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

Mr Zoat · 2026-08-14T06:40:01+0100

Yes, two today, none tomorrow.

Oglymogly · 2026-08-14T06:49:37+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Yes, two today, none tomorrow.

Hope whatever you got going on goes well!

I wonder if this is someone using Mad Hatter tech?

Ngamer11 · 2026-08-14T06:52:26+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Had did you-?" Maybe I shouldn't-. "I mean, are you okay talking about this?"

That should say 'How'.

"Oh. Well, Aberrance is build on land the Department of Energy used to own."

That should say 'buillt'.

I sigh. Because I haven't. I don't know anything about armor, and I can't really hide who I am unless I wear something that covers me up completely. And them I'd just need to get a little tear and, oh look! The mysterious vigilante has silver skin! Who can they be?!

That should say 'then'.

"A lot of them are wearing hats." He stops talking and takes another look himself. "Is that something I should watch out for, or is that common wherever the portal's going at the moment?"

I hope this will lead to the end of the Illuminati plot line.

BR549 · 2026-08-14T06:59:02+0100

Well, I don't think they're llamas with hats, so if the one line has a lot of hatted people and the others don't, that's probably something worth investigating, yes.

Mr Zoat · 2026-08-14T07:14:57+0100

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'How'.
That should say 'buillt'.
That should say 'then'.

Thank you, corrected.

Darko · 2026-08-14T07:16:09+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"I spend fourteen months

"spent"

Mr Zoat said:
count the all time I was in hospital."

"count all the time I was in a hospital"

Mr Zoat said:
weird. "Had you heard of him?"

"Have you"

Mr Zoat said:
Had did you-?" Maybe I shouldn't-. "I mean, are you okay talking about this?"

"How did you"

Mr Zoat said:
people staring bother him. It

"is bothering him"

Mr Zoat said:
Aberrance is build on land the

"built"

Mr Zoat said:
And them I'd just need to get a little tear and, oh look! The mysterious

"And then"

Mr Zoat said:
sometimes they're just had some bad news or something-"

"they've just"

Vaermina · 2026-08-14T07:20:50+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"There was a stage a few years ago where just about every microprocessor used in the West was made in one factory in Taiwan. What do you think happened when the Sheeda targetted shipping?"

There's no way this is true in DC comics.

Wayne Enterprises, Kord Industries, Lexcorp, Star Labs, I could go on listing all the super tech corporations, but do I really need to?

Mr Zoat said:
I shake my head. "Insufficient throughput."

Only because you're an idiot and didn't think to stick them on traintracks.

Darko · 2026-08-14T07:29:40+0100

Vaermina said:
There's no way this is true in DC comics.

Wayne Enterprises, Kord Industries, Lexcorp, Star Labs, I could go on listing all the super tech corporations, but do I really need to?

Except companies can do stuff like that.

Plenty of tech companies do that IRL.

Vaermina said:
Only because you're an idiot and didn't think to stick them on traintracks

Except he was talking about transporting goods from overseas, so train tracks in the ocean may not be feasible.

hkim · 2026-08-14T07:31:13+0100

Darko said:
Except he was talking about transporting goods from overseas, so train tracks in the ocean may not be feasible.

The momentum and velocity of a train running on a track through a Dolmen gate would be preserved no matter where the matching portal is. Speedy thing go in, speedy thing go out.

As for why they don't do it like that, I'd assume Watsonianly that the discontinuity along the track/portal interface is tricky and Doylistically that Author-sama didn't want the gates to be that world-breakingly powerful.

Mr Zoat said:
My other idea was just kind of a swimsuit thing, but that woulda made me look like a stripper.

You said it, not me, sister.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-08-14T08:10:29+0100

Mr Zoat said:
27th September 2013
15:01 GMT -6

Oooh, a double-barrelled update due to holidays. This is gonna be entertaining. And from the looks of things, Argent is going to be learning a lot about what the Justice League does...

Argent looks around at the building site. "I don't get it."

"Can you be more precise?"

What's there to get? Building comes down, building goes up. It's a bit fiddlier on a city grid, but if you're pulling a lot of the city down, you get to reconfigure the streets too.

"Why..? Hub?"

"Because I could basically do whatever I like with it and no one would complain."

