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

[Chojin Patriarch]

6th April
04:18 GMT

Batman's eyes narrow at the holographic representation of the Cluster ship opens its primary docking bay, releasing three craft.

"Where are they going?"

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I hope that's rhetorical, because how does he expect OL to know? Manga Khan isn't working for him.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

I know that I don't need sleep and that Manga Khan and I are part of the same organisation, but that doesn't actually meant that I have any insight that I couldn't share in five minutes. And yet since he arrived I've been more in demand than ever. Are people seriously only just waking up to the idea that the rest of the universe exists? I'd say 'no', but…

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OL is going to be having a long conversation with Clarrissi Dox next time they're in the same area, aren't they?

I look over to John Stewart, who raises his eyebrows.

"He's talking to you."

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It's called 'passing the buck', John. Amazing how everyone expects OL to know about this.

"I'd have thought that the Green Lantern Corps' records on ClusterCorp would make you the expert."

"You're really not taking any responsibility for this, are you?"

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Not OL's Chain of Command, after all. Would a four-star general take responsibility for a sailor's activities?

"If he were a Green Lantern Sector Lantern and I was the Illustres of the Green Lantern Corps, I wouldn't have any responsibility for him outside of a war zone unless the Guardians gave it to me."

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In less polite terms, 'fucked if I know.'

But anyway, I turn and look through the Watchtower's hull towards the Cluster ship.

"Looks like… Someone on the surface radioed them and they're going to make a trade. Not something profitable; they're just doing it to build market confidence."

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Sounds like someone's trying for some backroom dealings...

Kal-El frowns at me. "But the UN hasn't finished negotiating trade terms yet."

"Manga Khan will start caring about that the moment it impacts his bottom line. He has no intention of giving even lip service to any agreement that he isn't a party to and doesn't serve his interests. The fact that Earth doesn't have any space-based weapons means that the UN has no way of preventing him from landing where he wants and doing business with whomever he wants, with the possible exception that governments that want to do business with him might try and hide the fact."

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Ah, the legalities, or lack thereof, of interstellar trade. Especially when the more experienced party has few scruples...

King Orin's arms are firmly folded across his chest.

"Do you have any helpful suggestions?"

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I think Arthur's starting to get a little annoyed with OL... It has been quite the day...

"Those landers are pretty cheap and.. probably only crewed by dumb robots. Destroying them would send a clear message about territorial sovereignty, thought that would imply to anyone watching that the Justice League are the rulers of Earth with total executive authority on the subject of foreign trade."

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And doesn't that frighten them a little, I wonder...

Lines appear on the holographic display as Batman tries to work out where the landers are going.

"Central Australia, East Africa and the South Pole."

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Inhospitable, hostile, and fucking dangerous, in no particular order.

Kal-El raises his eyebrows slightly.

"Not exactly bustling trade centers."

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Definitely someone trying to get a jump on other powers...

King Orin looks at me. I look at John.

"Why are you trying to be so hands off with this?"

"Because this is Earth's first contact with an extra-terrestrial political entity and I -may I remind you- have no legal authority to act. I have the capacity to act-."

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He's pulling Kal-El's own 'let them develop at their own rate' thing? Ha!

Kal-El nods. "But you don't want us to get off on the wrong foot."

"It's not that I'd mind being made King of Earth…" I frown. "No, I would. I'm not even comfortable making a joke about it. But… You've been openly kryptonian for… What, fourteen years? If no one's got a plan for dealing with this sort of thing by now then it's trial-by-fire time because they've had plenty of notice."

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I bet some people do have plans, they're just mostly Lex Luthor...

"The ship heading towards East Africa is most likely going to land on the disputed border between Zambesia and Kahndaq."

"Is Zambesia still disputing it? Brave of them."

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I take it Teth Adom has been playing it softly. Or busy with other matters to attend personally.

King Orin continues to be unimpressed. "Do you have any idea why?"

"No one owns the South Pole, no one owns Bir Tawil and Central Australia is basically empty. I imagine that Manga Khan is going to claim that they're unowned, and as such that no government has the authority to restrict what happens there."

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One out of three isn't great. You'd think he'd do a little more research...

John looks at the holographic projection. "I think the Australian government might take issue with that."

Batman enlarges the image of the lander. "Are they armed?"

"I'd be armed if I had to deal with Koalas all day."

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Bloody Oath! Damn right. But the Kangaroos are the scary ones...

"Are the landers armed?"

"They're usually not, though the crew will be lightly armed."

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I can just picture Batman's grumpy face here... OL is really trying his patience.

He looks at King Orin. "Did the Security Council give you any indication of how they wanted us to handle this?"

"Nothing actionable. Not unless they attack somewhere. Until things change, the most we can do is monitor the Cluster ships and keep them informed. Orange Lantern."

