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

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-07-23T07:06:53+0100

Mr Zoat said:
21st September 2013
19:29 GMT -5

I watch from a mile up as Antonia Monetti in turn watches a… A group of people right on the border between 'protest group' and 'mob', as they protest outside of a building being used for… Uh, some sort of political working dinner. The generally ineffectualness of the American government hasn't exactly escaped the general public. 'DO YOUR JOBS' is just about the most polite sign down there. She's not really doing much, just standing there with a couple of D.C. police officers while the group kindly consents to not charge the front doors just behind them.

Yeah, compared to the highly visible League, the wheels of government turn slowly and invisibly. I can imagine people being unsatisfied with the folks in charge, seeing only minimal response to the Anti-Life and its aftermath...

I assume that she came with her father, Senator Anthony Monetti of New Jersey. He hasn't really been relevant for me to pay any attention to. I couldn't even say which party he's part of without looking it up-.

Democrat.

Ah, the Ring being helpful as ever.

Thank you, ring.

You are welcome.

And surprisingly polite. I'd be a little worried its VI is getting a little too smart...

Hm. Yes, she doesn't really know what she's supposed to do, and as a result has defaulted to doing the correct thing, which is nothing. Looking like you could be a threat but not being actually threatening should serve to keep things peaceful. I could wait or I could come back-.

Don't underestimate how stupid a group can be. They're only as smart as their dumbest member.

A concerned-looking OMAC strolls towards the rear of the demonstration. Track… More are heading this way.

I don't know if that's normal or not. I haven't been paying attention to Washington because it hasn't really been relevant and I don't want anything from them. I'm not.. exactly surprised that people have developed a low opinion of their elected representatives, but they were living in Anti-Life central.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of them didn't survive the event. Which means their constituents would have to see about electing someone to take the seat...

Of course, most of these people live in the general area of the District of Colombia, and as such are the type of people who expect government action rather than the type inclined to take action on their own part. Wonder if I should have a talk with Oliver about American politics? Could be-

Might want to check around, Ollie might not have the most neutral opinion there.

Someone near the front of the crowd lights a Molotov Cocktail.

-illuminating.

Ah, there's trouble. One of the 'dumbest members' I spoke of.

I prepare to dive, but Miss Monetti had already spotted it. She steps up and raises her hands, a glowing mass of blue-silver plasma extruding itself from her bare skin and forming a circular barrier just in time to catch the projectile. The police cringe back as the bottle shatters, burning fuel spilling across the plasma construct as it flickers and flares. It's not weak, the impact isn't threatening its integrity, her ability just doesn't seem to lend itself to tight containment fields.

Interesting. Like Spectrum energy-lite. Something OL could help her with, perhaps.

The crowd closest to the thrower shrinks away from him, not having any interest in that kind of approach. But the people further back can't really see what's happening, and from their point of view a fiery barrier just appeared without provocation. They're not moving. If anything, they're getting louder. The OMAC hesitates, but after a couple of seconds starts moving with renewed purpose. Probably getting a satellite recording of what just happened. If he wades through the crowd to arrest the would-be assailant, things could get unpleasant.

Likely checking he can identify the thrower once he starts looking. The problem is if the crowd panics at the obvious cape advancing on them.

And despite the vague similarity, Miss Monetti isn't a Lantern.

I transition down, appearing just behind the Molotov-thrower.

Very much not able to easily generate multiple constructs at once, for one thing. And limited to human-level senses.

"-cowardly fascist-!"

I grab his wrist as he goes for a second throw, the lit Molotov staying in his hand.

Best to snip that plan in the bud, and snuff out the flame.

"Good evening, sir."

Without looking around, he tries to elbow me in the face. I grab his arm and twist it behind his back.

that hand-to-hand training coming in handy for once.

"Ah!"

Now he actually thinks to look back, and his eyes widen.

Yup. You're nicked, mate.

"Yes, you have indeed boo-booed." Construct chains, step around him and put the Molotov out, take it from him and… Ah, good the police officer is coming forwards. "Do you need this as evidence?"

