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

Darko · Oct 22, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
On the up side, that kind of wound's not necessarily fatal around here.

Though she may wish it was.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Well, they found Mannheim. And Tlazolteotl . And Nuala! Just a moment too late, though. From the sound of it, he's set all this up as some sort of... Amplifier? For the Anti-Life and his own power. Probably related to the geomantic energies used by the transmitter towers. But targetted at the spiritual realms of the Earth rather than the material... Smothering the competition, as it were

And getting rid of some obstacles on Earth, like Adom and Billy.

Mr Zoat · Oct 22, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'taken'.

Darko said:
"he's doing"

Chojin Patriarch said:
Tezumak takes the left side and I take the right.

Thank you, corrected.

Duke Long · Oct 22, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Apokoliptian.. cables and devices implanted into their chests, connecting to machinery attached to the walls above their head which in turn connect to a device at the end of the room.

'heads' or 'each head'?

FuzzyZergling · Oct 22, 2023

Can someone remind me who Nuala is? I don't recognise the name.

Ngamer11 · Oct 22, 2023

FuzzyZergling said:
Can someone remind me who Nuala is? I don't recognise the name.

Nuala is the elf they were tasked to find and rescue.

Vaermina · Oct 22, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
He places his left hand on her neck, then hesitates, looking towards us.

And once he has eye contact he begins cutting.

Almost too late.

Mr Zoat · Oct 22, 2023

Duke Long said:
'heads' or 'each head'?

Thank you, corrected.

Tzeentch · Oct 22, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Mannheim walks over to the last, a slightly built girl-. Nuala, with a small obsidian knife in his hand.

"And you, for your connection between realms. But do not fear, for you will not miss my ascension. These machines and this place will trap your soul as surely as those bonds trap your body, and you will serve me in spirit as you do in flesh."

He places his left hand on her neck, then hesitates, looking towards us.

And once he has eye contact he begins cutting.

I was already sick of him and Anti-life months ago. Mannheim has LONG overstayed his visit, please show him the door... with physical force, if necessary.

Valint · Oct 22, 2023

FuzzyZergling said:
Can someone remind me who Nuala is? I don't recognise the name.

Besides being the sister of Cluracan, the fairy who told the heroes what happened and asked them to find her, she's specifically a character from Sandman (tl;dr: Gifted to Dream by Titania, she fell in love with him, he was mildly fond of her, she screwed up and was unintentionally the reason he died).

Ngamer11 · Oct 22, 2023

After reading up on who Nuala is from the Sandman, I now hope that she won't be one of the many females who'll fall in love with OL after he helps her.

Mr Zoat · Oct 22, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
After reading up on who Nuala is from the Sandman, I now hope that she won't be one of the many females who'll fall in love with OL after he helps her.

[Look at what he just wrote]

Yeah, I... Don't think there's any risk of that happening.

Vaermina · Oct 23, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
After reading up on who Nuala is from the Sandman, I now hope that she won't be one of the many females who'll fall in love with OL after he helps her.

Eh, to be fair to Mr Zoat here that doesn't usually last long once they get to actually know him.

Ngamer11 · Oct 23, 2023

Vaermina said:
Eh, to be fair to Mr Zoat here that doesn't usually last long once they get to actually know him.

I would argue that some still have feelings for Paul. He just doesn't reciprocate.

Mr Zoat · Oct 23, 2023

17th February 2013
19:03 GMT

Fire everything.

I'm not.. exactly thinking as I let the impulse flow through me. Instinct, from the soul. The first energy pulse splashes against something shielding his face before I'm really conscious that I've-

"AAAAAAGHGAHAGHAGHAH!"

-done anything. Tezumak is running forwards towards the distant platform at full sprint as my follow-up cold beam and ultraviolet laser also do nothing to Mannheim. My railgun forms a moment later-

Blood is pumping out of Nuala's chest as Mannheim patiently cuts down the centre. The guards aren't bothering to respond.

-and I fire an x-ionised round immediately followed by a crumbler round. Nothing. I'm not sure that I'm even hitting him.

That's not how New Gods work.

Sure, the tough ones barely react when they're hit by conventional weapons, but it does hit. They do feel it, even if it doesn't really hurt. I'm not hitting him. He's just wearing a suit, and any one of those shots-.

