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

Thank you. Also, die.
I double checked just to be sure. Sorry about the extra work.

I nod, glancing at the photographs on the wall. Some of a younger Ms. Adler and Ms. Darkhölme, some of other people I don't recognise. The one that draws my attention is a group picture of the two of them with Anna Marie. Huh. I don't think she has a copy-.
This image isn't working for me. Is it a problem on my end or with the image itself?

"About three months. I wanted to.. wait a little longer. She.. emphatically didn't. Um, Professor Xavier managed to transfer Carol Danvers' personality back into her so that's not an issue any more, and when she woke up she didn't seem to really remember Anne Marie, so we… Probably got away with that."
"Could well be. Honestly, I like the idea of my children having superpowers. Sure, some things -like Anne Marie's power- can create… Problems, but I'm sure that we can work through it. Pax?"
"Probably." I touch the power ring with my left hand and change the D.N.A. in the glove to that of Anna Marie's father. The glove crumbles immediately and I-. I pull my now-bare hand away before I show outward signs of dizziness. Touch the ring, make a glove with the D.N.A. of Ms. Darkholm and touch-. Crumbles again. My D.N.A.? Crumbles, and Anne-Marie is starting to look uncomfortable.
Anne-Marie frowns. "There ain't nothin' bettuh?"
A sensible precaution when everyone else is busy: someone gets to sit by a console to decrease our reaction time. And with Lilandra acting as an advisor with S.W.O.R.D. in exchange for a green card, Ororo drew the short straw. But with the meeting over, that's no longer so much of a concern. Anne-Marie and I glance at each other when we get out into the corridor. I don't think we really need anything-.
I take my hand off her, and Mr. Summers catches her as she collapses. "Thank you, Anne Marie."
Aaron nods. "I will tidy up. Anne Marie?"
Those should say 'Anna Marie'.
 
Meanwhile, on Earth 8096 New
16th June 2012
20:01 GMT -5


"You-?" Henry actually turns away from his work station to stare at me. "You actually did it?"

I tilt my head slightly to the left. "Yes..? I did say that was the next step."

"Well… Sure, but I didn't think you'd actually…" He shakes his head. "How did Tony take it?"

"Phlegmatically. He's still trying to work out how I talked Ronan the Accuser down." I shrug. "I asked him if he wanted me to go in disguise…" I shake my head. "He told me not to bother. According to him, he's got a bet with Doctor Richards going on how long it takes to blow up in my face."

"Don't let them put you off. Victor is an amazing man. Some of the designs he's come up with could put human civilization forward a century."

I nod. "I'm more interested in utility than raw sophistication, but I doubt that his pride would let him work like that."

He frowns curiously. "Like what?"

"A way to extract microplastics from the environment? A way to remove feminising hormones from the water supply? A way to erase radioactivity? Energy teleportation so that we could fuel the Earth using solar panels around the sun? Virus-hunting nanobots?"

"Ah-."

I shake my head, waving my right hand back and forth. "Okay, not nanobots, there's no way that would end well."

"No. No, that's-." He shudders a very small shudder. "No."

"Right. It's-. Building a faster than light drive would be an amazing technical achievement, but it wouldn't really fix any of the problems we have at the moment." I look over at his work station… And I have no idea what that is. "What are you working on?"

"Infrasonics. Are you familiar with the subject?"

I shake my head. "I know some sound frequencies produce feelings of unease, but I can't say I've studied it in any detail."

He nods. "I'm hoping that I can find a frequency that does the opposite."

I nod sympathetically. "Prisoner rehabilitation?"

"Maybe if they were calmer they'd actually listen to the people trying to help them." He shrugs. "It wouldn't be a permanent solution, obviously. Even if I found the exact frequency, they'd still have to process their traumas and learn how to do something productive with their skills, but it would be a start."

"How about colour?"

"Color?"

"I'm guessing that The Raft was grey on the inside? With fluorescent lighting?"

"Huh." His eyes grow distant. "Not throughout the entire building, but in a lot of places. I'll look into it."

