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

"What, this?" He hold up the now dull helmet. "Smart metal canister. It's only really designed for armor maintenance, not rebuilding the whole thing, but I figure it's better than nothing. You think it looks like a helmet?"
I'm rather fond of the classic gag of "explain obvious game mechanics in a semi-rational way".

As long as it stays a gag, and not something like a certainFanFiction explaining that those cover Shields in XCOM actually are augmented reality overlays in universe.

Which would be really distracting to the soldiers. Maybe if it was something they could call up upon request.

And that was integrated with a really contrived "new guy explanation".
 

Fair warning, that was brutal. I did learn that I hold my phone way too close to my face though. Silver linings and all that.
The link somehow automatically opened and started playing for me as I scrolled past it. I didn't lift my thumb or anything as I was scrolling so I don't know how that happened. Good thing there's the solid 8 seconds of the epilepsy disclaimer at the start of the video.
 
Plus I doubt he'd be interested in hooking up with a violent sociopath.
I mean, he hooked up with her mother. He might prefer an open nutter.
'teach her how', I believe
Thank you, corrected.
I'm not entirely sure Knockout can really participate in a romantic relationship. A purely physical one, maybe, but being Apokaliptian, such a positive emotion would be hard for her to understand.
She managed a long term relationship with Scandal in the comics.
The link somehow automatically opened and started playing for me as I scrolled past it. I didn't lift my thumb or anything as I was scrolling so I don't know how that happened. Good thing there's the solid 8 seconds of the epilepsy disclaimer at the start of the video.
DEATH TO THE MIDGET COMPUTERS!
 
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Iname is still blushing as we finally reach the outskirts of the crater. Persuader hasn't quite worked out what Iname offered, and I don't think that she's even got an approximate idea. Probably because it's so contrary to our current relationship.

Earlier in this arc Persuader seemed to assume their relationship was a paternal one (the "complain to your Dad" remark) and now we have Grayven talking about "contrary to our current relationship", so that seems to be their opinion. What I see in the story though?

Iname consistently addresses Grayven as "Master" and blushes in pleasure when he pats her on the head or otherwise shows signs of approval. I don't think she's interested in him in a romance-of-equals sense, but I think she absolutely would fuck him if he seemed interested in that sort of thing. Which he's not, so she's happy enough to just fawn on him and search for his approval in other ways.

"Given Apokoliptian attitudes towards carnality, it wouldn't be that unusual for two people in your position to be…"

Something like that, which ironically Grayven himself brings up just a few paragraphs later.

I'm actually not sure if I'm supposed to take it as Grayven is right and I was misled, or that Grayven is wrong and this is typical Paul-SI being a bit blind to relationships.

"Uuuuh, no. Knockout is working for me because Granny Goodness told her to. She's still loyal to my father, she just doesn't bother considering the idea that I might not be. If I teach her how to be even a little creative, she'd probably notice that."

What, he doesn't like his odds of stealing Knockout's loyalty away from Darkseid? Or maybe he thinks she's too evil to want to bother, since he'd have to dispose of her in the end anyway?
 
I find it amusing that Persuader is so unused to using Godspeech that her attempts come out as mundane phrases compared to what New Gods are generally capable of.
"You Missed" seems like progress on that front, TBH. Maybe soon she'll uprgade to "Best Not Miss".

Incidentally, what do people do to make godspeech visible on dark themes? I've used custom CSS on desktop but I mostly read on mobile Firefox and right now the best I've got is "read aloud", which shows the text it's about to read unformatted.
 
"Yes, Chrysalis, you're fake too. What's the point of this?"

"We're all people you killed unjustly."
Interesting that it seems to have come around on the position of whether Grayven and Grayven are the same person. Though perhaps it is merely humouring him in the vague hope that this will be more effective for guilt-inducement or whatever it's trying to do.
 
"You Missed" seems like progress on that front, TBH. Maybe soon she'll uprgade to "Best Not Miss".

Incidentally, what do people do to make godspeech visible on dark themes? I've used custom CSS on desktop but I mostly read on mobile Firefox and right now the best I've got is "read aloud", which shows the text it's about to read unformatted.
though you need to add QQ manually to the list.
 
Hopefully not 'vocalising' it the way they have been. Imagine hearing a constant stream of New God speech chattering away when she's going fast...
I don't recall what her God-Name is, but depending on that, perhaps it's more like using her speed is using her God-Name, at a fundamental level.
 
I actually quite like the god text and i'm happy we are getting more of it.
Still waiting for that chapter thats entirely just a group of gods having a debate and the entire chapter is thus invisible.
 