Tezumak's about halfway to the target when I turn my guns on the cables plugged into the gods. I doubt this will work, but it's the next logical step while I try to come up with something that will. Yes, the energy I'm expending just vanishes before reaching the target.

No point maintaining a strategy that can't work.

I drop my gun constructs in favour of a cable and shove it into the chest of the closest recumbent god.

Drain.

Nothing.

Assimilate.

Nothing.

I can't even feel the thing I'm plugged into. Ring, confirm-.

No contact made.

Okay. What else what else..? My clone. It's plugged into the system and sucked up some of my orange light. That should mean that I can affect it without other direct contact.

Alternate possibility: kill Nuala and retreat. I can't see any other elves and-. He just said that he would bind her soul anyway. But she's not plugged into the machine yet, which means… Would her soul be stuck here and force him to hunt it down? Or would it go to wherever elf souls go?

Tezumak gets close enough and leaps. He-. He's not aiming for Mannheim.

I hear a quiet snap as he breaks one of Nuala's ribs to get it out of the way.

He slams into the cage containing Tlaltecuhtli's heart, flechettes shooting out at everything. The ones on target for Mannheim just vanish like all of my attacks did, but the corpses get torn apart by the supersonic darts and Nuala-.

Mannheim moves to interpose himself, glaring at Tezumak.

"What is the real reason why you were not reborn?"

I'd guess that he remembered the looks even his closest comrades gave him when he murdered children to fuel his armour and realised that his whole culture was completely fucked up.

I take another shot at Mannheim with an energy pulse to see if anything's changed. It hasn't.

"Earth."

Earth? Tlaltecuhtli's responsibility. He isn't connected to her heart in the way that he is all of the others. Which means…

Construct crumblers carve a chunk of stone out of the floor and a construct gravity impeller hurls it across the room at-

Crack!

-supersonic speed.

Emerge.

The rock projectile punches through Mannheim's jacket before being stopped by his chest. He doesn't seem unduly bothered. I don't even get the glare he's giving Tezumak. And he doesn't stop-

Snap.

-carving Nuala up.

I blink as I get a second perspective, one of my alien construct lanterns emerging inside my cloned corpse. A cable runs into my/its heart and it yanks it out as I aim at Tlaltecuhtli's heart cage with my rock impeller.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

It takes three direct hits to the same point on the cage, but I've managed to break part of the machine. Doesn't seem to have shut it down, but it's not doing as well as it was. Lights shimmer all over the structure… And there isn't an Aztec God of Technology for him to just wave it away.

And you? Get Nuala if you see an opening.

"…a stranger in your own homeland as you did in Kahndaq, or amongst any of the peoples you visited."

Crack!

Mannheim sticks his hand in the way of my shot on Nuala, but he's forced to stop cutting. But… He can fire omega effect beams. We're not inconveniencing him. Or, we are, but only a little. So little that it's not worth actually working at it for him.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

I fire at his eyes, Nuala and the cage again, this time aiming for the base rather than the bars. Tezumak… Doesn't fire.

"This is what I offer you. A place. A function. An end to all your-"

My possessed clone corpse lunges at him from behind, reaching for his knife.

"-suffering."

He doesn't look around as he grabs it around the head and squeezes, crushing its skull.

Any non-fatal injury…

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Chunks of rock smash through her bindings and the flesh beneath them. She'll bleed to death unless we can get out soon, but-.

"Ah." Mannheim turns towards me, eyes glowing. "So be-."

The machinery winks out as Robert appears on top of… One of the gods. He rips the tubes out of his chest, the space around him rippling. "Always wondered how much power I could take, y'know? What the limit was." He reaches out towards Mannheim and the smaller corpses on the biers decay to dust. A death god, then. "Looks like it's a lot."

"So be it." His eyes-.

Tezumak hits him in the side, driving him back-. About an inch. His gauntlet drops to Nuala's heavily damaged body and hurls it down the-. I leap into the air, construct wings keeping me aloft as I field her battered torso. Still… Alive.

"Time to-."

Mannheim grabs hold of Tezumak's shoulder with his ring hand, wrenches him down and then hits him with the omega beams. His armour is outlined in red for a moment, then vanishes.

"Time to go!"

I grab Robert with a construct and chuck him at the exit, then fly for it myself!

"Run!"