After all, nearly anything he could do would be an improvement. It's Hub City, after all.

Her head jerks around and she stares at me with a frown. I'm not sure if she's annoyed, or if she doesn't believe me. So I take a second and take a closer look…

Ah. Both.

Part of that seems to be the sheer scale of what OL's doing here. This is a lot bigger than clearing away rubble and disposing of wrecked cars, or basic disaster recovery like that.

"That..."

…

"What?" A foreman looks around from checking up on the welding team and gives me a wave. I wave back. "I'm here to illuminate your path. I can't do that if you can't form questions."

So stop a moment, think about what you want to ask. It doesn't matter how stupid the question sounds, you're here to learn.

"I don't-." She looks away. "I guess I'm just surprised, is all."

"About what?"

Oh, where to start...

"I just… Isn't there a.. plan..?"

"Of course. The architect overseeing the project is a man named-."

I don't think that's what she means, OL... of course there's a plan here, after all. But out there...

"No, no, I mean.. like…"

She gestures vaguely at our surroundings.

Ah, such a clear gesture. Good thing she's talking to an empath who can understand.

"The whole world?"

"Y-yeah. Does the Justice League have a plan?"

Really, the League are lucky they didn't get wiped by the Anti-Life too. This? well...

"To the best of my knowledge, the Justice League did not have a plan for repairing human civilisation from the level of damage it took due to exposure to the Anti-Life. What we're doing is a variant on League plans for smaller disasters. The problem with those plans is that they're premised on the idea that there'll be a functional government structure to hand things back over to at the end."

Which a lot of places don't really have right now. Sure, it's been months, but the wheels of governance move slowly.

"We've got a government."

I make a point of looking around. "Where?"

"I-. Coordinating?"

A national government that's struggling to manage anything outside of large cities is one that's troubled. State governments? Same issue - how to extend what services they can assemble. At this stage, local-level governments are the most stable.

"Not that I've noticed. Modern civilisation is a complex thing with many moving parts." I generate a construct of a complex network of gears and sprockets, and let it run for a few moments. "That has its advantages… So long as everything works." I reach out and grab one cog, and the whole thing slams to a halt. "There was a stage a few years ago where just about every microprocessor used in the West was made in one factory in Taiwan. What do you think happened when the Sheeda targetted shipping?"

A massive log-jam of tech shortages. Which means either learn to manufacture what you need closer to home or find some kind of alternative. Even hyper-cognitives can only do so much.

"One factory?"

I dismiss the construct. "It was a fairly large factory, but yes."

And incredibly profitable, I wouldn't wonder.

"Then no one could make anything that needed microprocessors."

"No one in the West could make anything that required microprocessors. And that's an extreme example, but… Do you know where the food you eat comes from?"

"Ah, our oranges come from Florida… Because they've got a sticker on… But, yeah, I don't know about the rest."

The joy of modern youth, with their processed foods and detachment from the source.

"I do. I have to. Usually the Justice League doesn't need to know where food comes from, because if an area produces its own food then that's one less problem. And if it doesn't, then food will need to be brought in, but setting up a collection point is something the county's own emergency response people can handle. But…"

The old saying, I believe, is something like 'Civilisation is only three square meals from anarchy.' Hungry people are angry people...

She nods. "Everything fell apart. Food wasn't getting moved around. It wasn't just about it not getting to one place… It wasn't getting anywhere."

"And we had to fix that. Except we didn't have the information which we needed in order to fix that. Which roads did we need to prioritise? Where were perishable items located? How about non-perishable? Because we couldn't just ask our regular suppliers to sort things out. Were any of the people who could tell us things we needed to know still alive?"

And there are always details no-one writes down, too. Fine tuned settings for individual machinery because every unit has its own quirks. Then you lose the person who knows those settings and suddenly it all stops working right.

I shrug.

"Yeah… The first month wasn't a lot of fun."

"Are we.. okay now?"

For a limited definition of 'okay', I guess?

"Food supply and conveyance is covered worldwide, yes. Long range transportation… Eh. We're focusing on land routes, so anything that you can get from the Americas is fine. Bulk food items from overseas are going to become increasingly rare until container shipping is back up and running… Or anti-gravity aircraft."

