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

[Darko]

Complete disagree: Cochrin's power is a living horror story, if you placed him in an isolated room he would quickly go hollow.

Click to shrink...

I don't think that would happen.

Granted, there is the possibility that a Flowers for Algernon situation could happen.

Cochin is a scientist, even if his intellect actually comes from others, and he's probably surrounded by other highly intelligent people for long periods of time, so he may not be accustomed to thinking at a slower pace anymore.

Though if he lives alone and no genius is near his range then he may be able to cope being without people since he's used to losing that power.

 

[Jirachi]

18th July 2013
06:11 GMT -8


"Hey, Pawl? Every one a' these guys really had their brains dun?"

"So they tell me. And-" Empathic vision-. Ugh. "-as far as I can see, they're telling the truth."

There's barely anything there. Any formative memories are gone, stripped of emotional significance and suppressed to the point where they may as well not be there. I'm… Reasonably confident that they're still there somewhere, encoded into the structures of their brains. But they're not really doing anything. And…

Oh. I get it. They need an A.I. telling them what to do because… They've been stripped of everything that could motivate them. They must be… Rather suggestible. Which…

Someone or something would have been giving Mr. Blank instructions. Otherwise he'd just have gone along with what we said because he.. wouldn't have an attachment to anything that would make him behave one way or another. So… Did the A.I. not know about us, or..?

Speculative.

Click to shrink...

I'm confused? Batman described it a good bit differently here:

11th July 2013
08:04 GMT

There's a slight… Shimmer, to his left, and… That's the Mohican that I remember. He's back in his juiced up mode, but his clothing has had a substantial upgrade. The orange brown trousers and blue torso parts are now clearly armoured, and there's a thick belt unit with what looks suspiciously like a piece of Apokoliptian… New God technology on it. The gold boots, gauntlets and neck piece also look like there's more to them than you initially see. On his chest is a sort of stylised eye symbol, a gold outline with a small red pupil.

Mr. Blank takes a confident pose, chin forwards and hands on hips. "Orange Lantern."

"Mister Blank. Or… If you're in costume, should I use your nom de heroique?"

He grins, and-. For a moment I'm reminded of something, but I can't-. Superman. His face is obviously different, but if I adjust… It's modelled on Superman's public confident-and-reassuring smile.

"That's quite alright. You hadn't been read into the Global Peace Agency initiative, and I treated you like a regular intruder." He steps forwards and holds out his right hand. "How about we let bygones be bygones?"

"Certainly." I take his hand, and his grip is… Firm, but in a reassuring and confident sort of way. "But I've… I've got to ask… What..? Was that?" I glance at Batman before returning my attention to him. "With the robot fake parents, and… Shrinking down when I destroyed the transmitter?"

He glances at Batman for permission, and receives a nod. "I take it that you analysed the samples you took?"

I nod. "Yes. They empowered you using some sort of radiated power?"

"Which cut out when you destroyed the transmitter. Batman didn't have enough Apokoliptian equipment to make-" He taps the belt-mounted unit. "-one for all of us. And since all I was doing was guarding a disused augmentation facility, I wasn't exactly high priority."

"And the synthetic parents?"

"I think that's something-" He takes a step back and glances at Batman. "-that Batman should tell you about."

Batman inclines his head slightly. "The drawback to the 'big League' model that you outlined in your report is that it simply isn't possible to be as confident in the quality of members as we can with a smaller group of people. I may disagree with Green Arrow or Doctor Mist on some subjects, but I can be sure that they're working towards the same goal that I am. With a hundred people, having that level of confidence is difficult, to say nothing of the number we'd actually have to bring on board to make a global impact."
[...]

"You wiped his.. mind."

"Not completely. What he lost were specific memories. He doesn't remember what his name was, where he was from, what his employment was or similar matters. The same link that provides him with power can also provide him with information, but as that link can be disrupted I thought it best to leave the volunteers with the basic skills to navigate the world."
[...]
"In the wake of the Anti-Life, I haven't been short of volunteers. Sometimes people stepped forwards for the greater good. Others felt that they had nothing to lose. Regardless, the process doesn't remove the basic human need for social interaction."

"So they get housed with robots?"

"They are also assigned an A.I. partner. The aim is to provide the emotional stimulation necessary to enable optimal psychological health while not giving them any reason to deviate from their responsibilities."

"Huh-oh… Kay? That doesn't sound… Healthy."

Click to shrink...

Seems like the idea was to leave the - emotional structure and everything but mitigate pre-existing attachments as a one time thing, rather then generically get rid of their psychological drives and ability to have long term motivations or anything like that.

How many assets are there, exactly?

Global scan for those parallel universe heat sink connections.

Compliance.

And there they are, all across the world. In just about every country. How did he..? Find them all? I… Suppose that finding them by power ring would be.. possible, if the user knew exactly what they were looking for.

So… Next step. Do I open a portal to Earth -14? After what happened last time President Luthor might just have someone blocking it… No, we've still got Dame Carol. They'd probably be on the lookout, but I doubt that they'd have a planetary barrier in place. And if they do, it's not like I can't fly to Mars and open the portal there. I should see if the two surviving O.M.A.C.s want any messages sent through… Or if they just want to go back themselves.

I'm not exactly excited to be-.

Incoming telephone call.

Click to shrink...

I do hope he tries to just like... politely ask batman for further information about the technical capabilities of the peace agent soldiers and the magic involved in the memory wipe and everything. Feel like he's sort of leaning a bit too hard on his rooting out skullduggery training.

 

[Mr Zoat]

What would happen if he tried to copy OL for too long? Would Cochin's mind eventually become permanently altered and allow him to achieve his own version of orange enlightenment?

Click to shrink...

It's helping nudge him in that direction... But he's used to the way his mind functions changing based on who's around him. He doesn't set too much store by unusual insights that he knows that he's not going to keep.

Which is pretty odd, because considering how power-hungry Tangseid is, you'd expect him to have at least tried to contact the Ophidian to gain more power.

Which begs the question: Did he?

Click to shrink...

Contact the Ophidian? He barely leaves Earth. 'Never consume an energy field larger than your head'.

Complete disagree: Cochrin's power is a living horror story, if you placed him in an isolated room he would quickly go hollow.

Click to shrink...

Right up until some idiot -looking at you Superman- flies past and gives him the power to escape.

I'm confused? Batman described it a good bit differently here:

Seems like the idea was to leave the - emotional structure and everything but mitigate pre-existing attachments as a one time thing, rather then generically get rid of their psychological drives and ability to have long term motivations or anything like that.

I do hope he tries to just like... politely ask batman for further information about the technical capabilities of the peace agent soldiers and the magic involved in the memory wipe and everything. Feel like he's sort of leaning a bit too hard on his rooting out skullduggery training.

Click to shrink...

Agents and Operatives can form new attachments. They haven't had that ability removed. They just loose the ones that they had. But humans are social animals and need attachments to function properly.

 

[Stsword]

Complete disagree: Cochrin's power is a living horror story, if you placed him in an isolated room he would quickly go hollow.

Click to shrink...

Zoat has changed his powers (since radion shouldn't have meant shit to him by the comics), but normally his powers don't replace his natural abilities, they add to them.

Put him in a room with Batman he wouldn't be as smart, athletic, etc, as Batman, he'd be as smart, athletic, etc as himself and Batman combined, making him Batman's superior.

In the comics he built his "kill all the idiots" bomb by combining his own scientific prowess with that of Green Arrow (he was making all his own trick arrows in the comics) and Prof Martin Stein from Firestorm.