I actually quite like the god text and i'm happy we are getting more of it.
Still waiting for that chapter thats entirely just a group of gods having a debate and the entire chapter is thus invisible.

Here's an interesting conundrum: Would a New God of silence/mute-ness even use godspeech at all? One one hand, nobody can hear it except for New Gods. On the other hand, it still counts as speaking, which would be against his/her nature.
 
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Terror Nova (part 17) New
20th August 2013
12:43 GMT -7

From Many, One Purpose
Amalak's personal force field lasts about as long this time as the first time, though this time the cause of death is my fist rather than a purple death ray. Chrysalis snarls and fires a green beam from her horn, but seeing as how I'm not Celestia I just sidestep to evade it before closing the distance and crushing her skull between my hands.
Certainty of Death
I can feel it as Iname effortlessly fights off the lassitude this place is inflicting on us. Her speed is a little slower than what I know she's capable of, but I assume that she's trying to ensure that she doesn't have a problem if it turns out that whoever's doing this is capable of more than we've seen so far. I can feel it as she calls upon the extended part of her divine nature, gradually drawing upon more and more power. Assuming that we win here, I'll have to see if Wallace is willing to try racing her again.
I Cut Things

Persuader on the other hand is just cutting a hole in space to somewhere the horde hasn't focused on yet, moving through, cutting them down and then stepping back through and closing her tear. Now that she's found a way to keep her divine empowerment running she's just focusing on using that rather than pushing herself further. Acceptable for now, but perhaps something we should go into in later training sessions.

A jagged bolt of purple lightning-
A Pale Reflection
-strikes my armour, but I've built up quite a mystical head of steam and… Ah, there he is. Klarion may well have been more powerful than whoever's doing this. Certainly he was better with chaos magic. I leap towards him, crushing three people I vaguely remember as thugs or henchmen I slew at some point before-

"WWWWRRRAAAAWRWWW!"

-Klarion's cat swells to the size of a liger and pounces at me! I sidestep, slap a reaching claw aside hard enough to snap bones and then draw the Sword of the Fallen and stab it in the head. It turns to ash immediately, while Klarion just goes for another shot. Golden fire, this time.
Glorious Purpose
The flame washes over me and does very little. A slight twinge, a little… Building heat, like I just swallowed a mouthful of chilli; thought I was alright and then here comes the pain. But a far poorer showing than real Klarion made before I killed him. I grab the fake's arms and redirect them towards the mob of… Gordanians and branx? Who are closing in around us, and he burns a swath through them before ceasing his own spell.

"Unrealistic."

I slam him to the ground with my right hand, grab the Sword with my left and then stab him through the face. Ash and dust again.

"What's this in aid of?!" Challenge the Coward

A purple-white ray hits me in the cuirass, and looking for the source-. A sheeda Highborn riding one of those ridiculous spider things. I-.

Ah. It's in the opposite direction to the centre of the impact crater. Klarion was perpendicular. Clever. But insufficient. "On me."

I take a flying leap towards the centre of the impact crater. Apparently I haven't killed a lot of flying creatures, because all that tries to intercept me are a couple of changeling guards and even when in fireball mode they're not exactly hard to punch out of the sky.

"What are you trying to tell me?!" Certainty of Purpose

I land, crushing a small swarm of zombies from the Land of Summer's End beneath my feet. Honestly, given the centuries I spent there I'm a little surprised that there aren't more sheeda things. A glowing green slash appears in the air next to me and Persuader steps through. Zombies I bypassed collapse into two halves as Iname precipitates out of the air.

"Heading for the centre of the crater, girls. Someone's trying to distract us."

"Yes, Master!" Death Comes to All.

"You know who this is?"

"Golden fire is pretty much angels only. So is playing around with creation and believing they have the right to judge and condemn the living. The problem is that we use Source-magic too, and they don't have an override."

"The fuck's an angel doing here?"

"No idea. Nor do I know why they're acting like this. I-." The area around us starts to glow. I look up-.

Oh no.

Luciphage the Starbreaker grins down at us. Probably the most powerful thing I've ever killed. Not sure how much like the original this copy is, but we only really killed the first one by completely blindsiding him.

"Revenge before the offence is even given. Poetic, wouldn't you say?"

"No." I shake my head, though I'm not really confident. "No way. This far back in time, you shouldn't even be alive."

"Oh, I am far weaker than the version you faced. I have only fed upon a hundred stars and not an entire universe. How glorious that will be!"

"So who brought you here?" "Girls, go."

