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

20th January 2013
19:18 GMT


Malvolio's flame aura collapses, leaving only a few faint wisps protecting him from the vacuum of space. His eyes flicker with flicker with yellow light as Parallax does whatever it does to dig up his fears, and his other constructs fade to nothing.

I accelerate towards Parallax.
Well, looks like the surge of his fears was enough to smack Malvolio out of Determination mode for a moment at least. But he still has enough presence of mind to hold on to his environmental field. Impressive.

Gauntlet, activate.

Compliance.
Crumbler gauntlet, eh? Going to engage in a bit of the old fisticuffs?

"You intend to punch us? A classic-"

I swing, a clawed hand five times the size of my body appearing from nowhere and swinging to slap me aside. It disintegrates as it hits my fist and I fly on through-.
And probably a good idea, given how big Parallax is. Admittedly, it's like a bee trying to sting Godzilla...

Parallax moves, appearing a few hundred metres away, clearly unfazed by my attack.

"-choice. Uncharacteristic."
Just because giant fists are goofy, that doesn't make them bad... Sometimes, you just need to swat a bug.

Malvolio blinks once and then reignites, staring at Parallax with utter revulsion.

"You suppressed it, but you never stopped feeling it, did you? For centuries."
:oops: Oof. I don't think Parallax is going to enjoy the next few minutes.

"My weaknesses do not govern me, demon."

"It sure looked like it governed you. Of course, since you never went back to Earth, you'll never know."
Hey, getting real personal there, bug-boy.

"Is it something you want to talk about, or shall we just get back to-?"

"My mother. After I mistakenly slew her lover. I explained my actions at once, but we were never reconciled. I fear that she died hating me."
...Somehow, I don't think so. After a while, the pain would fade, and she'd understand... Or maybe not.

"I know some really good necromancers. If you don't mind visiting Earth, we can see about communicating with her soul."

"'t'would be ungodly."
Well, if it creeps you out that badly...

"No, I got the heavenly host to okay it. Not for you specifically, but in general."

"Then it would ease my mind greatly."
Heh. Nice work, defusing that lever for Parallax to work.

Jammer.

"But that's just the first! A man as old as you has fears aplenty. And you've spent so long drowning them out! Such a shame. If you'd actually processed them like a normal man instead of stamping down on them then--."
Oh, stop it, you. Can any fear be so powerful as thinking a loved one died hating you?

I see it coming a mile off, crumbler constructs shooting across the intervening space and nearly reaching him before he vanishes-.

Oooooh. That's what it looks like when someone tries to transition through a jammer effect.
:confused: Why am I picturing a 'grated cheese' effect? Or that hallway scene from Resident Evil?

"Yuugh..."

And that's what it looks like when the embodiment of fear reassembles its mortal body, because it's thoughts are contained within the yellow light and it mostly keeps the body going because very few people aren't at least a little afraid of death. But while they're distracted-
...And now I'm picturing the 'La Magra' bit from Blade... Such graphic imagery with so few words... :cool:

Desire amplification.

-let's introduce a little dissonance between host and graft.
Heh. OL's speciality: a Spanner in the works.

Parallax blinks out, and Joseph Harrolds stares at me through the vacuum. Oh, darn it. I drop my jammer construct and transition towards him, a space suit-.

"Oh."
Whoops. And that, Harrolds, is why you make your combat gear with its own atmosphere.

The Parallax construct rematerialises, two of its claws clasped around me.

"Let's see how you like it!"
Ah, he was playing to OL's compassion. Sneaky sneaky.

Desire amplification.

"Fear us!"
Well, this little emotional cross-counter will be interesting.

It abandons subtlety, reaching… Reaching back into the thought echoes of my earliest ancestors. Fear of insects and snakes and strange noises and outgroups and they're all around me everywhere all the time! I'm shivering, quaking, barely able to get the empty lantern that should protect me must protect me she said it would protect me!

"What's that-?"
Ha! Parallax just bit itself in the foot there...

And I can think again as the yellow light around me dims and what I can see of Parallax through his hands looks confused.

Cables.
And OL wasting no time to take advantage of their distraction.

