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

DrThoth · Sep 28, 2020

Nice to see the Renegade Team again (well, one member anyway), character interactions are generally where this fic shines. Wonder if they'll discuss how things went with Jade.
Is Tao's rainbow bridge technique something from the comics or an original invention? Either way, it's cool to see other forms of New God magic being used (I've probably asked this before, but has Robin considered getting Awakened by Mister Miracle or someone else? He should see the benefits it's provided).

Old Knife · Sep 28, 2020

Definitely Sheedaland. Vampire sun.
Can't you replace it with something?

iamnuff · Sep 28, 2020

Vampire sun. Yeah, they're in sheeda-land.
Good thing they're both new-gods, else I suspect they'd decay as fast as their tools.

ForeverShogo · Sep 28, 2020

Well, that's why they're so big on biological technologies.

Darko · Sep 28, 2020

DrThoth said:
Is Tao's rainbow bridge technique something from the comics or an original invention?

I remember that in the comics he used his arrow to travel to the home of his gods, but I don't remember if it's the same.

DrThoth said:
Either way, it's cool to see other forms of New God magic being used

Technically Old God magic, seeing as Tao was blessed by Old Gods.

DrThoth said:
(I've probably asked this before, but has Robin considered getting Awakened by Mister Miracle or someone else? He should see the benefits it's provided).

If Robin is like his mentor then he may refuse any modifications, even if he can see the benefits they provide.

He may still be trying to emulate his mentor, and unlike canon Robin this one didn't exactly start being worried what becoming Batman may really be like, seeing as the telepathy training was broken pretty early by renegade in this story.

The Froggy Ninja · Sep 28, 2020

Darko said:
Maybe 'glittering'

Gutter verb. (intr) (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out.

Mr Zoat · Sep 28, 2020

Darko said:
What was that bridge thing supposed to do, I don't remember much about the Great Ten comics, was it some kind of teleportation?

Like this

Who was this again?

Frances Kane.

'letting the sun'

Thank you, corrected.

RichardWhereat · Sep 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I nod. "My rings are dead, otherwise I'd run an analysis. And Mother Box is…"

"Peeeeiiing."

Fuck's sake. Give her some privacy.

Vaermina · Sep 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I tumble through thin air-

Oh
Fuck

Guess that answers the question of whether Paragon has any chance assaulting the Sheeda's future.

Specifically with the answer of "no".

Chojin Patriarch · Sep 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I tumble through thin air-

Oh
Fuck

-as Artemis slips from my grip, rings guttering as I try to generate a flight aura. To no avail. Above us the Castle Revolving is.. gone -if it was ever there- and I see only a murky mist through which a dull red light shines. Below, grey, grey and more grey.

Ah, the dark times of the far future, where ~~there is only war!~~ crazy not-elves and a vampiric sun.

Mother Box?

Ppppppppiiiiiiinggg.

Oooh, that's not good. Let's hope our lovely little one survives this trip...

Oh dear. Right, aero-discs.

I'm jerked around for a moment as they misfire, Artemis.. drifting further away as she flattens herself in the air to stabilise her tumbling and maximise her air resistance. I'm a little behind in her health checks, but I… Don't think she's tough enough to survive a terminal velocity fall onto rock. In my case-

And I don't think she can follow Just Cause rules and fire a grapple arrow to hit the ground faster. Or maybe she can, being a New God and all.

She carefully takes an arrow from her quiver, puts it on her bow and fires it at the ground. A second arrow follows it.

-I'm more worried about the health of what I land on. Unless this is a future where Apokolips opened up some fire pits…

At least you know you aren't heading for one. Not enough fire and brimstone below.

In any case, landing on people would create a bad impression. I Am The Eggman. I Am The Walrus.

My aero-discs finally activate, and-
Cut Through Space.

Activating a New God artifact by quoting the Beatles. Not the strangest musical relation between DC and Apokalips. What with the song of the Life Equation apparently being a Queen song...

-rainbow bubbles percolate through the air below us-
Path to the Ground.
-and then the ground is there and we're slamming into crash-foam.

A useful bat-family creation? I suppose with all the rooftop lurking they do, there's a need for a way to make safe landings.

