getting killed...

Which is why it's such a bad idea to actually host the Entities in the first place.

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that kills off all the avarice in the universe right so people would be incapable of want of any kind?

 

[PDV]

True. But Paul is way more closely connected to Ophidian than most New Gods are to the Source. It's not like New Gods can use the entirety of the Source as their power.

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He probably won't be able to make use of her power to a significant degree even if he summons her. But summoning her should count as 'fair'. And once she's there, she will want to help Her Agent, but be prevented from doing so by New God cheat codes, which are powered by a disembodied, probably-not-intelligent connection to the Source. In a head to head fight between the (probably stupid, definitely not aggressive) connection to the Source, and a motivated Ophidian, I think Best Snek has a decent chance to eat the tasty, tasty magic and render the fight's rules unenforced.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Well, Paul could always claim a god name real quick.

Also, wwouldn't the emotional colours of all things be considered part of the Source?

 

[Darko]

I don't see how the Ophidian would balance the Source, since she's a component/offshoot of the White Light of Life, which should be pretty Source-aligned (even discounting things like the White Light being the Life Equation, which I believe is New 52 or something, but I'm not fully sure).

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I don't think he's trying to fully balance the Source here but just use some of the Ophidians power to fight the power Aurakos has.

She's calling upon a higher power to help her in this fight, so it would make sense for OL to do the same, and the fight is supposed to be fair.

Canis's suggestions were also fairly valid.

If I remember correctly Darkseid once corrupted the Source Wall after dying, so both he and the AL Equation may be able to do something.

The Great Darkness is basically the Anti God and was thought to be ale to destroy everything.

Also there may be other people and beings out there who can do it.

In Vertigo and Lucifer comics it was mentioned a couple of times that God may not have been the first thing to come into existence and that there were others before him, and some of them may be as powerful as him.

The Source is kinda like God, even if not the Abrahamic version of God, so maybe that is something that can work.

that kills off all the avarice in the universe right so people would be incapable of want of any kind?

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Or avarice still exists in the universe, but just doesn't have an embodiment anymore.

Or hell, maybe Paul becomes the next embodiment of avarice if the Ophidian dies.

He already has a piece of her for his soul, so maybe if she dies he gets the rest.

Spoiler

There's this fic called Absolute Power Sucks Absolutely on SB.

In it the protagonist takes away Zeus's power and then Diana mercy kills him, but his power is then sent to Captain Marvel by accident due to him having some of it in his powers already.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

I mean... The worst that can happen is the Ophidian ends up getting killed...

Which is why it's such a bad idea to actually host the Entities in the first place.

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Unless the New God that Paul is facing has a weapon that can hurt Emotional Entities, I don't see how Ophidian would get killed from Paul drawing her power.

 

[Darko]

Well, Paul could always claim a god name real quick.

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I don't think that's how it works, as getting a god name may be much more difficult than just deciding on the spot to do it and then getting one a few seconds later.

Paul also may not be able to do that, since while he has been compared to a New God before, he probably doesn't have the full range of their abilities.

I also don't see how getting a god name would help him now, the challenge has already been given and it may not be possible to get out of it until the fight is finished.

 

[firefrog600]

I don't think he's trying to fully balance the Source here but just use some of the Ophidians power to fight the power Aurakos has.

She's calling upon a higher power to help her in this fight, so it would make sense for OL to do the same, and the fight is supposed to be fair.

Canis's suggestions were also fairly valid.

If I remember correctly Darkseid once corrupted the Source Wall after dying, so both he and the AL Equation may be able to do something.

The Great Darkness is basically the Anti God and was thought to be ale to destroy everything.

Also there may be other people and beings out there who can do it.

In Vertigo and Lucifer comics it was mentioned a couple of times that God may not have been the first thing to come into existence and that there were others before him, and some of them may be as powerful as him.

The Source is kinda like God, even if not the Abrahamic version of God, so maybe that is something that can work.



Or avarice still exists in the universe, but just doesn't have an embodiment anymore.

Or hell, maybe Paul becomes the next embodiment of avarice if the Ophidian dies.

He already has a piece of her for his soul, so maybe if she dies he gets the rest.

Spoiler

There's this fic called Absolute Power Sucks Absolutely on SB.

In it the protagonist takes away Zeus's power and then Diana mercy kills him, but his power is then sent to Captain Marvel by accident due to him having some of it in his powers already.

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I mean I think I remember all life dies if the life entity dies so its probably that avarice ends if the ophidian dies.

I don't see how the Ophidian would balance the Source, since she's a component/offshoot of the White Light of Life, which should be pretty Source-aligned (even discounting things like the White Light being the Life Equation, which I believe is New 52 or something, but I'm not fully sure).

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if they were using all of the source then they could eat the moon like it was cheese and turn the universe into more cheese. Its not exactly the same I would say the ophidian is more powerful than the average new god or any new god that isn't powered by the life or anti life equation. But, less powerful than the source by a very wide margin. So it should be fine maybe.

 

[Vaermina]

that kills off all the avarice in the universe right so people would be incapable of want of any kind?

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According to the comics, once you kill an Entity their color light stops working, but people still feel the emotion because the Entities aren't the source of the emotion, and eventually a new entity is spawned from that.

Unless the New God that Paul is facing has a weapon that can hurt Emotional Entities, I don't see how Ophidian would get killed from Paul drawing her power.

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When an Entity takes a host it becomes vulnerable to mundane weaponry.

That's one of the hard rules of Entities, and why it's such a bad idea to actually channel them.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

When an Entity takes a host it becomes vulnerable to mundane weaponry.

That's one of the hard rules of Entities, and why it's such a bad idea to actually channel them.

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That sounds blatantly false. Do you have a source for your claim?