Compliance.

Glowing orange cables lung out, connecting Parallax's hands to the empty battery as Malvolio grabs it around the head with giant construct gauntlets.
And now the tug-of-war begins...

Desire amplification.

"Ah-? Ah?"
...Though one side has a little advantage over the other.

"You see, at a very fundamental level, the desires of a giant fear elemental and a remotely normal human aren't compatible. Whereas we understand one another very well. You want people to be afraid of you all the time and we just want them to want."

The cables surge and Parallax's construct body dims, Joseph's mouth returning to normal as he looks around-.
As much as a giant beast of elemental emotion can feel emotions other than what it's made of.

"You won't be rid of me so easily!"

Parallax's mouth moved but Joseph's didn't. Okay, their minds are separating, now-.
Ah, the bindings are loosening, eh? And without having to sing a song at him. :p Then again, OL and Ophidian's joining was a lot more voluntary. So of course it was harder to split them.

Parallax shines brilliantly for an instant and then shrinks, collapsing into-. Into Joseph's body. Ah.

Keep the cables attached, keep draining-.
And the bug is trying to scuttle away and hide from the light. How appropriate.

Malvolio's construct hands slam closed around Joseph as Parallax downgrades him from partner to puppet. Joseph's skin writhes as if Parallax is trying to physically fit inside him, yellow light seeping out of every joint. And worst of all, this is something that Joseph is actually afraid of.

"No, that'sNot happening."
Oh-ho. Harrolds pushed right past the wall by the immersion, eh?

But enlightenment means that he's not ruled by it. Ah, stop amplifying his desires, because that's just going to be a distraction-.

Weaponer Lysis appears next to me in a flash of orange, qwa-bolt in hand. She aims-.
Heh. If anything, pumping up his determination would be more effective.

"No, don't do that."

She turns to me with a frown. "Why not?"
...Do you want to explore what happens when you erase one-seventh of all emotion from existence? Or at least the embodiment of it? Let's not drop a second Crisis into the pool, huh?

"Because-."

"I am entity Volthoom. Returning to prior owner."
Ooh, Jade giving the Ring up already? Bet she'll be glad to be rid of that damned voice.

Jade tosses the ring, which pass through Malvolio's construct hands and onto Joseph's right ring finger as Ragnar pulls her away again.

"Now. Get. OUT!"
Risky, but given that he'll likely be exhausted from this whole affair, I don't think he's going to be all that hostile.

The yellow light is thrown out, surging down my cables and igniting the lantern into a radiant bonfire. Joseph continues to glow, pushing just as hard as I pull to free himself. I get one last glimpse of Parallax's malevolent face before is vanishes into the lantern and its shielding panels slam down to contain it.
And now OL has a Yellow Light Fountain.. of sorts.

Well, I can't help think OL was subconsciously mashing the 'B' button while they sucked the bug-type in... Fortunately, they never made that part of the game a quick-time event. :p Now, what will Joseph Harrolds become, now that he understands Fear on a level above most life in the universe. Bet his Crime Syndicate buddies will be in for a surprise...

Glowing orange cables lung out, connecting Parallax's hands...
...Not sure here. maybe 'are flung' or 'lunge'?
 
"You see, at a very fundamental level, the desires of a giant fear elemental and a remotely normal human aren't compatible. Whereas we understand one another very well. You want people to be afraid of you all the time and we just want them to want."
Not sure if the italic part is meant to be orange text? Seems like it was meant to be PaulPhidian speaking and not just Paul.
 
Those... did not seem to be the SI's memories?
It abandons subtlety, reaching… Reaching back into the thought echoes of my earliest ancestors..
What's that about an 'Empty Lantern'?
The thing Hinon gave him to contain Parallax.
"flicker with yellow"
"passes"
"before it"
If you'd actually processed them like a normal man instead of stamping down on them then-."
...Not sure here. maybe 'are flung' or 'lunge'?
Not sure if the italic part is meant to be orange text? Seems like it was meant to be PaulPhidian speaking and not just Paul.
Thank you, corrected.
I don't think the were is necessary?
It's an older expression, sir, but it checks out.
 