Artemis lands flat, sinks a short distance as the space age quick-hardening rubber depressed to absorb her kinetic energy, and then rebounds, leaping a short distance into the air. Then I hit it and it explodes, flecks of white foam flying in all directions as Artemis lands lightly a short distance away.

And my aero-discs fail again. But I'm down, and a small amount of residual rubber aside I'm none the worse for wear.

Artemis gets a 9 for her landing. Grayven.. a 5.

"Artemis, are you alright?"

"Uh-huh." She's looking around. "What just happened?"

Timey-wimey bullshit, for a start.

"Sivana sprung a surprise on me. Us. The plan was for me to board the Castle Revolving-"

I look myself over and begin plucking strips of rubber off myself.

And one thing you don't want in a fight like that is surprises. Especially on the part of the enemy.

"-alone, but…"

"He wanted revenge for them killing his family."

I nod. "I knew that he was distressed, but after we prevented Magnificus committing suicide I assumed that he'd.. worked through it."

Considering how deep his love for Venus and his kids was, you don't get over that shit anytime this lifetime...

"So you don't think he managed to… Undo time and bring them back?"

"I doubt it. Not in a rush job like that." I give her my full attention. "Was that Tao's rainbow bridge technique?"

Especially since time itself got tweaked a little while back, not that Grayven would know that. At best, Sivana might have made a timeline where they survive.

"Yeah, I've been able to do it for a few months now." She stops scanning our environment and gives me her full attention. "Which you'd know if you ever came around the Mountain any more."

"I don't.. think I'm authorised." Quick equipment check… Daiklave's still there. Yay. Sword of the Fallen… Yes. Ranged weapons are a big fat no , and drones..? No, no drones.

Great, trapped in the distant future with no rings, no mother box and only what gear he was carrying when he got slimed. He is in for a fun time.

"You know where we all live."

"You know where I live. And unlike you, I set my own admissions policy. How is Miss Kane getting along?"

Kane... Volcana? <sees Mr Zoat's link> Ah, yes. Honestly, I need to reread more one of these days. Too many other fics to read. (Taylor Varga first amongst them.)

"She's-." She looks around again. "Can we focus? Where are we?"

I look around. The ground is covered in… Some sort of grey… Building material? Coral? Without a ring I can't do a proper analysis, but I don't recognise it. Not Apokoliptian though, so there's that at least.

Ah, the Sheeda Kudzu? So this is a Witchworld-Earth where Melmoth's plan went off as he intended.

"Not sure. That green liquid is supposed to send things that go through it to random points in time, and assuming that it ignored galactic drift somehow this should be Earth."

"Past or future?"

Flip a coin, you've only got 4 billion years to work with in one direction (or you'd end up in the pre-Solar nebula.)

I nod. "One of those." Hm. "If that red light is reflected volcanism then this could be the past. And the sky could be obscured by high altitude dust. Finding food could be awkward if we're that far back. Alternately-."

"We're in the far future and the sun's turning into a red giant."

Or something worse... I wonder, what could Turn a Sun?

"In which case that's evaporated water up there. Except…" I hold my hands out to the sides. "If the sun's expanded enough to heat up the Earth to the point of evaporating enough water to enshroud the entire planet… The surface should be hotter than this. There should be a run-away greenhouse effect, like on Venus. I mean… Is it just me? Does this feel hot to you?"

Given that they aren't being boiled in their own skin or steam-blasted by atmospheric gasses, something is up.

"It feels… Maybe sixty?"

Or fifteen in new money. Which matches my estimation. I nod.

Positively chilly. You'd definitely be wanting a jumper. That's a sweater, for you yanks.

"So the temperature's wrong for a natural system-death."

"Unless they're using Captain Cold's freeze technology to keep the planet cool."

Hardly the most worthwhile of enterprises. By this era, humanity should cover half a galaxy at least.

"I… Kind of hope that human civilisation either has better things to do that preserve the old homeworld or they've got a better way to do it. Because frankly, if anyone wants to live here then letter the sun go giant is a sub-optimal outcome."

"I…"

Yeah, by this era you'd expect ludicrous technology. Stuff we couldn't even imagine today, except maybe as magic.

