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

Ngamer11 · 2026-08-20T06:23:32+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Sort of. Zeta tubes have build-in systems to detect mental alterations, and several Justice League members can detect things like that with their own abilities. And several Justice League members have learned techniques which make controlling their minds difficult. But just as for every form of attack there is a perfect defence, for every form of defence there is a perfect attack. And, of course, a technology or technique which is limited to a handful of people can't protect the entire world."

That should say 'built'.

Mr Zoat said:
"Who's your favourite Sivana?"

"Beautia."

Well, she's not Power Girl, but she's not far off I suppose. "Puberty hitting you already?"

Hopefully he won't be making fembots of women he knows/are aware of nor make x-ray goggles.

Mr Zoat said:
"Zatanna told us about how you freed her father."

She-? I mean, I haven't asked her recently how she feels about it. I don't see any reason to constantly bring it up. On the other hand…

"In what context?"

"What I should do if I don't think that what I have been told to do is right."

"To b clear, I'm pretty sure I could have handled that whole thing better. And I think that's a.. bit heavy for your first week."

"I don't think that she gave me every detail. She just wanted to be sure that I would not just do whatever someone from the League told me to do just because they were a member of the League."

I didn't expect Zatanna to share that info to the trainees. Though I suppose it's the best example of not being completely obedient to members of the Justice League just because they're a member of the Justice League. Also, that should say 'be'.

Mr Zoat said:
"There is… One thing. The crystal used in the hypnosis array. That is not unique, but it is not how it is usually done. And it is not an approach he has used before. It may be worth investigating."

"No. I already know where he learned about that." I take a rune stone out of a pouch and move it closer to a hat. It glows faintly when it gets closer to the crystal.

"Magic?"

"Just a touch, to keep the whole thing going. A little magic added to something that nearly works can make it actually work, and that's usually far easier than making the whole thing purely magical."

Oh, Lonnie. What are you doing now?

I really hope Paul finally nabs them before they do something irreversible.

Z000 · 2026-08-20T06:32:31+0100

Darko said:
Why do I feel that this is foreshadowing Batman giving a bad order.

Zoat already said that Bat and Paul gonna have a falling out

either it already happen with the Yellow Ring incident or it gonna happen eventually cause Bat is currently going full crazy control freak

GhostKing 666 · 2026-08-20T07:00:17+0100

Vaermina said:
Hell, remember in the new movie when the Vorlons destroyed Earth by throwing the moon at it?

And that's still sandbagging compared to shooting Earth with their planet killer, moving the planet into hyperspace or detonating the sun, all of which the Vorlons(or any First One) could do.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-08-20T07:32:44+0100

Mr Zoat said:
27th September 2013
19:22 GMT -5

"Recognized, D zero one, Toyman."

Hiro strolls out of the construct zeta tube with his hands in his pockets, hesitating briefly when he notices that it is a construct and he hasn't come to one of the normal exits.

Called in to inspect the Hatter tech, of course. Though it shouldn't take him long to confirm if it is Tetch's work, especially with OL there to provide information and insight. So plenty of time to talk...

"Ah. Convenient." He makes eye contact with me. "You have the hats?"

I gesture to the work bench where the baseball hats sit, along with the tools necessary to dissect them. Hiro nods and walks closer, activating something in his coat to tighten the loose sleeves and run a sterilising field over his gloves.

Well, that's clever. No need to dump his jacket or change cloves. They're probably armoured and enhanced as well...

"Have you done an analysis yourself?"

"Yes, but I don't necessarily understand what I'm looking at. My results are on the system."

I assume he mostly did a comparison to Tetch's known designs and spotted unusual elements, hence Hiro's arrival.

He lowers his goggles and links them to the workshop's system. "Ah. What am I looking for?"

"Anything that might help us locate whoever built them. Any potential long term harm to the people exposed to it. Possible countermeasures and detection techniques."

He calls up an exploded view and starts examining a hat. "Does the League not already have those?"

For the basic designs, yes, but malign hypercognitives are always developing new tricks and quirks that change the rules...

"Sort of. Zeta tubes have build-in systems to detect mental alterations, and several Justice League members can detect things like that with their own abilities. And several Justice League members have learned techniques which make controlling their minds difficult. But just as for every form of attack there is a perfect defence, for every form of defence there is a perfect attack. And, of course, a technology or technique which is limited to a handful of people can't protect the entire world."

Plus there's always something new turning up that they never thought was possible, or went via a route they haven't covered.

He magnifies the ward. "Is this an ofuda?"

"Something like that. It's intended to channel just enough magic to hide from power ring scans. It also causes the object to be hidden from certain forms of magic detection, but that isn't why it's become popular recently."

Similar principle. Frustrating that whoever made it was able to do it in such a mass-produbeable way.

"I do not know magic. Is Hunter coming, too?"

"It's late at night in Britain. I've left him a note, but as far as I can tell it's completely standard. Tetch isn't a magician either."

But he is working with at least one person who knows some magic.

"Do you know that it was made by the Mad Hatter?"