"Orange Lantern-? Ah, no, it's all on camera."

"Good show."

Excellent, prompt response time and a nice visible hand-off to the regular cop. Should help defuse any tension in the crowd.

I disintegrate it, and then turn away and rise two metres into the air and wave at the OMAC. He stops walking and nods back at me, and I return to street level. The crowd… The shot of fear generated by the violence is dissipating, but the obviousness of my presence is encouraging a degree of dissipation.

Yes, a very obvious powered individual stepping in will do that. They should be a little more polite now.

Hm.

"Excuse me! Is this about anything in particular, or it is a general protest about the government being useless?!"

Best to find out for sure, I suppose.

Molotov Man snaps out of his stupor. "It's about fascist pigs living it large on the taxpayer dime!"

"Anyone else!?"

Gent definitely has issues with someone or something going on. Might need further investigation. Maybe a training case for the rookies?

No one exactly comes forwards, but a few people nod.

"Perfectly alright, then! Protest away! Don't throw anything else, and you'll be fine!"

I hope they listen, but somehow, I suspect molotov guy wasn't alone.

I float the Molotovian off his feet and towards the closest police officer.

"Except you."

Yeah, even if no-one got hit, the intent was still there. Also, trying to elbow OL in the face probably qualifies as assault and attempted battery?

"I knew she was gunna block it!"

"I'm afraid that really doesn't matter."

Interesting. I guess she's public enough that her abilities are generally known. Hard to be discreet with brushed-silver skin.

"Fucking-!"

"I suggest you stop talking until you speak to a lawyer, sir." I use the construct chains to pull his hands behind his back and hold his wrists into a convenient handcuffing position, and nod politely to Miss Monetti when she stares at me as the officer handcuffs him.

"You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to…"

Right, time for business.

I dismiss the chain construct and float towards her.

"Miss Monetti?"

No doubt people filming this too. First meeting of these two known capes in public? cape-watchers will be marking that in their calendars.

She moves her plasma screen off to the side-. She's still using both hands, and the fire is still burning. I wave my right hand and put it out, and she dismisses her construct, opening and closing her fingers as she does so. The construct itself expands and thins out as it vanishes, rather than the neat 'no longer there' vanishing that ring constructs do.

No interference between the two, unlike mixed-Spectrum constructs. So it's not Spectrum energy, certainly.

"Ah, yeah?"

"Any injuries?"

She looks past me into the crowd. "I don't think s-? Oh, me?"

Yes, well, unless that skin comes with durability enhancements, she's still quite squishy...

"Yes."

"No, no, I'm fine." I look at her twitching fingers. She takes a moment, and then follows my gaze-. "Oh, no, that's just-." She makes a point of stopping twitching. "They're fine."

I mean, she probably doesn't usually get much excitement like that day-to-day.

"Alright, if you say so. The reason I'm here is that I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

Curiosity about her constructs? Professional interest in her origins? Helping out the rookie? So many reasons.

"The Justice League is running a training scheme for young superheroes, and we're offering you a place. In point of fact-" Her eyes widen. "-if you are interested, I'll be your mentor."

Her eyes go back to normal. "The… Cake guy."

Been a long time since anyone called him that. I guess she doesn't eat much Cadbury's.

"Could you hold up a cake that big with one of your constructs?"

Her eyes drop. "Nno."

"Then it seems like I may have something to teach you. Interested?"

Admittedly, she may not be able to generate that much plasma anyway. Most comics references point to small-scale blasts and simple shapes of modest size...

That's two public approaches by OL. Wonder if the other Team members are being this open about making contact with their prospective recruits? Just imagine what the cape-watching communities will be saying about all this. Never mind all the conspiracy theorists...

B.B. Rain · 2026-07-23T07:15:27+0100

lancelot said:
Didn't straight up stone cold murdering a certain Chaos Lord get a lot of play in the public? You know the one that children and adults in two separate worlds and caused at least a 6 digit body count?

In this timeline, Paragon gave the credit to China's superteam.