"A whisper of power and opportunity. Solar energy is well enough, but the potent flavour of magic is a rare treat."

"Yeah, that's why I'm here too." I have a quick check left and right, and the girls are gone. Good. "But it's not like the sheeda's future is one I want to bring about. In the unlikely event that you are real, I'll have to thank whoever's doing this for bringing you here."

But looking behind him… There's still a horde, but it seems a little… Indistinct? Reduced? If I assume that the angel responsible has finite power to work with, they're… Focusing. And while I'm happy that the girls will be relatively unencumbered, that suggests that this thing might actually have a fraction of the real Star Vampire's stren-.

CRACK!

Okkkkrrruuughhhhhh?

And all of a sudden he's a long way away.

And I'm… I'm in a crater. The crack was… My armour. Okay. Did it's job-. Ow. Mostly did its job. Abdomen… Painful, but not ruptured. Everything else… Fine-ish. And since the summoner still isn't confronting me in person, I've still got most of my arcane momentum.

Up I get, and here floats the Star Vampire himself.

"A mere hundred stars' worth of strength. But still enough to deal with someone as weak as you."
Degenerate Opposition Strengthens Righteous Authority
I nod. "Probably would be. Except I'm one of the people who killed you when you'd glutted yourself on the entire universe."

"With the aid of an entire civilisation, and another of your kind with the skills to help you."

"Then take another swing and see what happens." Fight Test

He doesn't think that I've got anything. Or at least whoever's controlling this projection doesn't. But with a quick glance at the Sword of the Fallen he realises that I might be gambling on being fast enough to stab him as he hits me, and that that would end the fight. So he doesn't do that. Instead, his eyes glow purple, enough power to vaporise me building up-.
Master of My Domain
But I don't boost my physiology. I boost my connection to my orange power ring. And while I can't build the energy siphon we used in the Land of Summer's End, I can create a construct with the colour that's really good at stealing energy.

He fires, I thrust my construct forwards and he spots the problem immediately. Part of it, anyway. The other part is that this is a thaumically active world, which means that the sheeda runes which I used last time will work.

Which means that he can't break the connection he established.

"Guagh!"

"Good effort, whoever you are." Maintaining the construct I walk closer as his body begins to shrivel up. "I'll see you in person shortly."

And one quick stab with the Sword of the Fallen, and I'm on my way again.
 
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But a far poorer showing than real Klarion made before I killed him. I grab the fake's arms and redirect them towards the mob of… Gordanians and branx? Who are closing in around us, and he burns a swath through them before ceasing his own spell.

Remind me, Renegade got rid of the Klarion construct, right? It was mentioned when him and Luna fought Nabu?

Imagining Renegade's construct lanterns are observing this somehow whilst eating construct popcorn.. Lantern Brain wishes he had a mouth.
 
Last I remember, the Renegade still has him alongside the other members of the Light he assimilated.

Found the line I was thinking of;

"No reincarnation this time, Nabu. Just you and the default afterlife. Maybe they'll put you and Klarion next to each other."

So this implies he did use the Sword of the Fallen to kill Klarion.. which is weird because why the heck did he assimilate him when he was a powerless mortal in the first place if he was just going to kill him again?

He definitely still has Savage.. hey Mr Zoat, does he still have the Ra's and Brain constructs?
 
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So this implies he did use the Sword of the Fallen to kill Klarion.. which is weird because why the heck did he assimilate him when he was a powerless mortal in the first place if he was just going to kill him again?
1) Useful knowledge 2) No afterlife he might weasel his way out of.
He definitely still has Savage.. hey Mr Zoat, does he still have the Ra's and Brain constructs?
Yes.
 
20th August 2013
12:43 GMT -7

From Many, One Purpose
Amalak's personal force field lasts about as long this time as the first time, though this time the cause of death is my fist rather than a purple death ray. Chrysalis snarls and fires a green beam from her horn, but seeing as how I'm not Celestia I just sidestep to evade it before closing the distance and crushing her skull between my hands.
Oooh, that's a lot of Godspeech. And it's fortunate that these copies have only as much power as the originals, or even less. And appear to fight about as well as their originals too. Right down to sloppy tactics...

Certainty of Death
I can feel it as Iname effortlessly fights off the lassitude this place is inflicting on us. Her speed is a little slower than what I know she's capable of, but I assume that she's trying to ensure that she doesn't have a problem if it turns out that whoever's doing this is capable of more than we've seen so far. I can feel it as she calls upon the extended part of her divine nature, gradually drawing upon more and more power. Assuming that we win here, I'll have to see if Wallace is willing to try racing her again.
She's really taken well to Narrative combat. Quite literally telling her foes what she's going to do to them, and making it happen.