"Technically, no, but there are skin cells in there that match his D.N.A. so it seems like a safe bet. Plus it's a mind control hat. I'm not ignoring the possibility that it was someone else, it's just that it almost certainly was him."

A copycat isn't out of the question, but that's overcomplicating matters. Better to apply Occam's Razor.

"Mm."

"Should I leave you to it, or do you want someone to be impressed by your brilliance?"

"Do you know someone intelligent enough to understand it?"

Certainly, OL can fake it, but as he said, there are details he's not knowledgable about.

"Who's your favourite Sivana?"

"Beautia."

For obvious reasons, of course, but she is still a Sivana-level genius.

Well, she's not Power Girl, but she's not far off I suppose. "Puberty hitting you already?"

"I like to be prepared. And the Justice League files on Georgia and Thaddeus Junior say that they are spending most of their time off-planet. Were you going to offer them a place here?"

...Oh, he totally has a gynoid frame concept ready to modify, doesn't he?

"Oh goodness me, no. They've de facto joined NEMO, and that's probably the best place for them."

"But not for me?"

I really don't want to imagine what he coudl do with NEMO's advanced technology.

"You could just have bunkered up when the Anti-Life Broadcast happened. And you could have nuked Washington. You didn't. While I'd rather have given you a few years before approaching you… You'd already effectively joined the community. It made more sense to offer you support and guidance than expect you to go back to what you were doing before."

Better to get him trained and properly mentored before he falls into more villainous pursuits.

"I thought that we were selected by Batman."

"You were, but we could still have refused to teach you if we felt strongly enough about it."

"You don't follow Batman's orders?"

It's more that Batman generally knows what orders OL will follow because they align with his desires and which ones he'll loophole his way around.

"Depends what you mean. This is a voluntary association, not an army. Batman isn't my commanding officer in the sense that I've sworn to follow the orders of my duly designated superiors. I follow his orders because of the personal respect I have for his abilities and accomplishments. I can't think of a situation that's likely to occur where I'd disobey his orders in the field, but if he was the sort of person to give unconscionable orders then I wouldn't be here. And he probably wouldn't be here."

If it came to blows, that would get messy. Two Lanterns of adjacent colours can make a real mess.

"But if it did, you would."

"In theory. I'd probably ask for an explanation rather than outright refusing… And then check him for mental contamination."

And promptly reach out to alert the other League members as soon as you can get out of his range.

"Zatanna told us about how you freed her father."

She-? I mean, I haven't asked her recently how she feels about it. I don't see any reason to constantly bring it up. On the other hand…

It was a big thing to her. Though I have to wonder how much she told him...

"In what context?"

"What I should do if I don't think that what I have been told to do is right."

"To b clear, I'm pretty sure I could have handled that whole thing better. And I think that's a.. bit heavy for your first week."

Watch him bring it up next week.

"I don't think that she gave me every detail. She just wanted to be sure that I would not just do whatever someone from the League told me to do just because they were a member of the League."

"That sort of situation is very rare. Because again, if it wasn't, I wouldn't be here now. So… Did you want to talk about that while you work?"

The whole Nabu situation was a fustercluck of poor communication. Especially on the League's part...

"No, I'm done." He deactivates the hologram and steps back. "The device is essentially combines Mad Hatter's normal mind control with a more conventional sonic hypnosis device. But that is a technology that other criminals have used before. Someone who has a hat placed on their head should have a few seconds to remove it before the hat is in full control, but wearing any sort of helmet would work to block the control system. The components are either generic or custom made, and there are no recent thefts of such components on the League's database."

So either Tetch had a stockpile somewhere or his allies have access to manufacturing systems.

"He either bought them legitimately, salvaged them from things no one is complaining about, or made them himself."

"Yes. You understand correctly."

I like that Hiro enjoys that. He's probably used to being the smartest kid in the room and thus assumes everyone else isn't going to keep up.

"Guess we'll have to wait for the police to type up their interviews, then. Thank you."

"There is… One thing. The crystal used in the hypnosis array. That is not unique, but it is not how it is usually done. And it is not an approach he has used before. It may be worth investigating."

Going outside his usual tech wheelhouse? I'll bet Anarky had a hand in it.

"No. I already know where he learned about that." I take a rune stone out of a pouch and move it closer to a hat. It glows faintly when it gets closer to the crystal.

"Magic?"

Wonder if the new kids will be getting some rune stones for their equipment? they're not that complex to make and Zatanna could empower them if they require a caster to make.

"Just a touch, to keep the whole thing going. A little magic added to something that nearly works can make it actually work, and that's usually far easier than making the whole thing purely magical."

Oh, Lonnie. What are you doing now?

Using the magic to grease the wheels of physics to allow edge cases to function? Sneaky, sneaky.

So the Illuminati members worked together on the hats. It's fortunate they don't have more exotic hypercognitives involved... That we know of, anyway. We still don't know what they were using the hat guys for, outside of possibly acquiring a genomorph symbiont. The frustrating part of following a trail of bread-crumbs...

Mr Zoat · 2026-08-20T08:26:18+0100

Darko said:
"built-in"

Ngamer11 said:
Also, that should say 'be'.

Thank you, corrected.

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

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