Renegade is the one who took public credit for it.

GigaVanguard · 2026-07-23T07:26:21+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"-if you are interested, I'll be your mentor."

Her eyes go back to normal. "The… Cake guy."

Never gets old.

NightmareWarden · 2026-07-23T07:32:56+0100

He spun the moon! He performed in a supervillain's magic play before the president, alongside Amazons! He fought the strongest water-kineticist in modern history! He meddles with angels' missions and responsibilities! He's brought heroic and professional aliens to assist in Earth's recovery, and they haven't engaged in supervillainy!

RichardWhereat · 2026-07-23T07:43:33+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Her eyes go back to normal. "The… Cake guy."

"Could you hold up a cake that big with one of your constructs?"

Her eyes drop. "Nno."

"Then it seems like I may have something to teach you. Interested?"

When are people going to learn? He's not just "the cake guy" any more. He also fisted a spider.

Signaller · 2026-07-23T08:05:11+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Excuse me! Is this about anything in particular, or it is a general protest about the government being useless?!"

"is it"

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-23T08:24:37+0100

Signaller said:
"is it"

Thank you, corrected.

timeForced · 2026-07-23T09:05:06+0100

I'd figure he's well known by now as the guy who got hunted down by God's Host of Angels.

Darko · 2026-07-23T09:42:33+0100

RichardWhereat said:
When are people going to learn? He's not just "the cake guy" any more. He also fisted a spider.

The people in Vega know this.

A Karnan military officer called him "mini-Beast, the spider fucker".

WereDragon · 2026-07-23T10:02:32+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Perfectly alright, then! Protest away! Don't throw anything else, and you'll be fine!"

That is going to be all over social media. "League supports protesting against the government."

Her eyes go back to normal. "The… Cake guy."

So she is a slow student. No problem, the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps is more than capable of bringing her up to speed.

Steelplaza · 2026-07-23T13:03:55+0100

Argent seems like a perfectly ordinary replacement level superhero, with the level of competence you'd expect from someone with no special training who is still doing their best. I'll be interested to see what OL can do with her. I think her powers come from being half-alien somehow?

Frozen20XX · 2026-07-23T16:04:44+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
And surprisingly polite. I'd be a little worried its VI is getting a little too smart...

Question: what's the difference between an AI and a VI? I've never heard it actually discussed.

Silveraith · 2026-07-23T16:53:34+0100

Frozen20XX said:
Question: what's the difference between an AI and a VI? I've never heard it actually discussed.

In my experience, a VI lacks creativity and thus limited potential. It'd be an automated system with a long list of contingencies but can't branch out from there. An AI would be a person in a machine for all of the things it could think up with and do.

RJishalfgay · 2026-07-23T16:54:43+0100

Better than being remembered for the angels declaring war on him

Thundersmight94 · 2026-07-23T16:55:12+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"The Justice League is running a training scheme for young superheroes, and we're offering you a place. In point of fact-" Her eyes widen. "-if you are interested, I'll be your mentor."

Her eyes go back to normal. "The… Cake guy."

"Could you hold up a cake that big with one of your constructs?"

Her eyes drop. "Nno."

"Then it seems like I may have something to teach you. Interested?"

Always interesting how peoples first impression of him was when he made the cake, but no one seems to remember that it was the size of a mountain and could feed all of New York City's inhabitants at least one slice each. That and he turned the moon.

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-23T16:58:35+0100

RJishalfgay said:
Better than being remembered for the angels declaring war on him

'Cake Man' rolls off the tongue better. I mean, what would they even call him regarding the angel attack?

Thundersmight94 said:
Always interesting how peoples first impression of him was when he made the cake, but no one seems to remember that it was the size of a mountain and could feed all of New York City's inhabitants at least one slice each. That and he turned the moon.

She wasn't in New York, and wasn't looking at the moon.

Someguy Somewhere · 2026-07-23T17:28:25+0100

Mr Zoat said:
'Cake Man' rolls off the tongue better. I mean, what would they even call him regarding the angel attack?