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Oh, is he actually going to try and give OL an order? Just one problem...

"Aquaman."

"Go and talk to Manga Khan. Try and get a better idea of what he wants."

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Speaking of chains of command...

…

"Um."

His face hardens. "I don't care that he's not under your authority. You just need to have a conversation with him."

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I don't know, I wouldn't want to have to actually talk to Manga Khan either...

"Aquaman… Aside from the obvious conflict of interest, you don't… Actually have the authority to give me orders. I'm not-" He grimaces. "-a member of the Justice League, and I'm not one of your subjects. If you want me to do you a fav-?"

"Orange Lantern." Batman turns to face me. "Go to the Cluster ship and talk to Manga Khan. Try and find out for certain exactly what he wants here."

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See, now he's in the chain of command, since OL is a member of the Team. They really need to give it a proper name, at this point...

"Certainly, sir." I raise my right index and middle fingers to my forehead. "I'll let you know when I have something."

I vanish,

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And Aquaman is sitting there seething...

reappearing just behind the landers and facing the Cluster ship. It's big, but I've seen much bigger. And the design… The original design was for something like the Star Wars Trade Federation Lucrehulks, a ball-shaped central unit with additional units stuck on the outside as needed. This abomination is the result of them deciding that it was cheaper and easier to just stick the balls together, especially given that their form of FTL doesn't require much in the way of structural stability.

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And it's not like it has to enter atmosphere, though I expect there are heavy shields available just in case.

But still…

"Orange Lantern Illustres-"

"Paul."

"-to Lord-Lantern Comic King. Please respond."

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Oh, he's going to have fun with this, isn't he? In between rubbing his temples...

My ring.. glows, as if he was responding. But my ring doesn't show his face. Then the roomba-like head of an L-series personal assistant robot appears.

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L-Ron! Put-upon personal assistant of the great Manga Khan, also has a secret crush on their boss. It's a thing.

"Lord-Lantern Comic King is currently engaged-"

"Manga Khan!"

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You don't want mistranslations, don't use random words, bro.

"-in legitimate commercial activity, pursuant to-."

"I know you are. I've been told to do the laziest sort of corporate intelligence gathering and just ask you what you're planning."

"They want me to tell them what I'm planning?"

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I can't help but picture this as Manga Khan yelling so loudly that OL can hear him. In space.

And suddenly I remember one of Lord-Lantern Comic King's most well-known personal attributes.

"Yes. I'm obliged to listen to him talk about it for as long as he likes."

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Oh, this is not going to be fun at all, is it?

"Let him on board! I will astound him with the brilliance of my business strategy!"

The robot's eye lights noticeably dim.

"You're shouting again, sir."

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Seriously, these two are comic gold. If you want laughs, look up the Keith Giffen runs of Justice League, and the two miniseries he did later.

Well, it's a good thing OL's environmental field can dampen sound, because Manga Khan can get real loud. Hopefully Big Goldy has been taking his meds for that little soliloquising disorder...

 

[gustyeagle]

His "why is everyone except me so incompetent" shtick really doesn't work when the problem at hand is caused by the organization he himself founded, with said organization coming across like a group of toddlers with nukes.

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Yeah, but asking the guy who gave the toddlers the nukes to defuse the situation rarely works.

 

[Darko]

Dox would have to be fucking stupid to send someone who would interfere with his Illustres personal project.

Orange Lanterns generally don't like it when people mess with their stuff. A good example would be what happened in Vega and OL's reaction.


Also, Lol Austrialia, they can't even protect their own airspace!

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Dox and OL don't exactly have a cordial relationship.

I'm pretty sure the whole "We sum the duration of sentences and you can get more than 100 years of imprisonment" only exist in the Commonwealth.
For other countries in Europe, if one gets a life sentence, it doesn't have a duration, you get to leave when you're too old for prison, i.e. around 70. So getting a 50 years sentence isn't much of a reduction, it's more or less what she would already got.

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Fictional country, so maybe they have different laws.

 

[Ct613hulu]

His "why is everyone except me so incompetent" shtick really doesn't work when the problem at hand is caused by the organization he himself founded, with said organization coming across like a group of toddlers with nukes.

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I would say that the greater blame lies with the governments of Earth than with Lord-Lantern Comic King. He has been reasonably civil in his attempt to open up peaceful economic relations with the people of Earth. It is not his fault that nations of Earth's near complete lack of preparation for managing peaceful contact has left him forced to do this thru crude methods.

By all accounts the people of Earth have had decades to come to term with the fact that the Universe is filled with Aliens who will likely come to visit Earth. There should be at the very least some semblance of a unified plan. My perspective is that the fact that Humanity is struggling to find a way to respond to this absolute best case scenario of contact and is likely going to have to entirely rely on the Justice League for guidance says very bad things about their competence.