I Cut Things
Persuader on the other hand is just cutting a hole in space to somewhere the horde hasn't focused on yet, moving through, cutting them down and then stepping back through and closing her tear. Now that she's found a way to keep her divine empowerment running she's just focusing on using that rather than pushing herself further. Acceptable for now, but perhaps something we should go into in later training sessions.
And as expected of someone so straight-forwards, Persuader's treating her Godspeech like a sharp object.

A jagged bolt of purple lightning-
A Pale Reflection
-strikes my armour, but I've built up quite a mystical head of steam and… Ah, there he is. Klarion may well have been more powerful than whoever's doing this. Certainly he was better with chaos magic. I leap towards him, crushing three people I vaguely remember as thugs or henchmen I slew at some point before-
Third time lucky for him to stay dead, hopefully.

"WWWWRRRAAAAWRWWW!"

-Klarion's cat swells to the size of a liger and pounces at me! I sidestep, slap a reaching claw aside hard enough to snap bones and then draw the Sword of the Fallen and stab it in the head. It turns to ash immediately, while Klarion just goes for another shot. Golden fire, this time.
Fake-Teekl not gonna get stepped on this time, eh?

Glorious Purpose
The flame washes over me and does very little. A slight twinge, a little… Building heat, like I just swallowed a mouthful of chilli; thought I was alright and then here comes the pain. But a far poorer showing than real Klarion made before I killed him. I grab the fake's arms and redirect them towards the mob of… Gordanians and branx? Who are closing in around us, and he burns a swath through them before ceasing his own spell.
Heh, using the enemy's own firepower against them.

"Unrealistic."

I slam him to the ground with my right hand, grab the Sword with my left and then stab him through the face. Ash and dust again.
Looks like a common theme here. No doubt made of the very mud they're fighting through.

"What's this in aid of?!" Challenge the Coward

A purple-white ray hits my in the cuirass, and looking for the source-. A sheeda Highborn riding one of those ridiculous spider things. I-.

Ah. It's in the opposite direction to the centre of the impact crater. Klarion was perpendicular. Clever. But insufficient. "On me."
It's trying to keep them away from it, eh? Tough luck for it that the Renegade is too sharp to be fooled.

I take a flying leap towards the centre of the impact crater. Apparently I haven't killed a lot of flying creatures, because all that tries to intercept me are a couple of changeling guards and even when in fireball mode they're not exactly hard to punch out of the sky.

"What are you trying to tell me?!" Certainty of Purpose
Might be more effective if it used its Words instead of throwing punching bags at him.

I land, crushing a small swarm of zombies from the Land of Summer's End beneath my feet. Honestly, given the centuries I spent there I'm a little surprised that there aren't more sheeda things. A glowing green slash appears in the air next to me and Persuader steps through. Zombies I bypassed collapse into two halves as Iname precipitates out of the air.
The Conqueror, flanked by loyal lieutenants. A most effective display of Narrative power.

"Heading for the centre of the crater, girls. Someone's trying to distract us."

"Yes, Master!" Death Comes to All.

"You know who this is?"
Might only be a general guess, given the limited clues.

"Golden fire is pretty much angels only. So is playing around with creation and believing they have the right to judge and condemn the living. The problem is that we use Source-magic too, and they don't have an override."

"The fuck's an angel doing here?"
Perhaps it's not an Angel welcome in the Silver City anymore... There's more than a few running around that didn't end up in Hell.

"No idea. Nor do I know why they're acting like this. I-." The area around us starts to glow. I look up-.

Oh no.

Luciphage the Starbreaker grins down at us. Probably the most powerful thing I've ever killed. Not sure how much like the original this copy is, but we only really killed the first one by completely blindsiding him.
Bigger the target, bigger the guts. And one stab with the Sword of the Fallen will kill it as easily as anything else.

"Revenge before the offence is even given. Poetic, wouldn't you say?"

"No." I shake my head, though I'm not really confident. "No way. This far back in time, you shouldn't even be alive."
Ah, time travel. Always a mindbender.

"Oh, I am far weaker than the version you faced. I have only fed upon a hundred stars and not an entire universe. How glorious that will be!"

"So who brought you here?" "Girls, go."
And how likely is it that this is even the real one? I doubt it, the entity here can't have the metaphysical power to summon him.

"A whisper of power and opportunity. Solar energy is well enough, but the potent flavour of magic is a rare treat."