She wasn't in New York, and wasn't looking at the moon.

Given the general faith of those holding those Angels to a high regard they might call him something along the lines of say.... 'Monster Demon Devil Conceived By The Bleakest Womb' ?

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-23T19:02:52+0100

Someguy Somewhere said:
Given the general faith of those holding those Angels to a high regard they might call him something along the lines of say.... 'Monster Demon Devil Conceived By The Bleakest Womb' ?

...

Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Or have a snappy acronym.

Someguy Somewhere · 2026-07-23T19:25:55+0100

You know what...you're right....lets have a go at this. Everything needs Snappy Acronyms.

PAUL
Prideful Angels Ultimate Lament

DOLT
Demonic Orange Lantern Terrorist

DAVE
Daemon Allied Villainous Enforcer

DERP
Devilishly Evil Random Perpetrator

GOOP
Gladly Off Our Planet

GEORGE
Genocidal Evil Overlord Ripe for Galactic Empire

...I'll leave it to others to keep going.

Bud-E · 2026-07-23T20:26:40+0100

Mr Zoat said:
'Cake Man' rolls off the tongue better. I mean, what would they even call him regarding the angel attack?

Probably Orange Devil or Lantern of Evil, whatever the church thinks is best really.

Ardy · 2026-07-23T22:38:50+0100

Bud-E said:
Probably Orange Devil or Lantern of Evil, whatever the church thinks is best really.

Just call him the anti-christ, it's factually untrue but heaven DID declare war on him

Mr Zoat · 2026-07-24T06:15:46+0100

21st September 2013
20:12 GMT -5

"…down the street." Miss Monetti glances out of the café window as she speaks to her father via telephone. "Ah…"

She turns back, considering me for a moment.

"I don't think so?"

"I don't know what you just said, but-"

She rolls her eyes. "Dad, it's fine."

"-I think I should be-"

"Yes we're somewhere public! God!"

"-offended."

"I'll talk to you later."

She ends the call with a pronounced 'beep', and puts her phone down on the table with unnecessary force.

"He thinks you're a creep."

"He thinks that any man who takes his daughter to a café for a coffee is a creep, or he thinks that I Orange Lantern am a creep personally? Because I'm affianced."

"Huh?"

"My girlfriend and I intend to get married."

"A-hah, yeah, I live in Washington. I hear all the stories."

"I-." Wait. "Faithfulness stories or paedophilia stories, because-?"

"No..! People cheating."

"Oh good. Well, not good, but it's a bit of a relief that there is a limit to the moral turpitude of the nation's public servants."

"Ah, sure. Also, I'm not a child."

"Yes, limiting recruitment to mid-teens lets me feel morally superior to Batman."

She frowns. "Robin really that young?"

"Not any more. There were… Unusual circumstances concerning his recruitment, but I like to think I'd have delayed a few years." I take a snip from my overpriced milkshake… Adequate. I could do better. "So, any questions relating to the offer?"

"What was up with the cake?"

"As the result of a training exercise which went somewhat wrong, I merged with the universal embodiment of avarice. I became incapable of experiencing other emotions, as well as having a mind that was half a creature that had never felt other emotions. We walked in on the middle of Kid Flash and Miss Martian talking about his mother's Christmas Cake and had the impulse to make the largest Christmas Cake ever made. After that it was merely an application of power."

"And just… Hand it out?"

"As opposed to what, eat it all myself?" She frowns slightly. "I don't even like fruit cake. I find the texture gradient weird."

"Is stuff like that normal?"

"If you make it your job to be responsible for dealing with the most weird and dangerous things in the world, things in that general class will happen to you or around you. Sometimes they're relatively harmless, and… Sometimes they're not. I'm more surprised that you haven't asked me about the angel jihad."

She shrugs. "That only lasted a few hours, and you were hanging out with that angel guy a few weeks later."

"Huh." I nod. "I suppose that makes sense. I don't know all that many people… Outside of the community."

"Community?"

"My friends are all superheroes or aliens, except for these two women in Gotham, and one of them ended up as a city boss."