There's an image for you: Flying container ships...

"What about the portals?"

I shake my head. "Insufficient throughput."

"So why have you got so many here?"

Because Atlantis still isn't up to manufacturing extra Dolmen gates yet.

I rise into the air, and wait a moment for her to join me. It takes her a moment, and the plasma disk needs to be continuously replenished from her hands.

"This way."

I wonder if she could produce plasma from her feet? Or her thighs or biceps? Having to tie her hands up with generating it is very inefficient... Something for future training, perhaps.

We fly towards the main factory complex, which has been active for over a month now. It's not at full capacity yet… Or perhaps I should say 'it's not at full capacity right now'. Moving farm equipment into place at a gate site, moving the portal, bringing it through… It takes a while to reach full speed.

Since it takes time to move stuff through the gate and clear the other side, I suppsoe...

There was a plan to integrate the gates directly into the workshops, but I think that would have been a false economy. Particularly given the number of health care tourists coming to visit the genomorph clinic-.

"Why are all these people coming through?"

Ah, the very question OL was considering.

"The genomorphs developed a symbiote that significantly improves the health of anyone implanted with one. Most of them are getting one."

"How come?"

"Why do you think?"

Come now, Argent. It can't be that hard. Consider what you've learnt so far about all this...

"Health benefits..?" She blinks. "Because medicine isn't moving around. Because stuff only gets made in a few factories and it's not getting moved around either."

"We've managed to get to the stage where staples are being manufactured without needing to be shipped around the world. But there was a period where, for example, diabetics were having to manage their condition without insulin."

No easy task, and of course... Not everyone could achieve that.

Of course, the ones with the more serious forms of the condition didn't survive the Anti-Life.

"Even though it's weird, people don't want to have to depend on things that they can't guarantee will be there. Things they've experienced not being there."

A common sight in the wake of a disaster. People learn to conserve what they have, get what they need wherever they can and keep it out of other people's hands. Sometimes, that causes trouble...

"Is that Face?"

"Yep." I lead the way, landing besides him. "Face."

Since he's technically 'in costume', out come the pseudonyms.

He turns away from the crowd and towards us. "Orange Lantern."

"Argent, Face has been doing security duty all day, something I can leave to him because of the time he's spend doing that job in Aberrance. And your job is to work alongside him and learn what's involved. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

For the most part, she shouldn't have much trouble picking up the ropes...

Heh. OL leaving the rookies in charge for a bit. Now, by the laws of narrative Causality, that means they'll be fine for a bit, then when they're at their most relaxed, all hell will break loose...

Mr Zoat said:
September 27th, 2013
15:21 MST
Argent, right now

Ah, it'll be interesting to get a look inside her head.

It's not like I wanna stare at Ian's… Face, but… C'm on. A girl can only stare at a queue of people doing nothing for so long.

And then he notices. "Yeah?"

At least the folks queued are getting a bit of a show, seeing two capes up close.

Ah… Oh, he's got a badge on his belt. Ask about that.

I point to it. "Are you.. actually a police officer?"

I mean, he could well be deputised by the Hub City Police Department. It's a simple way to legitimise a vigilante's operations, though he'd he held to higher standards than someone not on the police's good side.

"Kind of." He goes back to watching the crowd.

"'cause I thought we all… Under eighteen? Hunter can't be more than fourteen and I think Toyman's, like, twelve."

Hiro, at least, can operate remotely via drones or mechanised avatars. And Tim is a wizard.

"Uh. I'm eighteen. Sort of."

"What'd you mean, 'sort of'?"

"I spend fourteen months in a coma after my accident. So I've only actually 'lived' seventeen years. Or bit less if you count the all time I was in hospital."

So legally eighteen, but not really feeling as mature as that implies.

"Oh." I thought-. Or he.. didn't actually say… "I just kinda assumed that Doctor Schadel started working on you right after, or… Nearly right after."

He snorts, which… Sounds all kinds a' weird. "Had you heard of him?"

Unless her dad is involved with Aberrance somehow, I doubt it.

"Ah… No."

"Neither had my parents. Neither had the doctors. Janus Senior had to find me. Them."

Interesting. I wonder why he went looking?