 

[Stsword]

Hah! Even the robot is tired of his shit!

I wonder what Dox is planning though, assuming he sent him?

Galxy wide trade networks would increase interdependency and therefore, potentially, strengthen peace efforts.

Maybe Khan is meant to help facilitate these?

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I would assume that Manga Khan was simply the closest Orange Lantern with a fleet.

If one wants to be cynical, one can suspect that Paul vastly overestimates how much Dox cares about Paul's shit, and Dox made sure to send Manga Khan to technically give aid as requested, while not actually pulling resources from projects he actually does give a shit about.

Or Manga Khan was the closest and Dox not actually having to divert resources from other projects was just a nice side bonus.

 

[thebishop8]

About a year.

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Speaking of which, Paul said he wouldn't give her superpowers until she had been out of prison for a year. Is that going to happen, or are they not going to bother because she's a Darkstar now?

 

[Greydragon]

Hah! Even the robot is tired of his shit!

I wonder what Dox is planning though, assuming he sent him?

Galxy wide trade networks would increase interdependency and therefore, potentially, strengthen peace efforts.

Maybe Khan is meant to help facilitate these?

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My suspicion is that Dox is sending him to Earth to throw him in front of OL and have him make Manga Khan more useful, since he couldn't do it himself. Basically he's being sent out to provoke Paul into straightening him out into a somewhat productive Lantern as he has done to other Orange Lanterns.

Possibly because it is hilarious to make him someone else's problem too. (That may just be a bonus).

 

[Darko]

I would assume that Manga Khan was simply the closest Orange Lantern with a fleet.

If one wants to be cynical, one can suspect that Paul vastly overestimates how much Dox cares about Paul's shit, and Dox made sure to send Manga Khan to technically give aid as requested, while not actually pulling resources from projects he actually does give a shit about.

Or Manga Khan was the closest and Dox not actually having to divert resources from other projects was just a nice side bonus.

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You may be right.

Protecting Venturia so they can teach that eyeball planet magic may be worth something, but magic is fairly rare in the universe so the Reach may not use any.

Though in pretty sure they did have some knowledge of it in the comics, but used words like quantum

 

[Xelloss]

Fictional country, so maybe they have different laws.

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Yes, I get that, but it still irks me.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Speaking of which, Paul said he wouldn't give her superpowers until she had been out of prison for a year. Is that going to happen, or are they not going to bother because she's a Darkstar now?

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She's not keen on the idea.

Yes, I get that, but it still irks me.

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Let's say that when Kaznia modernised in the early 20th century they just ported a lot of British law over.

 

[Prince Charon]

I would say that the greater blame lies with the governments of Earth than with Lord-Lantern Comic King. He has been reasonably civil in his attempt to open up peaceful economic relations with the people of Earth. It is not his fault that nations of Earth's near complete lack of preparation for managing peaceful contact has left him forced to do this thru crude methods.

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Seems that way, yeah.

By all accounts the people of Earth have had decades to come to term with the fact that the Universe is filled with Aliens who will likely come to visit Earth. There should be at the very least some semblance of a unified plan. My perspective is that the fact that Humanity is struggling to find a way to respond to this absolute best case scenario of contact and is likely going to have to entirely rely on the Justice League for guidance says very bad things about their competence.

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Well, at least Zoat is keeping the in-setting governments in-character?

 

[NightmareWarden]

I have an idea. Dox did not send anyone. Rather, he is taking a page from Teach's book (Dao of Magic) or the standard adventuring guild plan: he threw a Quest up on an Orange Lantern job board with an attractive reward. He probably restricted the resulting wave of lanterns to those that got his approval with a plan. And Manga Khan certainly has a plan.

 

[Vaermina]

"Let him on board! I will astound him with the brilliance of my business strategy!"

The robot's eye lights noticeably dim.

"You're shouting again, sir."

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I see Paul's bad Karma has finally started catching up to him.

 

[w34v3r]

His "why is everyone except me so incompetent" shtick really doesn't work when the problem at hand is caused by the organization he himself founded, with said organization coming across like a group of toddlers with nukes.

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It tilts back to stupidity on earth's part when you factor in mars, the lanterns, and however many spacefaring factions thought things would go better for them than it did for the appelexians.

 

[Pinklestia]

Renegade is technically King Of Earth.

And a pony.

And Zoat calls that the "neutral ending".

Does Oh El get the lame ending then?

 

[RichardWhereat]

I see Paul's bad Karma has finally started catching up to him.

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What bad karma? Pauls karma, if such exists in earth 16, is firmly in the positive. He committed genocide. That's gotta be worth lots of points.