BlueMangoAdea · Oct 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
The machinery winks out as Robert appears on top of… One of the gods. He rips the tubes out of his chest, the space around him rippling. "Always wondered how much power I could take, y'know? What the limit was." He reaches out towards Mannheim and the smaller corpses on the biers decay to dust. A death god, then. "Looks like it's a lot."

Impressive.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
17th February 2013
19:03 GMT

Fire everything.

I'm not.. exactly thinking as I let the impulse flow through me. Instinct, from the soul. The first energy pulse splashes against something shielding his face before I'm really conscious that I've-

This would definitely be one time where 'nearly enuff dakka' is the best option. Not that it'll do too much to Mannheim with all his Narrative might wrapped around himself. He's playing his role, and nothing will stop the scene he's set...

"AAAAAAGHGAHAGHAGHAH!"

-done anything. Tezumak is running forwards towards the distant platform as full sprint as my follow-up cold beam and ultraviolet laser also do nothing to Mannheim. My railgun forms a moment later-

And Nuala is probably praying to anyone who will listen to make the pain stop. Even to Morpheus himself.

Blood is pumping out of Nuala's chest as Mannheim patiently cuts down the centre. The guards aren't bothering to respond.

-and I fire an x-ionised round immediately followed by a crumbler round. Nothing. I'm not sure that I'm even hitting him.

Why bother to try and stop OL? He's merely playing his part in the scene, the futile attempt to stop the unstoppable...

That's not how New Gods work.

Sure, the tough ones barely react when they're hit by conventional weapons, but it does hit. They do feel it, even if it doesn't really hurt. I'm not hitting him. He's just wearing a suit, and any one of those shots-.

Bet he's warping space around him, and the shots are missing utterly despite the appearance of striking home. Simply to add to the futility.

Tezumak's about halfway to the target when I turn my guns on the cables pulled into the gods. I doubt this will work, but it's the next logical step while I try to come up with something that will. Yes, the energy I'm expending just vanishes before reaching the target.

No point maintaining a strategy that can't work.

Gonna have to change it up, OL. Find something he isn't expecting...

I drop my gun constructs in favour of a cable and shove it into the chest of the closest recumbent god.

Drain.

Nothing.

Worrying. I'd expect some effect.

Assimilate.

Nothing.

I get the feeling there's not anything actually there, perhaps, and this is all an illusion Mannheim is creating to deceive.

I can't even feel the thing I'm plugged into. Ring, confirm-.

No contact made.

Not even physical interaction? More and more suspicious.

Okay. What else what else..? My clone. It's plugged into the system and sucked up some of my orange light. That should mean that I can affect it without other direct contact.

Alternate possibility: kill Nuala and retreat. I can't see any other elves and-. He just said that he would bind her soul anyway. But she's not plugged into the machine yet, which means… Would her soul be stuck here and force him to hunt it down? Or would it go to wherever elf souls go?

Let's not go killing the hostage you came here to rescue, OL?

Tezumak gets close enough and leaps. He-. He's not aiming for Mannheim.

I hear a quiet snap as he breaks one of Nuala's ribs to get it out of the way.

Huh. I'm guessing he realised that Mannheim is shrugging off massive firepower and is thus unassailable. So who is he going for, then?

He slams into the cage containing Tlaltecuhtli's heart, flechettes shooting out at everything. The ones on target for Mannheim just vanish like all of my attacks did, but the corpses get torn apart by the supersonic darts and Nuala-.

Mannheim moves to interpose himself, glaring at Tezumak.

Ah, there you go. Tezumak's not in his blocking for the Scene. So he's having to improvise, and that weakens the Narrative of his power.

"What is the real reason why you were not reborn?"

I'd guess that he remembered the looks even his closest comrades gave him when he murdered children to fuel his armour and realised that his whole culture was completely fucked up.

...And yet they were still allies with him. But then, it was a harsher time...

I take another shot at Mannheim with an energy pulse to see if anything's changed. It hasn't.

"Earth."

Eh? What's that supposed to mean?

Earth? Tlaltecuhtli's responsibility. He isn't connected to her heart in the way that he is all of the others. Which means…

Construct crumblers carve a chunk of stone out of the floor and a construct gravity impeller hurls it across the room at-

Ah! Tezumak was giving OL a hint. And it makes sense. If Mannheim is tapping the gods around him for power, then he has dominion over their respective domains. Which probably include things like fire, metal and lightning.

Crack!

-supersonic speed.

And what he does not command can hurt him.

Emerge.