"Had did you-?" Maybe I shouldn't-. "I mean, are you okay talking about this?"

"Last year I'd have been boasting about it."

He does have a bit of an ego on him. Especially before the Anti-Life.

"It's just… I'm trying ta think of a way a car and a bunch a' shotgun shells could mess your head up so much that the doc had ta remove your head… And… Yeah, I could see it, but I don't see how your brain would make it through that in one piece."

"It didn't."

The human head is fairly durable in places. But parts of it... Not really designed to tank gunfire.

"… Oh. I mean… Did… Doctor Schadel fix that, too..?"

"The left and right sides of the brain copy a lot of stuff from each other. The Doc grew replacement parts, and… I don't think my personality changed all that much, and I was in a coma for a year."

He's lucky he can still speak at all, I suspect. There's probably a lot of heavy lifting being done by the Un-Men augmentations. Probably explains why OL couldn't just revert him to a more conventional humanoid form.

"Where is it?"

He reaches up and pats the skin between his shoulders. "There. It's… Well, they showed me a picture, and it looks different to a normal human brain. The other parts of my body aren't.. enough like normal human body parts for a normal brain to be able to handle them."

And there's likely a lot of reworking to allow him to operate without his braincase overheating, too. Biological heat-exhaust radiators, basically...

"Huh." And I nod, because that makes sense and I don't want to.. make him feel bad because he freaked me out. Uh, change the subject, change the subject… "And you joined the police?"

"Huh?"

I mean, he can breath fire - heat, really - and that's probably gotten stronger after he got upgraded. Better lung structure, for example, giving him better breathing control.

He looks around the crowds again. He doesn't look like all the people staring bother him. It-. Bothers me sometimes. But it happened while everyone else was Anti-Lifed, and then everyone I actually knew just kind of accepted it because they'd already seen it when they had bigger problems. Some living statues paint themselves silver… Maybe people think that's what I've done?

There's a big difference between a layer of paint and the skin itself having changed colour. But it's probably not obvious at a distance.

"The police. Your badge?"

"Oh. Well, Aberrance is build on land the Department of Energy used to own."

"How come?"

Ah, that's kind of complicated.

"Er… It's where they used to do nuclear testing. But they weren't using it when Damian Kane showed everyone what the army was doing with the second generation, so the Un-Men got given it."

"Isn't it radioactive?"

Something of a bribe to keep them pliable, I guess. 'Oh, sorry about abusing the freaks. Have some land in apology. Sorry, it's a little toxic.'

"Not really. Radiation doesn't stick around forever, and Un-Men are… Tough. The stuff Arcane did to make our bodies work at all tends to ignore things. I don't think any Un-Man has ever caught a normal disease. Damian Kane turned into cancer because the stuff that made his body work broke down, not because of radiation." He looks around the crowd again. "Anyway. Aberrance is in Nevada, but it's not really part of Nevada. It's like an Indian reservation, for us. Or like Disney World in Florida. Law's not the same."

And I assume there's been a lot of cleanup, which is why regular folks who aren't radiation-resistant are able to visit.

"So you are a policeman, or you're not?"

"I mean, legally, there's no real difference between park security and police. Uncorporation can make anyone they want a police officer. And… Because I was a metahuman anyway, there was a plan to… Make me the official superhero of Aberrance. So some strings got pulled and I'm technically a Special Agent of the Department of Energy."

Hence the badge. i assume if he ever gets full JLA clearance and authority, he can fit their badge on his belt in its place or alongside it.

"I didn't even know the Department of Energy had Special Agents?"

"I can't arrest anyone unless they're in Aberrance or they're stealing a nuke. And like I said, it's a technical thing. I'm not supposed to actually do anything with it, it's just supposed to make things legally easier when I'm out being a superhero."

And most of that authority is useless outside Aberrance, as noted. I suppose he could make a citizen's arrest, but that's always a little iffy legally.

"Can I get in on that?"

"Uh, you're not an Aberrance-resident or an Un-Man." Oh. "And… You'll probably get some sort of I.D. from the Justice League, and… That's gunna do way more than a badge that says I'm an agent as long as I don't try to be an agent."

Global clearances rather than a small provincial authority. Yeah, just a bit more power.