Artemis trails off, frowning. Then she crouches down and uses a target arrow to pick up a fragment of rubber. It's heavily decayed, falling apart as we watch, and I idly note that the rest is doing the same thing.

I nod approvingly. "Very environmentally friendly."

Yes, if it were meant to be doing that. Something is fucking with local entropy then.

"Yeah, it would be, but this stuff isn't. We couldn't make something that did what we wanted and melted fast and safe afterwards. This stuff should stick around for days unless someone uses a solvent."

I nod. "My rings are dead, otherwise I'd run an analysis. And Mother Box is…"

So whatever the Vampire Sun the Sheeda mentioned is, it causes technology and complex materials to age and deteriorate far more rapidly than should be possible. Madness.

"Peeeeiiing."

"Struggling."

Let's hope she counts as alive enough to not be affected too destructively.

"There could be chemicals in the air." She prods her arm computer and gets no response. "Nothing. Any idea what kills power rings?"

I raise my left hand and take a closer look.

What few things there are tend to be quite a bit more obvious than whatever is happening here. I would be very worried about any living thing running around out there.

"I don't think they're damaged. It just looks like… Their power's drained. I was near full power when I went through the portal, and… I don't think that protecting us in transit would have wiped the batteries by itself."

She stows her bow and pries open the computer's casing. "Doesn't look like there's anything wrong with-." She blinks, and I step forward to take a closer look.

The metal is corroding as I watch. There's already a patina across nearly-. Across the entire surface. Plastic is becoming brittle and flaking.

Good grief. It's like the more advanced it is, the more hungrily it gets devoured. This makes the Sheeda make more and more sense...

"What's happening?"

"I don't know. Some sort of.. curse, perhaps?"

You might have hit the nail on the head. Something unnatural is going on in this era, and it looks very unpleasant...

I take another look at my rings, but other than the lack of power they're both fine. I draw my daiklave and look it over carefully, but it doesn't appear to be affected. I stab the point into the ground and it cuts through perfectly well. My armour… Yes, that's fine.

Artemis has taken her arrows out and is checking them, muttering curses as the material of the shaft crumbles in her grip.

So much for the pointy sticks. Unless she can repurpose something local for ammunition, she's going to be running hand-to-hand... Ironically, making her more like her comics self, Tigress.

"Your.. bow?"

She drops the decaying remains of the arrow and examines her bow. It looks fine to me, and it appears that she agrees. "Scott and Barda got me this from an Apokoliptian chick they beat up. But most of these arrows were made on Earth."

I nod. "Whatever's doing this, New God technology is… At least resistant." I look around into the fog. "We need to investigate."

Ah, right of conquest. Taking the other guy's stuff by force. Presumably, the resistance is due to their gear being imbued with their Godliness. I hope Artemis is wearing New God armour too, or this could get a lot less G-rated soon.

And so begins Grayven and Artemis' whirlwind tour through the Sheeda lands. I fully expect they'll run into company in the next chapter or two, given their arrival would not have gone unnoticed. And then we can get a better idea of where and when the fuck they are...

Godspeech:

In any case, landing on people would create a bad impression. I Am The Eggman. I Am The Walrus.

My aero-discs finally activate, and-
Cut Through Space.
-rainbow bubbles percolate through the air below us-
Path to the Ground.
-and then the ground is there and we're slamming into crash-foam.

"I don't.. think I'm authorised." Quick equipment check… Daiklave's still there. Yay. Sword of the Fallen… Yes. Ranged weapons are a big fat no, and drones..? No, no drones.

Handlewithcare · Sep 28, 2020

Hm. Could it be that there is a chiken and egg situation here?

If that entropic effect came before the Sun changed etc. then maybe the Sheeda are not as far in the future as we thought?

It might be that all of Sheeda culture and technology is formed from this one phenomenon

It would be very informative to learn if FTL methods work within it's effects, because that wouild explain why the Sheeda don't just simply leave.

Unless of course it's galaxy wide or even universe wide.

Darko · Sep 28, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
Ah, the dark times of the far furture, where ~~there is only war!~~ crazy not-elves and a vampiric sun.