Sad he seemed like a nice kryptonian bloke
He wanted to go there. He was suffering from a Kryptonian disease that made him into Doomsday-lite and insane, he had wanted to die with dignity but being sent to the Negative Zone was actually a good ending for him as he was finally sane and was able to talk to other Kryptonians. He thanked Supergirl for sending him there.
 
He wanted to go there. He was suffering from a Kryptonian disease that made him into Doomsday-lite and insane, he had wanted to die with dignity but being sent to the Negative Zone was actually a good ending for him as he was finally sane and was able to talk to other Kryptonians. He thanked Supergirl for sending him there.
And the smell stopped.
 
I just figured that Paul could find a way to keep him in stasis/asleep while a controller or someone working on fixing him or something
 
Fear Ourself (part 19)
20th January 2013
19:34 GMT


The Controllers can build planets, either by collecting up available mass and merging it together around an appropriate star, or by converting energy directly into matter. They've been doing that long enough that it's pretty much their buy-in: any species that signs up with N.E.M.O. knows that should the worst come to the worst their species will be reborn on a new world with as much of their culture intact as possible.

For worlds and species that haven't been completely wiped out, we have great cargo ships filled with everything that a billion refugees could need to survive until the basic functions of their civilisation are restored. And with the Reach around, they might be actively fighting against that restoration thanks to Reach mental contamination, so we've got well trained military police and engineers and -of course- psychological specialists. And while the latter are usually used to detect subtle signs of Reach influence, they can also help a people who have spent ten minutes constantly exposed to their greatest fears.

Weaponer Lysis finally manages to tear her eyes off the Parallax containment vessel.

"So, your ring telemetry."

I shrug as I remove another hundred tonnes of rubble from the area around a partially collapsed building and… Move the bodies aside for recovery by the mortuary teams. The monster constructs didn't kill a particularly high proportion of the population, but a low proportion of a big number is still a lot of people. This… They're probably going to have to tear it down and replace it, depending on whether it's considered a priority for the industrial transmuters.

"So, my power ring."

"I can't make one without more data than I have now. This whole event prevented me getting the final readings that I needed in my laboratory, and Harrolds has no reason to aid me further. So unless you follow through on your side of the agreement now, I can't get you what you want. Unless I experiment with many more people and get lucky with their psychological profiles."

Ah. Yes, I suppose… If all else fails I can just hunt down one of her neophyte Yellow Lanterns and take their ring. Honestly, that would probably be easier than borrowing one.

"Alright then. Ah, normally I just flick it over to someone else's ring. I don't know what you use for data storage…"

"My systems are compatible with power ring data packets."

"Alright then."

Ring, compile all recordings related to this encounter with Parallax and send them over.

Compliance.

The orange pulse leaps from my ring and flies into her harness. She goes still for a moment, then nods.

"I wasn't sure that you would follow through on our agreement."

"What do you want out of life, Weaponer Lysis?"

"No."

"I could put a recording of the word on a loop, if that would help?"

"You are an expert at desire manipulation. I don't intend to give you any information at all. This conversation is already outside of my preferred risk profile."

"All the resources you want, a major stellar empire to destroy, and hey, Kalmin speaks well of you and you know what he's like."

"He's a deranged religious fanatic who will destroy you."

"Maybe. But if I'm prepared to put up with him, what do you think you could do that would drive a wedge between us?"

"I'm-."

"We don't have to give Parallax back to the Guardians."

She takes a moment to master herself.

"It won't work. You can't manipulate me."

"Manipulate? I'm making you an offer of employment. I'm trying to give you-."

"Anti-matter transition detected."

Aaaand… She's gone.

"Something you… Clearly don't want."

It is odd, though. She isn't an Anti-Monitor loyalist like Kalmin, nor a mercantilist like Varnathon. There isn't really much left in Qwardian philosophy. Or maybe she is a mercantilist, but didn't want to go along with his self-sabotage?

Don't-

"Warning: will detected."

-know.

I look up, taking a few steps away from the containment vessel as three Honour Guard Green Lanterns descend through the atmosphere, escorting Guardian Dennap. Huh, they sent a Guardian with actual social skills, well done them. The Honour Guards take up position around us as Dennap carefully checks the containment vessel over before encasing it in a cube-.