"You don't-?" She looks… A little more serious. "You don't have a secret identity?"

"No. The nice thing-. One of the nice things about a power ring is that it's easy enough to make money with one, which means that I don't need to bother with a day job."

"What about your family? Are they..? All superheroes?"

"I originally come from a parallel universe that doesn't have superpowers, and all of my family still lives there. As far as all of the experts I've been able to consult tell me, there's no way back there from here. Which means that even if I made enemies inclined to attack my family, they couldn't."

"Huh."

"And Flash Senior hasn't ever worn a mask. His identity has been public knowledge since the forties. Wildcat had… One attack on his family that I know about. Starman had a public identity too. It's unusual, but I'm not the only one."

"I guess… I was worried. My skin went silver when my powers activated. I thought… You know…"

"You couldn't conceal your identity, and… So you weren't sure if being an active superhero was a good idea. Because it might bring more trouble down on your head."

"My family's heads."

"Police walk around with their faces in full view, and while personal attacks do happen, they're very unusual. But, this is not a pressgang. There's no shilling at the bottom of your coffee mug. If you don't want to risk it, that's fine."

"Okay, so what about my power?"

"I was only given an overview. Working out exactly what you can do and what you can't will be one of the first things we do."

"I mean, is it..? Good enough?"

"I'm not sure what you mean. Plenty of people without superpowers fight criminals and save lives in-."

"Nono, I don't-. I mean, I've seen videos of Lanterns fighting, and I've tried-. I tried copying what you all did… I can't do a lot of it."

"Yes, a natural ability you were born with and have been using for a few months can't equal what the extremely user-friendly tool which the oldest and most intelligent species in the galaxy make for their subordinates. You don't need the best superpower there is to make a big difference in a lot of people's lives. We're not offering this to you so that we can use you as a living artillery piece against some space monster we can't beat without you. We're doing it because we know that from the moment your powers activated you tried to use them to good. Because we know that you're a good person."

"So…" She sinks slightly into her seat. "I suck."

"Everyone sucks to start with. In my first week I flew into a cliff as supersonic speed." She perks up slightly. "With Wonder Woman just behind me and watching the whole thing. Kid Flash broke his nose trying to vibrate through a wall. Aquaman used to occasionally start whispering because he'd gotten used to how sound travels under water. You're not going to be perfect, and no one expects you to be. And… You're not signing up for life. If it doesn't work for you, just quit."

"That's-. Lowered my expectations." She shakes her head. "Okay, sure. When do we start?"

"In your case? Right now."

"Oh? Ah, okay-."

"Because you need to get parental consent."

Slake Mothman · 2026-07-24T06:41:55+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Yes, a natural ability you were born with and have been using for a few months can't equal what the extremely user-friendly tool which the oldest and most intelligent species in the galaxy make for their subordinates. You don't need the best superpower there is to make a big difference in a lot of people's lives. We're not offering this to you so that we can use you as a living artillery piece against some space monster we can't beat without you. We're doing it because we know that from the moment your powers activated you tried to use them to good. Because we know that you're a good person."

I love the sentiment of this. Just because the scope of your abilities is less than another's does not mean you suck, it just means the scope of your goals and expectations should be smaller. And if you find yourself growing stronger and more competent, that scope broadens to meet your greater abilities and ambitions. Hopefully you can handle the greater responsibility and haven't just been promoted to the level of your incompetency.

This fic started out with Paul saving vacationers on a cruise ship from irate harpies and fighting bad-guys-of-the-week to forcing a peace treaty between planetary civilizations. Now, not everyone gets bequeathed a tool with a near-infinite power ceiling and accidental semi-divinity, but I think the sentiment applies nonetheless.

Mr Zoat said:
"Because you need to get parental consent."

Some votary of Eris you are. Boo helicopter parents yay teenage rebellion!

Grimnar · 2026-07-24T06:46:57+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Not any more. There were… Unusual circumstances concerning his recruitment, but I like to think I'd have delayed a few years." I take a snip from my overpriced milkshake… Adequate. I could do better.