Ehh, bith the 40k universe and this future share a lot in common.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Activating a New God artifact by quoting the Beatles. Not the strangest musical relation between DC and Apokalips. What with the song of the Life Equation apparently being a Queen song...

That was the most beautiful moment witnessed in comics.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Artemis gets a 9 for her landing. Grayven.. a 5.

No, Artemis 10, renegade 3.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Ah, the Sheeda Kudzu? So this is a Witchworld-Earth where Melmoth's plan went off as he intended.

Think this is just regular Earth in the future.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Or something worse... I wonder, what could Turn a Sun?

Well suns may be sapient in Earth 16 like they were in the comics so maybe the sun went evil.

Chojin Patriarch said:
So whatever the Vampire Sun the Sheeda mentioned is, it causes technology and complex materials to age and deteriorate far more rapidly than should be possible. Madness.

No not madness, magic.

Darko · Sep 28, 2020

Handlewithcare said:
Hm. Could it be that there is a chiken and egg situation here?

If that entropic effect came before the Sun changed etc. then maybe the Sheeda are not as far in the future as we thought?

It might be that all of Sheeda culture and technology is formed from this one phenomenon

It would be very informative to learn if FTL methods work within it's effects, because that wouild explain why the Sheeda don't just simply leave.

Unless of course it's galaxy wide or even universe wide.

Melmoth kinda gave an answer as to why they don't just leave with a spaceship.

They don't want to.

He said that they were sadistic and evil and they engage in Harrowings since it allows them to get resources and still lets them stay evil.

They could have just went to an era that did have space travel, like the 31st century, and taken a ship from there and then go to another planet, but they didn't since then they would have to change and stop being evil, which they don''t want to do.

QuiescentQueste · Sep 28, 2020

I'm rather amused that Artemis is using Artemiz' bow.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

Darko said:
maybe the sun went evil.

Or maybe some enterprising vampire managed to Turn the sun's personification while they were distracted or something.

BlueMangoAdea · Sep 28, 2020

Agent Orange said:
Or maybe some enterprising vampire managed to Turn the sun's personification while they were distracted or something.

I guess that kinda makes sense, from a vampire's perspective? Maybe a vampire wouldn't burn in the vampire sun.

rkyeun · Sep 28, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
You might have hit the nail on the head. Something unnatural is going on in this era, and it looks very unpleasant...

Oh god. I have a stupid idea for what the vampire sun is.
All the magitech industry and space shit in the future killed Gaia at some point.
And Sol is pissed. So his gaze is now malevolent.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

rkyeun said:
I have a stupid idea for what the vampire sun is.

I have a stupider idea about what's going on! Forget the vampire that bit Sol. Forget the curse. This is completely natural. This is what happens with every sun as they near their end. Solar personification is a very old person, one that doesn't understand or like these new gadgets and does the equivalent of yelling at the kids to get of his lawn (Earth)! This manifest as the vampiric/entropic yet strangely specialized effect we see here.

Rafin · Sep 28, 2020

Wait... Is the reason we got those weird JSDF chapters because that's the only place that Paragon could have become stuck in at the moment in time that Renegade now finds himself in?

Stsword · Sep 28, 2020

Hmm, if one wants to come up with explanations for the vampire sun, the Parliament of Fire lives in the Sun according to Swamp Thing.

Maybe the Parliament of Flames is very upset for some reason....

edit-

rkyeun said:
Oh god. I have a stupid idea for what the vampire sun is.
All the magitech industry and space shit in the future killed Gaia at some point.
And Sol is pissed. So his gaze is now malevolent.

Maybe here, but not too likely in the comics.

In the comics, Gaia is not just a god, but literally the soul of the planet. So as long as there's a rock hurtling through space I would expect her to still be alive.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

Stsword said:
the Parliament of Fire lives in the Sun

And here we thought that sun is a person.

Stsword · Sep 28, 2020

Agent Orange said:
And here we thought that sun is a person.

I wouldn't think those two are mutually exclusive.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

L-lewd!

Rafin · Sep 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
It was really the 'people are born, they live, and then they die' bit I was trying to draw attention to. The SI's extreme longevity comes from a deep-seated abhorrence of decay and death. It doesn't come with the orange ring as a freebie.