Aah-.

I wince and try not to look at the spatial distortions occurring as Guardian Dennap decides that a mere hypercube isn't enough and starts adding more dimensions on top. I'm sure that she knows her business.

"Guardian Dennap?"

"Illustres. Thank you for returning this… Creature. We were concerned that you might decide to keep it."

"Parallax has a more disagreeable temperament than the Ophidian. Though if you do have a yellow ring hanging around, I'd like to borrow it."

"I'm afraid that we don't. As far as I know, Weaponer Kalmin was the first to make one. The only other being who may have forged one is Krona."

"Ah."

"Quite. Do you intend to use it to aid your homeworld?"

"In combination. I suspect that using seven together may produce something greater than a sum of their parts."

She appears to think for a moment, but I suspect that as with Hinon it's a idiosyncrasy that exists only for display to younger species. I know that Dennap is the youngest Guardian, but that means that she's only a few million years old, not that she's young.

"It… May work. It would certainly be worth knowing either way."

"Then do you have a red ring laying around?"

"No, for much the same reason. Red is even less biddable than yellow."

"So I suppose that there's no chance of you giving me access to Ysmault to-."

"No. Now, if you'll excuse me, this needs to be returned to Oa."

"How..? Did it get out, anyway? It can't just have been me."

"That is still the subject of investigation. Good day."

She and her escort rise into the sky, hyperdimensional prison in tow.
 
Last edited:
So is Paul getting a ring or not and what did they do to Harrold?
He held up his end of the bargain, Lysis is going to hold up hers.

And then she's going to random-walk several additional dimensions away, because-

It is odd, though. She isn't an Anti-Monitor loyalist like Kalmin, nor a mercantilist like Varnathon. There isn't really much left in Qwardian philosophy. Or maybe she is a mercantilist, but didn't want to go along with his self-sabotage?

Don't-

"Warning: will detected."

-know.

-the answer, Paul, is that she has a functioning sense of self-preservation and sees you as a threat on almost every level.

For once, she's right.
 
20th January 2013
19:34 GMT


The Controllers can build planets, either by collecting up available mass and merging it together around an appropriate star, or by converting energy directly into matter. They've been doing that long enough that it's pretty much their buy-in: any species that signs up with N.E.M.O. knows that should the worst come to the worst their species will be reborn on a new world with as much of their culture intact as possible.
And I guess it helps make up for their old habit of killing stars to try and enforce some measure of order. Wouldn't be surprised to learn that some of the oldest still think the whippersnapper youngling are too soft on the ephemerals... :rolleyes: Such is the privilege of the old.

For worlds and species that haven't been completely wiped out, we have great cargo ships filled with everything that a billion refugees could need to survive until the basic functions of their civilisation are restored. And with the Reach around, they might be actively fighting against that restoration thanks to Reach mental contamination, so we've got well trained military police and engineers and -of course- psychological specialists. And while the latter are usually used to detect subtle signs of Reach influence, they can also help a people who have spent ten minutes constantly exposed to their greatest fears.
Which will definitely leave a mark on their collective psyche. Though I can't help but imagine they're feel a bit braver when faced with danger, because 'there's no way it's as scary as Yellow Day.'

Weaponer Lysis finally manages to tear her eyes off the Parallax containment vessel.

"So, your ring telemetry."
:pGeez. Has she been eye-fucking the thing the whole time? I'm amazed she didn't try to pull a double-cross, try to grab it and flee. Then again, given who's holding onto it...

I shrug as I remove another hundred tonnes of rubble from the area around a partially collapsed building and… Move the bodies aside for recovery by the mortuary teams. The monster constructs didn't kill a particularly high proportion of the population, but a low proportion of a big number is still a lot of people. This… They're probably going to have to tear it down and replace it, depending on whether it's considered a priority for the industrial transmuters.
And a lot of the deaths would have come from simple panic amongst the people. Crushes and tramplings, for example.

"So, my power ring."