"I'd suggest therapeutic gardening, but-"

"We tried that, the sharp-"

"-gardening tools-."

"-objects-. Yeah." He smiles ruefully for a moment. "So what's Anna Marie doing?"

"School prom, actually."

"I…" He frowns. "Thought she wasn't going."

"Yeah, and Janet talked to her about that, and it brought up the whole 'touching people' thing-."

"Ah. Look, I-. I know the.. suit wasn't really-."

"Nonono, the suit was an improvement. Not perfect, but it would have been ridiculous to expect a solution to a problem like that right away."

"Maybe you could ask Doom about it."

Ah… "I-. Don't-. Think that would be a good idea. That gives him too much leverage. When it comes to Anna Marie I want someone I trust working on the problem."

It looks like that made him feel worse. "And I'm playing around with the world's biggest sound system. So, she went?"

"Yeah."

"Going stag, or..?"

"I located a young masculine humanoid by the name of Aaron Stack. His skin's synthetic, so her power doesn't register it as being 'alive'."

"'Masculine humanoid'? He's an alien?"

"Android. Though I think he prefers 'robot', which… Legally, is probably correct."

Because he's probably not legally a person. Or… It might be that he would be if it was up to the courts, but at the moment he's firmly in the hands of a government research facility with military ties, and while they're not going to be dicks about things now that they've got an X-series robot that actually works, they're not going to be happy if he starts wanting to go to college, vote in elections or foreswear violence and take a job in a petting zoo.

Henry nods. "Steve not tracked down Jim Hammond yet?"

I shake my head. "Trail went dead in Nevada, and since I have no idea what Horton Cells look like, I can't just 'completely violate the unwarranted searches amendment' and do a general scan for him."

"I'm pretty sure Tony was joking when he said that."

"Oh yes, and if I knew what I saw looking for I'd do it anyway, but…" I shrug. "I don't. And none of the old pictures are good enough for facial recognition scans, so that's out too."

"I suppose finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack." He thinks for a moment. "And you're okay with him dating Anna Marie?"

"He seemed like a well-mannered lad. And… I think that Anna Marie and I are both realistic about.. things. Even if you made her some sort of energy field that let her touch people enough for normal social interactions, intimate interactions represent another level of challenge. Maybe they'll hit it off, maybe this is a one-off thing, I don't know. I'm sure that Janet's going to grill her when she gets back, and I'll just stand in the background looking stoical. Unless she's visibly upset, in which case…"

A construct shotgun forms in my hand. I hold it up for a moment in an attempt to get a smile… But he's not looking, so I let is dissipate.

"Yeah, Janet's… Really taken to her. What was it..? Made you decide to.. involve her?"

"I needed someone who could cover female-specific issues. Janet was one hundred percent of the women I knew at the time; I hadn't been on this Earth for long, and my.. mother and my sister are back on my original Earth. Honestly, she's…" I briefly run through the women I've met since in my mind. "Still the woman I'd ask."

"You know, we… Never really talked about it." I raise my eyebrows interrogatively. "Having kids. And then, we-. The Avengers… Happened…"

"Are you..? Having some sort of problem..? Between the two of you?"

"At this point…" He turns back towards his work station. "I honestly think she'd be happier dating you."

"A-uh?"

"She's the mother of-"

"Elder sister."

"-your daughter, you actually… Like fighting. And I-. I can't. I just… Can't relate to that-. I… I.. j-. I don't think we're… Right, for each other."

"Aah. Uh-huh. Ah. This is… A surprise to me. Um. I'm… Just going to go and… Speak to her..?"

"Yeah. You… Do that."
 
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A construct shotgun forms in my hand. I hold it up for a moment in an attempt to get a smile… But he's not looking, so I let is dissipate.
Poor Paul. Don't worry bud, we think you're funny!

"-your daughter, you actually… Like fighting. And I-. I can't. I just… Can't relate to that-. I… I.. j-. I don't think we're… Right, for each other."