The rock projectile punches through Mannheim's jacket before being stopped by his chest. He doesn't seem unduly bothered. I don't even get he glare he's giving Tezumak. And he doesn't stop-

...Oh, right. Enhanced durability courtesy of Darkseid's empowering.

Snap"

-carving Nuala up.

Though I imagine he's moving a little faster now.

I blink as I get a second perspective, one of my alien construct lanterns emerging inside my cloned corpse. A cable runs into my/its heart and it yanks it out as I aim at Tlaltecuhtli's hear cage with my rock impeller.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Trying to bust up the Anti-OL defences Mannheim has set up? Smart, and likely to work.

It takes three direct hits to the same point on the cage, but I've managed to break part of the machine. Doesn't seem to have shut it down, but it's not doing as well as it was. Lights shimmer all over the structure… And there isn't an Aztec God of Technology for him to just wave it away.

And you? Get Nuala if you see an opening.

I assume that last bit was to the Construct lantern.

"…a stranger in your own homeland as you did in Kahndaq, or amongst any of the peoples you visited."

Crack!

I'll give him credit, he's trying to play the role of 'unconcerned calm' to the hilt even as he tries to give Tezumak a will-breaking speech.

Mannheim sticks his hand in the way of my shot on Nuala, but he's forced to stop cutting. But… He can fire omega affect beams. We're not inconveniencing him. Or, we are, but only a little. So little that it's not worth actually working at it for him.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

At this point, he can probably finish the job with his bare hands...

I fire at his eyes, Nuala and the cage again, this time aiming for the base rather than the bars. Tezumak… Doesn't fire.

"This is what I offer you. A place. A function. An end to all your-"

Waiting for the right moment, or has he expended all his ammunition, I wonder?

My possessed clone corpse lunges at him from behind, reaching for his knife.

"-suffering."

Yes, a merely-human Englishman who's probably malnourished from neglect versus a large, strong man funnelling the power of dozens of gods...

He doesn't look around as he grabs it around the head and squeezes, crushing its skull.

Any non-fatal injury…

...Not anything more than a distraction.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Chunks of rock smash through her bindings and the flesh beneath them. She'll bleed to death unless we can get out soon, but-.

As long as she has oen hit point left, she'll be fine.

"Ah." Mannheim turns towards me, eyes glowing. "So be-."

The machinery winks out as Robert appears on top of… One of the gods. He rips the tubes out of his chest, the space around him rippling. "Always wondered how much power I could take, y'know? What the limit was." He reaches out towards Mannheim and the smaller corpses on the biers decay to dust. A death god, then. "Looks like it's a lot."

Let's hope it doesn't stick, though. I doubt he wants that kind of power lingering. Not great for anyone, especially him.

"So be it." His eyes-.

Tezunak hits him in the side, driving him back-. About an inch. His gauntlet drops to Nuala's heavily damaged body and hurls it down the-. I leap into the air, construct wings keeping me aloft as I field her battered torso. Still… Alive.

Put like that, I half imagine her arms and legs are still hanging on the cage... Still, they can be regrown. Her heart and brain can't.

"Time to-."

Mannheim grabs hold of Tezumak's shoulder with his ring hand, wrenches him down and then hits him with the omega beams. His armour is outlined in red for a moment, then vanishes.

Welp. Farewell, Tezumak. It was fun meeting you.

"Time to go!"

I grab Robert with a construct and chuck him at the exit, then fly for it myself!

"Run!"

Ah, the inevitable 'flee the unstoppable boss' stage. Try to avoid missing any collectibles, at least!

Well, they got what they came for. ...Sort of. Kidnapped lady rescued, mostly. Mannheim's ploy disrupted, though not broken entirely. Now to try and lead him away from the wounded folks who Kon and M'gann are no doubt trying to evacuate as we speak. And then the tricky issue of getting back to first Themyscira or Otherworld and then the real world. Not OL's best day ever.

...when I turn my guns on the cables pulled into the gods.

...when I turn my guns on the cables plugged into the gods.

Snap"

Shouldn't need a quotation mark, as a sound effect.

He can fire omega affect beams.

He can fire omega effect beams.

Tezunak hits him in the side, driving him back-.

Tezumak hits him in the side, driving him back-.

Lazurman · Oct 23, 2023

Getting really tired of this wannabe jumped up elemental.