Shouldn't anyone who does "wholeness rightly assumed" on a regular basis and/or dislikes the part of aging where your movements become more cumbersome, your body less pretty and your joints hurt automatically achieve eternal youth? Because age is just your bodily functions decaying. And that sounds like something one fixes automatically if one has the ability to do it by dedicating less time in the morning than one usually does to brush one's teeth.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

Stsword said:
Maybe the Parliament of Flames is very upset for some reason...

They are upset because they are the only ones that weren't invited to the Parliament of Earth. Even that Mycos guy was invited and nobody even likes him (and he reeks of decay).
This mess is the clear case of 'Am I a joke to you!?' tantrum.

Darko · Sep 28, 2020

Rafin said:
Wait... Is the reason we got those weird JSDF chapters because that's the only place that Paragon could have become stuck in at the moment in time that Renegade now finds himself in?

Ahh, no, Zoat just showed us those two chapters because for the last several episodes he's been showing us what some alternates Paul's are doing when he's starting a new episode and ending it, and I guess he wanted to show us a future version of Paragon.

Paragon is now back in Earth 16 about a month after they left.

Stsword said:
Maybe here, but not too likely in the comics.

In the comics, Gaia is not just a god, but literally the soul of the planet. So as long as there's a rock hurtling through space I would expect her to still be alive

Well if they developed some kind of advanced magi tech it just might be possible to kill Gaia, even in the comics.

Agent Orange said:
And here we thought that sun is a person.

It might be a person and it's just letting the rest of the Parliament use it's home as a base of operations for all Earth related fire business.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

Rafin said:
by dedicating less time in the morning than one usually does to brush one's teeth.

Lanterns don't brush their teeth, silly. Environmental shields are awesome!

Darko · Sep 28, 2020

Rafin said:
Shouldn't anyone who does "wholeness rightly assumed" on a regular basis and/or dislikes the part of aging where your movements become more cumbersome, your body less pretty and your joints hurt automatically achieve eternal youth? Because age is just your bodily functions decaying. And that sounds like something one fixes automatically if one has the ability to do it by dedicating less time in the morning than one usually does to brush one's teeth.

In order for an orange ring to extend a persons lifespan the user of the ring needs to want to have their lifespan extended, the ring can't do anything unless the person wants it.

Dox may just not want to live forever.

Agent Orange · Sep 28, 2020

Darko said:
Dox may just not want to live forever.

Or 'natural lifespan' is one of those conceptually fixed traits so Dox could be physically in his prime and perfectly healthy and still drop dead when he exceeds his 'expiration date'. Remember that this is the universe where 'time' and 'age' are Liquid Assets and No Immortal Inertia is a thing. You can cheat time/ageing via magic (or space magic in case of power rings) but the moment your 'cheat' is turned off (for whatever reason) time/age tend to catch up on you superfast.

Darko · Sep 28, 2020

Agent Orange said:
Or 'natural lifespan' is one of those conceptually fixed traits so Dox could be physically in his prime and perfectly healthy and still drop dead when he exceeds his 'expiration date'. Remember that this is the universe where 'time' and 'age' are Liquid Assets and No Immortal Inertia is a thing. You can cheat time/ageing via magic (or space magic in case of power rings) but the moment your 'cheat' is turned off (for whatever reason) time/age tend to catch up on you superfast.

Don't know if you're joking or not, but I'm fairly confident that if an orange ring user who has used their ring to extend their life isn't going to see all those years catch up to him and kill him the moment he loses his ring.

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

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Not too sore, are you?

Connoisseur.

Not too sore, are you?

Connoisseur.

The Blade Will Never Die

Dedicated ragequitter

Aia airëa Fëanáro.

Well worn.

Veteran Lurker

Versed in the lewd.

Connoisseur.

Connoisseur.

Not too sore, are you?

Experienced.

Alive. For now.

Cabbitus Maximus

Experienced.

Not too sore, are you?

Versed in the lewd.

Experienced.

Versed in the lewd.

Experienced.

Not too sore, are you?

Experienced.

Connoisseur.

Experienced.

Connoisseur.

Experienced.

Connoisseur.

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