Ayo, heard you talkin' shit.

Dis you?

BR549 · 2026-07-24T06:47:25+0100

Slake Mothman said:
Some votary of Eris you are. Boo helicopter parents yay teenage rebellion!

Now now, Eris is all about chaos. And what is more chaotic than an agent of chaos encouraging following proper procedure?

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-07-24T07:12:08+0100

Mr Zoat said:
21st September 2013
20:12 GMT -5

"…down the street." Miss Monetti glances out of the café window as she speaks to her father via telephone. "Ah…"

She turns back, considering me for a moment.

I suppose having a late-teens guy come up to you asking if you want to join his 'secret super-club' might sound a little suspicious to most people. Especially a teenage girl or her father hearing that.

"I don't think so?"

"I don't know what you just said, but-"

Nice of him to be polite and not discreetly listen in via the Ring.

She rolls her eyes. "Dad, it's fine."

"-I think I should be-"

The old man's a little overprotective of his little girl, huh? Could fight an entire alien invasion and she'll still be the little princess in pigtails to him.

"Yes we're somewhere public! God!"

"-offended."

And no doubt got a half-dozen phones pointed at them at any moment.

"I'll talk to you later."

She ends the call with a pronounced 'beep', and puts her phone down on the table with unnecessary force.

Ah, feeling the frustration of Daddy looking out for her despite her nearly being an adult.

"He thinks you're a creep."

"He thinks that any man who takes his daughter to a café for a coffee is a creep, or he thinks that I Orange Lantern am a creep personally? Because I'm affianced."

It could be both? There's also the superhero angle.

"Huh?"

"My girlfriend and I intend to get married."

Not everyone's vocabulary can be so extensive as OL's.

"A-hah, yeah, I live in Washington. I hear all the stories."

"I-." Wait. "Faithfulness stories or paedophilia stories, because-?"

Again, why not both? Disgusting as that sounds.

"No..! People cheating."

"Oh good. Well, not good, but it's a bit of a relief that there is a limit to the moral turpitude of the nation's public servants."

For now, anyway. Plenty of time for new elected officials to sink into corruption in time.

"Ah, sure. Also, I'm not a child."

"Yes, limiting recruitment to mid-teens lets me feel morally superior to Batman."

She frowns. "Robin really that young?"

It could be worse. At least Robin was in double-figures when he persuaded Batman to train him.

"Not any more. There were… Unusual circumstances concerning his recruitment, but I like to think I'd have delayed a few years." I take a snip from my overpriced milkshake… Adequate. I could do better. "So, any questions relating to the offer?"

"What was up with the cake?"

Ah, someone who actually asks the big question.

"As the result of a training exercise which went somewhat wrong, I merged with the universal embodiment of avarice. I became incapable of experiencing other emotions, as well as having a mind that was half a creature that had never felt other emotions. We walked in on the middle of Kid Flash and Miss Martian talking about his mother's Christmas Cake and had the impulse to make the largest Christmas Cake ever made. After that it was merely an application of power."

Be glad it was only Christmas Cake.

"And just… Hand it out?"

"As opposed to what, eat it all myself?" She frowns slightly. "I don't even like fruit cake. I find the texture gradient weird."

"Is stuff like that normal?"

Don't worry, his experience is very much atypical. Too much protagonist energy to be contained...

"If you make it your job to be responsible for dealing with the most weird and dangerous things in the world, things in that general class will happen to you or around you. Sometimes they're relatively harmless, and… Sometimes they're not. I'm more surprised that you haven't asked me about the angel jihad."

OL also tends to stick his nose into business well above the paygrade of his compatriots more often than not.

She shrugs. "That only lasted a few hours, and you were hanging out with that angel guy a few weeks later."

"Huh." I nod. "I suppose that makes sense. I don't know all that many people… Outside of the community."

Which is a problem. He's losing touch with the experience of the ordinary human being.

"Community?"

"My friends are all superheroes or aliens, except for these two women in Gotham, and one of them ended up as a city boss."