"Yeah, that's why I'm here too." I have a quick check left and right, and the girls are gone. Good. "But it's not like the sheeda's future is one I want to bring about. In the unlikely event that you are real, I'll have to thank whoever's doing this for bringing you here."
And even if he were the real one, won't matter too much if the Renegade kills him. Beings like that aren't often too bothered by dying.

But looking behind him… There's still a horde, but it seems a little… Indistinct? Reduced? If I assume that the angel responsible has finite power to work with, they're… Focusing. And while I'm happy that the girls will be relatively unencumbered, that suggests that this thing might actually have a fraction of the real Star Vampire's stren-.
In other words, it's pushing more power into the fake at the cost of its army. Still not enough to stop the Renegade, though, and more power to lose when he stabs it.

CRACK!

Okkkkrrruuughhhhhh?

And all of a sudden he's a long way away.
I'm guessing a kick. Much harder to punch or slap something around your legs from a standing position.

And I'm… I'm in a crater. The crack was… My armour. Okay. Did it's job-. Ow. Mostly did its job. Abdomen… Painful, but not ruptured. Everything else… Fine-ish. And since the summoner still isn't confronting me in person, I've still got most of my arcane momentum.
Could have been worse, I suppose. He could have given chase and stepped on you.

Up I get, and here floats the Star Vampire himself.

"A mere hundred stars' worth of strength. But still enough to deal with someone as weak as you."
Degenerate Opposition Strengthens Righteous Authority
I nod. "Probably would be. Except I'm one of the people who killed you when you'd glutted yourself on the entire universe."
Which still carries a lot of Narrative weight, weakened as the Renegade is.

"With the aid of an entire civilisation, and another of your kind with the skills to help you."

"Then take another swing and see what happens." Fight Test
'Come have a go if you think you're hard enough.' I have the feeling this fake will not be hard enough.

He doesn't think that I've got anything. Or at least whoever's controlling this projection doesn't. But with a quick glance at the Sword of the Fallen he realises that I might be gambling on being fast enough to stab him as he hits me, and that that would end the fight. So he doesn't do that. Instead, his eyes glow purple, enough power to vaporise me building up-.
Showing half a modicum of combat smarts. Problem is, this is not a turn-based game...

Master of My Domain
But I don't boost my physiology. I boost my connection to my orange power ring. And while I can't build the energy siphon we used in the Land of Summer's End, I can create a construct with the colour that's really good at stealing energy.
...And people can react to your charge-up attacks with their own tricks.

He fires, I thrust my construct forwards and he spots the problem immediately. Part of it, anyway. The other part is that this is a thaumically active world, which means that the sheeda runes which I used last time will work.

Which means that he can't break the connection he established.
So all that power get sucked into the Orange Ring, all the way to full charge, eh? Giving him a useful weapon for the rest of the fight.

"Guagh!"

"Good effort, whoever you are." Maintaining the construct I walk closer as his body begins to shrivel up. "I'll see you in person shortly."

And one quick stab with the Sword of the Fallen, and I'm on my way again.
Yeah, the power responsible is definitely doing its equivalent of flop-sweating.

Looking more and more like this is some imprisoned Angel of Vengeance. Maybe not one of the big two (Eclipso and the Spectre) and likely it's been stuck here for centuries. So it's not running with anything like its full power, thus the illusions and golems. Let's just hope the Renegade takes a moment to consider the consequences before he crushes it out of existence...
 
Which angel would have a grudge against the Renegade, though? I don't think it's Aztar, because I think I recall Zoat saying that he wouldn't show up in the story.
I don't think this is a planned ambush or anything. Getting the impression that an Angel crashed here for Reasons, and is trying to smite/drive off the Apokoliptans that showed up. Which, fair.

Crashing somewhere and probably being injured when a trio of New Gods from Apokolips show up is usually a bad time.
 
Okay, I'm dumb, so I'm just gonna ask for clarification. Does he have the Klarion construct still or did I just misunderstand what he meant by "maybe they'll you [Nabu] and Klarion next to each other".
So far as I remember, he still has Klarion as a construct.
Doesn't even know he exists.
Is this Renegade Boss Smiley trying his best to keep Grayven from breaking his paradigm utterly?
Not this time. Thi is far too direct for Boss Smiley.
 
A purple-white ray hits my in the cuirass, and looking for the source-. A sheeda Highborn riding one of those ridiculous spider things. I-.
'me'
"So who brought you here?" "Girls, go."

"A whisper of power and opportunity. Solar energy is well enough, but the potent flavour of magic is a rare treat."
Wait, is this the real Starbreaker, or does this copy just think/act as if it is the real one?
 

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