"I can't make one without as more data than I have now. This whole event prevented me getting the final readings that I needed in my laboratory, and Harrolds has no reason to aid me further. So unless you follow through on your side of the agreement now, I can't get you what you want. Unless I experiment with many more people and get lucky with their psychological profiles."
Ugh. And I doubt Kalmin has any interest on making a few suggestions? To be expected, I suppose.

Ah. Yes, I suppose… If all else fails I can just hunt down one of her neophyte Yellow Lanterns and take their ring. Honestly, that would probably be easier than borrowing one.

"Alright then. Ah, normally I just flick it over to someone else's ring. I don't know what you use for data storage…"
Unless it's got a tricksy self-destruct integrated into it. I don't doubt Sinestro would figure 'I know at least one party who may have an interest in collecting these rings...'

"My systems are compatible with power ring data packets."

"Alright then."
I mean, many of the technologies in a Ring are reproducible. Just not on the level of compactness involved, nor the Spectrum-based energy sources.

Ring, compile all recordings related to this encounter with Parallax and send them over.

Compliance.
Hopefully she gets to enjoy OL's personal notes and journal logs as well. As in, these chapters, scrubbed of any incriminating details...

The orange pulse leaps from my ring and flies into her harness. She goes still for a moment, then nods.

"I wasn't sure that you would follow through on our agreement."
You've given him no reason not to. Do try to keep up that streak, will you?

"What do you want out of life, Weaponer Lysis?"

"No."
I suspect that right now, she wants you to shut up and not try to recruit her.

"I could put a recording of the word on a loop, if that would help?"

"You are an expert at desire manipulation. I don't intend to give you any information at all. This conversation is already outside of my preferred risk profile."
She's got you there, OL. Even without overtly brute-forcing it, you do have a knack for getting people to do what you want.

"All the resources you want, a major stellar empire to destroy, and hey, Kalmin speaks well of you and you know what he's like."

"He's a deranged religious fanatic who will destroy you."
But until then, he's OL's useful technologist.

"Maybe. But if I'm prepared to put up with him, what do you think you could do that would drive a wedge between us?"

"I'm-."
Unless you were more useful than Kalmin, Lysis, it ain't happening.

"We don't have to give Parallax back to the Guardians."

She takes a moment to master herself.
Though I don't think getting her on board is worth the kind of reputation hit towards the Guardians that would result in...

"It won't work. You can't manipulate me."

"Manipulate? I'm making you an offer of employment. I'm trying to give you-."
Annoying her into saying yes isn't going to work, OL...

"Anti-matter transition detected."

Aaaand… She's gone.
Ha! That's a conversation ender if ever I saw one.

"Something you… Clearly don't want."

It is odd, though. She isn't an Anti-Monitor loyalist like Kalmin, nor a mercantilist like Varnathon. There isn't really much left in Qwardian philosophy. Or maybe she is a mercantilist, but didn't want to go along with his self-sabotage?
Or there's something else she wants. Getting a certain sempai to notice her, maybe? :p

Don't-

"Warning: will detected."
I doubt Malvolio would get that kind of response. So that means...

-know.

I look up, taking a few steps away from the containment vessel as three Honour Guard Green Lanterns descend through the atmosphere, escorting Guardian Dennap. Huh, they sent a Guardian with actual social skills, well done them. The Honour Guards take up position around us as Dennap carefully checks the containment vessel over before encasing it in a cube-.
...The fuzz are here for their escapee.

Aah-.

I wince and try not to look at the spatial distortions occurring as Guardian Dennap decides that a mere hypercube isn't enough and starts adding more dimensions on top. I'm sure that she knows her business.
A hypercube, for reference. I see she's taking no chances, then.

"Guardian Dennap?"

"Illustres. Thank you for returning this… Creature. We were concerned that you might decide to keep it."
Pfft. He's no use to anyone. Not even as a feeder for the Ophidian. It'd leave a bad taste in her mouth.

"Parallax has a more disagreeable temperament than the Ophidian. Though if you do have a yellow ring hanging around, I'd like to borrow it."

"I'm afraid that we don't. As far as I know, Weaponer Kalmin was the first to make one. The only other being who may have forged one is Krona."
And we know how well he and the Pauls got along...