 

[inck]

what superpowers is paul going to give jade? and when? it's been a year, hasn't it?

i vote garrick formula

he's already given alot of people the danner formula, and superspeed will probably be a better fit for covert darkstar operations than superstrength.

also, can someone get both formulas? or is it only possible to get one of them? cuz giving her both would probably be better.

 

[Vaermina]

What bad karma? Pauls karma, if such exists in earth 16, is firmly in the positive. He committed genocide. That's gotta be worth lots of points.

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The bad Karma from helping to break the Multiverse.

 

[jaelin910]

I see Paul's bad Karma has finally started catching up to him.

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Considering that seems like an attempt to get him monologuing, I'm not sure how karma plays into it....

The bad Karma from helping to break the Multiverse.

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[Citation needed]

 

[Darko]

Considering that seems like an attempt to get him monologuing, I'm not sure how karma plays into it....

[Citation needed]

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Bet Truggs and Manga would get along great because of their mutual love for monologing, or they may try to kill each other because they don't let the other finish their monologue.

Hey maybe Truggs studied in the Manga Khan institute for Melodrama, that would explain why he is such an annoying little bitch.

 

[Vorian]

what superpowers is paul going to give jade? and when? it's been a year, hasn't it?

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She's not keen on the idea.

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[DAT_NOOB]

Considering that seems like an attempt to get him monologuing, I'm not sure how karma plays into it....

[Citation needed]

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Paul hates monologuing
[Citation]
The previous episode where it's implied that china paul asked krona for help with restoring his timeline and ending up causing the crisis of infinite pauls

 

[jaelin910]

Paul hates monologuing

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I'd appreciate a citation there, too, since I don't recall any specific quotes to that effect but much more relevant would be your reason for believing that he hates it so much that, despite it seeming like an easy way to accomplish his task and his wording appearing to have been chosen to prompt it, you believe it could be considered karmic punishment.

[Citation]
The previous episode where it's implied that china paul asked krona for help with restoring his timeline and ending up causing the crisis of infinite pauls

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Reiterating an assertion is not the same thing as providing a citation. I'm aware that Vae (And, now, you) believes Time Trapper broke the multiverse; what I want is a good reason to agree.

 

[SirKaid]

I came into this arc wanting nothing more than big serious political stuff. I mean, that stuff is my bread and butter, I love it.

Instead I get this incredible hilarious buffoon. It's glorious and I have no regrets about the direction this is going at all.

That being said, more Atlantis political stuff later would be cool too.

 

[Darko]

I came into this arc wanting nothing more than big serious political stuff. I mean, that stuff is my bread and butter, I love it.

Instead I get this incredible hilarious buffoon. It's glorious and I have no regrets about the direction this is going at all.

That being said, more Atlantis political stuff later would be cool too.

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You may still get serious stuff in this episoode.

Just because Manga acts like an idiot doesn't mean things can't get serious.

 

[DAT_NOOB]

I'd appreciate a citation there, too, since I don't recall any specific quotes to that effect but much more relevant would be your reason for believing that he hates it so much that, despite it seeming like an easy way to accomplish his task and his wording appearing to have been chosen to prompt it, you believe it could be considered karmic punishment.

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Unfortunately don't have the time to go back through the whole story and link every time paul has shot someone mid monologue.

Reiterating an assertion is not the same thing as providing a citation. I'm aware that Vae (And, now, you) believes Time Trapper broke the multiverse; what I want is a good reason to agree.

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I don't think time trapper broke the multiverse I think Krona broke the multiverse as seen when Overgirl was thrown into Earth 16 (or do you need a citation that shes a character in the story as well).
But since you asked Here is where he admitted to working with Krona and Here is where the multiverse was broken or at least bent into sustaining a timeline that didn't exist.

EDIT:
And in case you need it Here is the citation that the timeline didn't exist for a period of time

EDIT EDIT:
And a citation that Overgirl did not originate on earth-16 and things were not normal when she did

 

[moralrelativity]

Also Dox may want to screw with Paul for a bit, in a non sexual way, for giving him so much trouble.

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Yes! Finally we know the real reason.

 

[moralrelativity]

Western Australia then, in the middle of nomadic aboriginal lands, and they probably aren't armed. Beyond pointy stick launchers and rifles.

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Yeah, somewhere about here. https://goo.gl/maps/FxtziBtAUvs9W8wE8

 

[moralrelativity]

what superpowers is paul going to give jade? and when? it's been a year, hasn't it?

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She's been pretty clear with Paul that she doesn't want super powers. At least not yet.

 

[hance1986]

"Those landers are pretty cheap and.. probably only crewed by dumb robots. Destroying them would send a clear message about territorial sovereignty, thought that would imply to anyone watching that the Justice League are the rulers of Earth with total executive authority on the subject of foreign trade."

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should be ' though '