"Aah. Uh-huh. Ah. This is… A surprise to me. Um. I'm… Just going to go and… Speak to her..?"

"Yeah. You… Do that."
Uh oh.
 
I'll live.

Thank you, corrected.

Works for me. Anyone else?
Just double checked, and the problem was the wifi I was using. Also, there is one last correction.

"Probably." I touch the power ring with my left hand and change the D.N.A. in the glove to that of Anna Marie's father. The glove crumbles immediately and I-. I pull my now-bare hand away before I show outward signs of dizziness. Touch the ring, make a glove with the D.N.A. of Ms. Darkholm and touch-. Crumbles again. My D.N.A.? Crumbles, and Anna-Marie is starting to look uncomfortable.
That hyphen should be removed.

"Yeah, Janet's… Really taken to her. What was it..? Made you decide to.. involve her?"

"I needed someone who could cover female-specific issues. Janet was one hundred percent of the women I knew at the time; I hadn't been on this Earth for long, and my.. mother and my sister are back on my original Earth. Honestly, she's…" I briefly run through the women I've met since in my mind. "Still the woman I'd ask."

"You know, we… Never really talked about it." I raise my eyebrows interrogatively. "Having kids. And then, we-. The Avengers… Happened…"

"Are you..? Having some sort of problem..? Between the two of you?"

"At this point…" He turns back towards his work station. "I honestly think she'd be happier dating you."

"A-uh?"

"She's the mother of-"

"Elder sister."

"-your daughter, you actually… Like fighting. And I-. I can't. I just… Can't relate to that-. I… I.. j-. I don't think we're… Right, for each other."

"Aah. Uh-huh. Ah. This is… A surprise to me. Um. I'm… Just going to go and… Speak to her..?"

"Yeah. You… Do that."
I can't wait to see the fallout of this little mess. I assume Hank won't go after Paul because he's literally telling him to date Janet, but I doubt Janet is just going to do that.
 
16th June 2012
20:01 GMT -5


"You-?" Henry actually turns away from his work station to stare at me. "You actually did it?"

I tilt my head slightly to the left. "Yes..? I did say that was the next step."
Oh, boy. The genius with a whole newsstand worth of issues, none of which he's probably even considered therapy for. It makes him an incredible hypercognitive, but he so easily falls into malign methods. Mad Science, basically.

"Well… Sure, but I didn't think you'd actually…" He shakes his head. "How did Tony take it?"

"Phlegmatically. He's still trying to work out how I talked Ronan the Accuser down." I shrug. "I asked him if he wanted me to go in disguise…" I shake my head. "He told me not to bother. According to him, he's got a bet with Doctor Richards going on how long it takes to blow up in my face."
Ronan was, at least, just threatening to call in a bigger fish and see what rattled loose. Quite likely interplanetary war, basically, and Ronan couldn't take that chance...

"Don't let them put you off. Victor is an amazing man. Some of the designs he's come up with could put human civilization forward a century."

I nod. "I'm more interested in utility than raw sophistication, but I doubt that his pride would let him work like that."
At the very least, Doom has to be seen as the mind behind such accomplishments. To have humanity knowing Doom is the one responsible for every improvement... To some degree, he's a bit like Luthor, in that one respect.

He frowns curiously. "Like what?"

"A way to extract microplastics from the environment? A way to remove feminising hormones from the water supply? A way to erase radioactivity? Energy teleportation so that we could fuel the Earth using solar panels around the sun? Virus-hunting nanobots?"
...The last could be useful against Sublime. Not that letting any human know that would be a good idea.

"Ah-."

I shake my head, waving my right hand back and forth. "Okay, not nanobots, there's no way that would end well."
Grand understatement there.

"No. No, that's-." He shudders a very small shudder. "No."

"Right. It's-. Building a faster than light drive would be an amazing technical achievement, but it wouldn't really fix any of the problems we have at the moment." I look over at his work station… And I have no idea what that is. "What are you working on?"
The joy of being an ordinary man with a powerful tool amongst several geniuses...

"Infrasonics. Are you familiar with the subject?"