"Ah."

"Quite. Do you intend to use it to aid your homeworld?"
Is that some intellectual curiosity I hear, Guardian?

"In combination. I suspect that using seven together may produce something greater than a sum of their parts."

She appears to think for a moment, but I suspect that as with Hinon it's a idiosyncrasy that exists only for display to younger species. I know that Dennap is the youngest Guardian, but that means that she's only a few million years old, not that she's young.
Internally: Oh shit what does he know oh shit oh shit oh shit.

"It… May work. It would certainly be worth knowing either way."

"Then do you have a red ring laying around?"
Something a little less self-destructive than the stock model, for instance. Preferrably with less heart-dissolving.

"No, for much the same reason. Red is even less biddable than yellow."

"So I suppose that there's no chance of you giving me access to Ysmault to-."
Ooh, tossing her a bone of information, OL?

"No. Now, if you'll excuse me, this needs to be returned to Oa."

"How..? Did it get out, anyway? It can't just have been me."
Yeah, she knows what that name means. And now she knows that he knows...

"That is still the subject of investigation. Good day."

She and her escort rise into the sky, hyper dimensional prison in tow.
In other words: 'We have no fucking clue, but we aim to find out.'

Well, giant space bug safely back in hock, Lysis commissioned for a Yellow Ring, and his mess cleaned up, mostly. Not a bad day for OL. Not necessarily a great one, but those seem to be rarer and rarer these days. All those little butterflies coming together into hurricanes, of course... Now, to help Jade out with a little emotional therapy (And maybe a little near-paralytic massaging.)
 
Lysis is going to hold up hers.

The question is 'when, exactly?' The need for the other colors isn't something the Illustres can wait for a couple of months. He kinda needs the other rings by last week, at the latest, really.

So to me this deal didn't seem as necessary nor as positive, and I still feel that just being ok with letting an unknown and previously hostile Weaponer continue with their plans of establishing a Lantern Corp unimpeded and unmonitored seems counterproductive.

Good riddance to Parallax, though. But what happened with Harrolds?
 
The Controllers can build planets, either by collecting up available mass and merging it together around an appropriate star, or by converting energy directly into matter.
Goddamn that's a lot of energy. And they're willing to use that much on something like making planets, implying that they have even more. Wow. Do they have a few high-luminosity supertech Dyson swarms lying around, or do they use giant bleed torsion generators or something, or are the Controllers really personally that absurdly strong that they can pull that much energy out of the aether over a reasonable time? Or are they only creating small parts of planets with energy and using pre-existing matter for the rest? If they're actually fabricating the whole planets with energy-mass conversion, then that further implies that their ability to transport energy and/or matter is immense. I feel like I've been really underestimating the Controllers, and I already thought they were pretty amazing.

I wonder if any species that is getting a new planet can instead ask for a whole bunch of large space habitats, since they'd be enormously more efficient in terms of mass-energy for the same amount of liveable surface area. Maybe they'd be significantly more complex for the Controllers to build, though, so they just do planets?
Good riddance to Parallax, though. But what happened with Harrolds?
I feel that either we're going to find out tomorrow, or he was dropped off at antimatter Earth offscreen, or he's going to space prison (he was doing evil stuff on Earth, right?)
 
I assume White lantern and the red light connection to Ysmault.
There isn't yet a red light connection to Ysmault. Dennap assumes that he learned about the Empire of Tears from Guy as the generalities aren't restricted information.

The Guardians have sort of been clenched to hear about him knowing about the Life Entity since they got a report on Dr. Mist.
 
There isn't yet a red light connection to Ysmault. Dennap assumes that he learned about the Empire of Tears from Guy as the generalities aren't restricted information.

The Guardians have sort of been clenched to hear about him knowing about the Life Entity since they got a report on Dr. Mist.

Hey Zoat. Quick question. I'm trying to find a certain chapter so I can reread it and I can't seem to find it anymore. It was one of the few things not written by you that became canon. IIRC it was about a bunch of Green Lanterns discussing their meeting with Paul to the Guardians?
 

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