"I guess…" I don't actually know what powers the Justice League has. I kinda assumed that they just… Handed people over to the police, but I guess they are… Kind of official… But they don't have a jail or a prison, so I guess they just drag people somewhere..? I'll ask Orange Lantern when he comes back. "So are you actually..? Trained..?"

I mean, leaving them tied to a pole for the cops to find is traditional, though without clear evidence, they're not likely to stay arrested.

"Not fully. But this part's easy."

"What part?" I look around at the exact same crowds. "We're not doing anything."

You're existing. Sometimes the appearance of authority can be enough, especially if you're intimidating.

He shakes his torso. "We're not here to catch anyone doing anything. If we do, that's fine, but it's better if we don't."

"Huh?"

Pretty simple, really. They make a show of standing guard, so most people aren't going to act up with the obvious superheroes looking at them.

"We're here so anyone who might think of acting up doesn't. And to reassure people. You know, prevent crime. And maybe pose with the tourists."

"… Oh. So… We're just walking around?"

It's certainly a bit more approachable than flying about above them. That sends the wrong kind of message sometimes.

"Yeah, basically. You decided what you want your costume to look like yet?"

I sigh. Because I haven't. I don't know anything about armor, and I can't really hide who I am unless I wear something that covers me up completely. And them I'd just need to get a little tear and, oh look! The mysterious vigilante has silver skin! Who can they be?!

My other idea was just kind of a swimsuit thing, but that woulda made me look like a stripper.

Also harder to armour a leotard or swimsuit. Bare arms and/or legs also don't play well with tumbles on concrete or asphalt, nor do they help in cold weather. Unless you're so strong that tight clothes on your arms or legs would burst apart when you flex... Best to cover up.

"No. You?"

"I've got less area to work with. I can't cover my-" He gestures to his chest-face. "-face, and there's not a lot you can do with pants."

And wearing just sleeves on his upper body and arms would be just as weird looking.

"I guess you can't really wear body armor, either."

"I was thinking about getting a helmet, just because it would be funny."

How would he-? That-?

Probably something like this. With pants. ...Yeah, tokusatsu monsters can get weird.

"Yeah." He grins. "You're thinking about it now, aren't you?"

I chuckle. "Alright. Uh, so, other than walking around, is there anything we're supposed to be doing?"

Ah, see, now ypu're thinking like security. I hope you guys have radios to call in backup.

"Look out for anything odd. Anything that's unusual. People usually act odd when they're up to something. Not always, sometimes they're just had some bad news or something-"

I take another look at the crowd, and… Huh.

Ah, spotted something? Of course Narrative Causality kicks in...

"-and then-."

"A lot of them are wearing hats." He stops talking and takes another look himself. "Is that something I should watch out for, or is that common wherever the portal's going at the moment?"

...Oh dear. Are the hats in popular modern styles, at least?

Unless there's a millinery convention in town, I get the feeling Jervis Tetch is getting up to something. And the two rookies are gonna end up in the thick of it, by the looks of things. At least Argent has enough training with her construct shields to provide some protection for bystanders, while the Face can ward attackers off with his fire breath...

WereDragon · 2026-08-14T10:12:51+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Of course, the ones with the more serious forms of the condition didn't survive the Anti-Life.

Yeah, that makes sense. Being too depressed to do anything and needing multiple injections a day to live are not a good combination.

Mr Zoat said:
I'll ask Orange Lantern when he comes back.

Wise, brave and foolish all at once. Better brace for an in-depth presentation.

Steelplaza · 2026-08-14T12:53:30+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"It's just… I'm trying ta think of a way a car and a bunch a' shotgun shells could mess your head up so much that the doc had ta remove your head… And… Yeah, I could see it, but I don't see how your brain would make it through that in one piece."

What's the first thing you think of when someone has a traumatic injury to the head due to a shotgun-related "accident"? Suicide, obviously. It could be an accident, but far more likely to be suicide.

That would explain why Ian keeps changing his story. First it was a shotgun-related accident, then it was a car accident, then it was shotgun shells in a car? Yeah, c'mon. I can't prove it, but it seems pretty likely that Ian shot himself for typical early teen related reasons, but he doesn't want to admit it so he keeps coming up with different stories.

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

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