Definitely one of those things he's gone native on. Just doesn't hang around regular folks most of the time...

"You don't-?" She looks… A little more serious. "You don't have a secret identity?"

"No. The nice thing-. One of the nice things about a power ring is that it's easy enough to make money with one, which means that I don't need to bother with a day job."

To put it simply, he is a post-scarcity individual. Need rare materials for something, he can get them. Need unlimited money, OL opens his figurative chequebook.

"What about your family? Are they..? All superheroes?"

"I originally come from a parallel universe that doesn't have superpowers, and all of my family still lives there. As far as all of the experts I've been able to consult tell me, there's no way back there from here. Which means that even if I made enemies inclined to attack my family, they couldn't."

Though from Mr Zoat's comments, there will one day be at least one visit to 'Earth Prime'...

"Huh."

"And Flash Senior hasn't ever worn a mask. His identity has been public knowledge since the forties. Wildcat had… One attack on his family that I know about. Starman had a public identity too. It's unusual, but I'm not the only one."

To be fair, up until the time of the Internet, it was a lot harder to ID someone without national effort.

"I guess… I was worried. My skin went silver when my powers activated. I thought… You know…"

"You couldn't conceal your identity, and… So you weren't sure if being an active superhero was a good idea. Because it might bring more trouble down on your head."

I bet it got her all sorts of unwanted attention, though. Cape fanboys and pervs wondering 'just how far it went down', for instance. Or mean girls jealous that she looks so distinctive.

"My family's heads."

"Police walk around with their faces in full view, and while personal attacks do happen, they're very unusual. But, this is not a pressgang. There's no shilling at the bottom of your coffee mug. If you don't want to risk it, that's fine."

And if someone does attack a cop's family, the entire force comes down hard on the perpetrators. Now just picture what capes can do.

"Okay, so what about my power?"

"I was only given an overview. Working out exactly what you can do and what you can't will be one of the first things we do."

And really, it's a pretty versatile thing already.

"I mean, is it..? Good enough?"

"I'm not sure what you mean. Plenty of people without superpowers fight criminals and save lives in-."

"Nono, I don't-. I mean, I've seen videos of Lanterns fighting, and I've tried-. I tried copying what you all did… I can't do a lot of it."

Ah, feeling inferior to the guys with Virtual Intelligence assistance and the ultimate in user-friendly powersets? Understandable.

"Yes, a natural ability you were born with and have been using for a few months can't equal what the extremely user-friendly tool which the oldest and most intelligent species in the galaxy make for their subordinates. You don't need the best superpower there is to make a big difference in a lot of people's lives. We're not offering this to you so that we can use you as a living artillery piece against some space monster we can't beat without you. We're doing it because we know that from the moment your powers activated you tried to use them to good. Because we know that you're a good person."

After all, if they'd used them for wrong, it would be a different story.

"So…" She sinks slightly into her seat. "I suck."

"Everyone sucks to start with. In my first week I flew into a cliff as supersonic speed." She perks up slightly. "With Wonder Woman just behind me and watching the whole thing. Kid Flash broke his nose trying to vibrate through a wall. Aquaman used to occasionally start whispering because he'd gotten used to how sound travels under water. You're not going to be perfect, and no one expects you to be. And… You're not signing up for life. If it doesn't work for you, just quit."

I can't imagine how hard it was for Robin to learn how to throw batarangs, either. Or swing on grapple-gun liens...

"That's-. Lowered my expectations." She shakes her head. "Okay, sure. When do we start?"

"In your case? Right now."

Wasting no time, OL? Then again, they need to gather the prospects and do inductions...

"Oh? Ah, okay-."

"Because you need to get parental consent."

...That too. There's going to be so much paperwork.

Somehow, I suspect convincing Daddy to let her do this is going to be the hardest part of this recruitment. Thank goodness they're not recruiting any powered preteens... Though I wouldn't be surprised if there were some on the short list for future recruitment drives, once they're closer to legal ages. But that's a future problem.

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

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