Vaermina · Oct 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I grab Robert with a construct and chuck him at the exit, then fly for it myself!

"Run!"

I'm imaging him launching himself with a giant spring here.

Mr Zoat · Oct 23, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
...when I turn my guns on the cables plugged into the gods.
Shouldn't need a quotation mark, as a sound effect.
He can fire omega effect beams.
Tezumak hits him in the side, driving him back-.

Thank you, corrected.

B.B. Rain · Oct 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I blink as I get a second perspective, one of my alien construct lanterns emerging inside my cloned corpse. A cable runs into my/its heart and it yanks it out as I aim at Tlaltecuhtli's hear cage with my rock impeller.

Should this be 'heart' instead of 'hear'?

DAT_NOOB · Oct 23, 2023

You know I get that New Gods don't only fight on the physical front but the spiritual one aswell.

But how exactly is Mannheim No-selling all attacks?

Ngamer11 · Oct 23, 2023

DAT_NOOB said:
You know I get that New Gods don't only fight on the physical front but the spiritual one aswell.

But how exactly is Mannheim No-selling all attacks?

It was explained that he was boosting himself through a connection to the Aztec gods. Cornwall Boy also boosted himself in an attempt to attack Mannheim.

Mr Zoat · Oct 23, 2023

B.B. Rain said:
Should this be 'heart' instead of 'hear'?

Thank you, corrected.

Chaoswind · Oct 23, 2023

Every time his enemies flee from him Manheim gets a power boost when it comes to fighting them; Paul and the other members of the league are literally feeding Manheim. I hope Cornwall boy feels it happening and tells off Paul for behaving like a bitch.

At this point the only ones capable of stopping him are going to be reinforcements from New Genesis IE certain red ring user is going to be the one that kills him.

Ngamer11 · Oct 23, 2023

Chaoswind said:
Every time his enemies flee from him Manheim gets a power boost when it comes to fighting them; Paul and the other members of the league are literally feeding Manheim. I hope Cornwall boy feels it happening and tells off Paul for behaving like a bitch.

At this point the only ones capable of stopping him are going to be reinforcements from New Genesis IE certain red ring user is going to be the one that kills him.

They have no way of defending themselves from the Omega Effect, so running away is the only reasonable response to Mannheim actually using it.

Duke Long · Oct 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I don't even get he glare he's giving Tezumak. And he doesn't stop-

'the glare'

I've said it before, but I still like Mannheim. Cool guy.

Chaoswind · Oct 23, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
They have no way of defending themselves from the Omega Effect, so running away is the only reasonable response to Mannheim actually using it.

There are hundreds of bodies and souls nailed to the wall, there are more than plenty "ways" do defend themselves from the Omega effect all they have to do is pick them up.

Paul just doesn't understand that new gods get empowered by those that flee from them and Paul is the heart of the embodiment of universal greed, he is a level 90 feeding a ~~level 30~~ level 60 at this point.

Ngamer11 · Oct 23, 2023

Chaoswind said:
There are hundreds of bodies and souls nailed to the wall, there are more than plenty "ways" do defend themselves from the Omega effect all they have to do is pick them up.

Paul just doesn't understand that new gods get empowered by those that flee from them and Paul is the heart of the embodiment of universal greed, he is a level 90 feeding a ~~level 30~~ level 60 at this point.

Paul doesn't have the knowledge or experience to properly leverage that fact at the moment. Plus, it's not like Paul just ran away immediately. Remember that Paul simply played a trick on Grayven before retreating when they met, but that was enough to prevent Grayven from having some kind of permanent buff in future engagements with Paul.

Mr Zoat · Oct 23, 2023

Duke Long said:
'the glare'

Thank you, corrected.

Darko · Oct 23, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
platform as full sprint as

"at full"

Mr Zoat said:
-and I fire an x-ionised round immediately followed by a crumbler round. Nothing. I'm not sure that I'm even hitting him.

That's not how New Gods work

Well either Manheim has some unique tricks, or his power over this place allows him to manipulate reality.

Chaoswind said:
Every time his enemies flee from him Manheim gets a power boost when it comes to fighting them; Paul and the other members of the league are literally feeding Manheim. I hope Cornwall boy feels it happening and tells off Paul for behaving like a bitch

Did Paul and Cornwall have a say to defeat him here and now?

No, they didn't.

Fleeing may give him some power, but them being killed by him will probably give him much more power.

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

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