I shake my head. "I know some sound frequencies produce feelings of unease, but I can't say I've studied it in any detail."
The Brown Note, basically. Though the Note itself isn't really a thing, the concept behind infrasonics is a studied thing. Basically, low-frequency sounds that unsettle the human senses and thus the mind relying on them.

He nods. "I'm hoping that I can find a frequency that does the opposite."

I nod sympathetically. "Prisoner rehabilitation?"
So... Something of a 'Happy note'? That would have to be very subjective...

"Maybe if they were calmer they'd actually listen to the people trying to help them." He shrugs. "It wouldn't be a permanent solution, obviously. Even if I found the exact frequency, they'd still have to process their traumas and learn how to do something productive with their skills, but it would be a start."
And of course, some of them might not want to do productive things with their skills. They might want to turn people into dinosaurs, for instance. 😄

"How about colour?"

"Color?"
For instance, the way a nice, pale blue glow feels welcoming and calming.

"I'm guessing that The Raft was grey on the inside? With fluorescent lighting?"

"Huh." His eyes grow distant. "Not throughout the entire building, but in a lot of places. I'll look into it."
Oh god. 😨 I can hear the tubes buzzing now. Never have I felt so much sympathy for supervillains.

"I'd suggest therapeutic gardening, but-"

"We tried that, the sharp-"

"-gardening tools-."
And you know someone with earth-based powers would manage to dig their way out. Even if the space was entirely metallic.

"-objects-. Yeah." He smiles ruefully for a moment. "So what's Anna Marie doing?"

"School prom, actually."
Still fun to see an Xavier's school with enough students to have a decent prom. As far back as the 'Ne Mutants' comics, the kids had to go to the local town school's socials (since they attended some classes there.)

"I…" He frowns. "Thought she wasn't going."

"Yeah, and Janet talked to her about that, and it brought up the whole 'touching people' thing-."
To be fair, that is a traumatic matter for her.

"Ah. Look, I-. I know the.. suit wasn't really-."

"Nonono, the suit was an improvement. Not perfect, but it would have been ridiculous to expect a solution to a problem like that right away."
Honestly, talking to Reed about it might have helped, but that would have needed Hank to consider that sort of collaboration.

"Maybe you could ask Doom about it."

Ah… "I-. Don't-. Think that would be a good idea. That gives him too much leverage. When it comes to Anna Marie I want someone I trust working on the problem."
And Doom may decline, stating Doom is not sufficiently learned about Mutants... Okay, the likelihood of Doom wording it that way is incredibly small, but I still think Doom might not be interested. I mean, how large is Latveria's mutant population, hmm?

It looks like that made him feel worse. "And I'm playing around with the world's biggest sound system. So, she went?"

"Yeah."
Hey, you go where the science ideas lead. Even if they're not great ones at first glance..

"Going stag, or..?"

"I located a young masculine humanoid by the name of Aaron Stack. His skin's synthetic, so her power doesn't register it as being 'alive'."
Very specific wording there. But given the number of non-Human sophonts on Earth at any given moment... And yes, I'm counting Mutants amongst the Human population.

"'Masculine humanoid'? He's an alien?"

"Android. Though I think he prefers 'robot', which… Legally, is probably correct."
Even if all the words English has for 'artificial person' are stolen loanwords from other languages... I suppose they could easily have used a gynoid form for the X-Series, after all. Perhaps the eventual production system will allow the resulting personalities to choose their specific presentation?

Because he's probably not legally a person. Or… It might be that he would be if it was up to the courts, but at the moment he's firmly in the hands of a government research facility with military ties, and while they're not going to be dicks about things now that they've got an X-series robot that actually works, they're not going to be happy if he starts wanting to go to college, vote in elections or foreswear violence and take a job in a petting zoo.
It could be worse, he could work in an insurance company, like that one alternate reality seen in NextWave.

Henry nods. "Steve not tracked down Jim Hammond yet?"

I shake my head. "Trail went dead in Nevada, and since I have no idea what Horton Cells look like, I can't just 'completely violate the unwarranted searches amendment' and do a general scan for him."
I suppose he hasn't really worried about tracking down Namor, either. If he heard about Steve's return, you know he would come looking to greet him.

"I'm pretty sure Tony was joking when he said that."

"Oh yes, and if I knew what I saw looking for I'd do it anyway, but…" I shrug. "I don't. And none of the old pictures are good enough for facial recognition scans, so that's out too."

"I suppose finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack." He thinks for a moment. "And you're okay with him dating Anna Marie?"
Facial recognition would also not work if the person being looked for never comes in view of the cameras doing it. And depending on continuity, The Human Torch might be anywhere. In hiding somewhere remote, buried in a tomb, or even some government lab somewhere...

"He seemed like a well-mannered lad. And… I think that Anna Marie and I are both realistic about.. things. Even if you made her some sort of energy field that let her touch people enough for normal social interactions, intimate interactions represent another level of challenge. Maybe they'll hit it off, maybe this is a one-off thing, I don't know. I'm sure that Janet's going to grill her when she gets back, and I'll just stand in the background looking stoical. Unless she's visibly upset, in which case…"
Just be sure to get the full story...

A construct shotgun forms in my hand. I hold it up for a moment in an attempt to get a smile… But he's not looking, so I let it dissipate.

"Yeah, Janet's… Really taken to her. What was it..? Made you decide to.. involve her?"
...Before you go off half-cocked. And you could have cocked the construct, with the appropriate sounds, to get Hank's attention, you know...

"I needed someone who could cover female-specific issues. Janet was one hundred percent of the women I knew at the time; I hadn't been on this Earth for long, and my.. mother and my sister are back on my original Earth. Honestly, she's…" I briefly run through the women I've met since in my mind. "Still the woman I'd ask."
A lot of the women he's run into... Not really the maternal type, no.

"You know, we… Never really talked about it." I raise my eyebrows interrogatively. "Having kids. And then, we-. The Avengers… Happened…"

"Are you..? Having some sort of problem..? Between the two of you?"
And has Jan noticed any problems yet, or is this all in Hank's head because he's convinced her can't have anything nice?

"At this point…" He turns back towards his work station. "I honestly think she'd be happier dating you."

"A-uh?"
Oh, boy. Here we go. Henry Pym with romance and emotional issues... Never ends well.

"She's the mother of-"

"Elder sister."

"-your daughter, you actually… Like fighting. And I-. I can't. I just… Can't relate to that-. I… I.. j-. I don't think we're… Right, for each other."
Choose your response very carefully, AMH!OL. Because Hank like this gets crazy.

"Aah. Uh-huh. Ah. This is… A surprise to me. Um. I'm… Just going to go and… Speak to her..?"

"Yeah. You… Do that."
Oh man... He's either going to turn into Yellowjacket, or somehow invent a Power Ring out of jealousy.

You just know Hank took that last reply so, so wrong. Hopefully AMH!OL can talk to Jan about getting him therapy before he goes full Yellowjacket on them. How is it that the MCU version is so well adjusted, I wonder... Such is the peril of a genius mind, in a universe where genius and madness are like the flip of a coin...
 
"Maybe you could as Doom about it."
'ask'

I can't wait to see the fallout of this little mess. I assume Hank won't go after Paul because he's literally telling him to date Janet, but I doubt Janet is just going to do that.
Hela might have an opinion on the matter, too.

Is Ultron a thing yet? This seems like how you would make Ultron a thing.
Ultron's long since come and gone in the EMH timeline. It looks like we're tracking the dates in-universe as the air dates of the episode (April 22, 2012, being when the epsiode featuring Ronan aired, for instance); since we're now in June 2012, Ultron was fourteen months ago.

Yellowjacket, on the other hand, made his debut in an episode that first aired (in Australia) on June 14, 2012...

Oh man... He's either going to turn into Yellowjacket, or somehow invent a Power Ring out of jealousy.

...which was two days ago.

Oh dear.
 
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