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

Batman really has gone off the rocker hasn't he. I wonder if Batman will ever become like his old self again. Is there anyone who can pull him out of his current mindset?
 
Batman really has gone off the rocker hasn't he. I wonder if Batman will ever become like his old self again. Is there anyone who can pull him out of his current mindset?
The King Of New Genesis, Highfather.

I can see it now. OL drops Batman on the floor, and requests Highfather to restore what OL broke, in the same vein as restoring the assimilated constructs.
 
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I don't... Think so..?
I seem to recall that the Illustres tried to investigate the club or something like a long time ago, might have been while he was mixing with the magical british crowd or when he was looking for Constantine? And the answer for why he didn't continue is that he left it with Batman to investigate? Maybe Bats was too busy or the magic hindered the investigation? But it has been a long time, I might be misremembering too.
 
I don't... Think so..?
When the group was in Minions ultimately dealing with the Terror Thing, they say the group responsible is a secret sect of the Free Mason's. Rocket even mentions having faced a Morris Dancer assassin.
I then believe that in a Renegade chapter, the caligula club was referenced as a masonic organization that could survive easily by dropping their more heinous actions.

Its not an unreasonable assumption to think the Caligula Club was at least partly involved. And Batman was involved with getting Cornwall Boy's uncle out of The Tower. Its not impossible Batman found them out and took them down, but with how thorough we saw Grayven having to be, Batman doing it with no one the wiser seems almost impossible. Edit: had a reread and I somehow missed the Angels burning the club to the ground.
 
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I seem to recall that the Illustres tried to investigate the club or something like a long time ago, might have been while he was mixing with the magical british crowd or when he was looking for Constantine? And the answer for why he didn't continue is that he left it with Batman to investigate? Maybe Bats was too busy or the magic hindered the investigation? But it has been a long time, I might be misremembering too.
I think you're talking about the Tate Club.
 
Penal (part 4) New
16th October 2013
13:49 G.M.T.

From the observation deck I look over the dozens of rows of animation suspension tanks that it shouldn't surprise me that the Sivanas own. Most contain an OMAC, a few contain… What I suspect to be an OMAC part-way through reverting to whoever they were before they were changed. In addition to the four Darkstars -and I decide to restrain myself from hugging Jade- there are a couple of people I suspect were OMACs before they were changed back.

One is human. The other is a large yellow-skinned individual who resembles Mongul. I don't actually know what his species is called, but Mongul is super strong and super tough, and the record I have been able to access state that Mongul was overthrown in a violent revolution.

Thaddeus comes up alongside me. "It will take a while for us to process all of them. Georgia and I will be focusing on reverse engineering the machinery which converted them in the first place."

Georgia gives her brother a mild scowl. "I will be studying their connection to 'Brother Eye'. I'm hopeful that we can use it to infiltrate Batman's data architecture."

"Careful with that. He's using both power ring and New God technology."

They both grin. "We know." / "We know."

Jade finishes talking to the Monguloid and turns to look up at me. I raise my right hand in greeting, and she rises off the ground and flies towards me, halting on the other side of the railings.

"Illustres."

"Darkstar Senior Agent. Had a busy morning?"

She nods. "I should brief you. There's a room we can use one level up."

I nod and drift upwards, letting her take the lead… Ah, it's like the room Beautia and I occupied before I activated Mr. Atom Mark 2. Along the catwalk, through the door and into the workshop, Jade closing the door behind us.

She looks… Slightly awkward. "I know-."

I step forwards and kiss her, and I feel some of the tension leave her as she kisses me back. And then we stay standing there, with our arms wrapped around each other.

But… We do have to have a conversation about this, and I pull away.

"So… What happened?"

"We found out where Batman was getting his recruits. I didn't think that we should wait."

"You..? Found out after you left this morning?"

"Yes. And you said that you didn't want to be told what we were doing."

"I didn't, but it might have been useful to know before Batman sent me to investigate, and I had to pretend that I don't know what LEGION disintegration charges look like."

"We made it with Tuttle's technology, but…" She nods, eyes tightening slightly. "The yield is the same. I thought it would be best if it had a blast radius that everyone was familiar with."

"You're probably right, but I put records of all standard NEMO munitions in the League's database just in case we had anything they might find useful."

She nods. "So we might get found out."

"So he might call me in for an explanation. How close are we to needing to take direct action?"

"We did this morning."

"Are you..? Planning on doing it again right away? Because you have my support but I'd like-."

"Thank you."

"I'd like a little warning so I can work out what I'm going to tell everyone."

She thinks it over for a moment. "No. Not.. yet. I want to finish interviewing all the OMACs we captured, and then we'll need to find out how they ended up here. And then we'll have to follow up on that."

"Okay. But… If they're outside of his Sector… Do you want me to stick around for that?"

"Are they expecting you back?"

"I don't have any particular task assigned to me."

She regards me with mock-scepticism. "Myra can spare you?"

"Of all the people it's worth being jealous of, the poor woman responsible for governing Hub City isn't one of them." Ah… "Though.. since Beautia's research program is turning into a rollout, I might also be spending slightly more time-."

Jade shifts her weight to her right hip, raising her eyebrows.

"Time with her."

"Now why might you feel the need to warn me about that?"

"Because she's an attractive woman I went on a date with once." She nods. "And if you had flat out turned me down, I might-" I nod. "-well have considered dating her."

"I did flat out turn you down."

"No, you said 'not right now'. That was the best result I'd gotten from a woman."

"Oh?"

"Melinoë called me an idiot, Selina said I wasn't old enough and Donna implied that she might say yes if every other man was dead and there were no-." I frown. "What's the equivalent phrase to 'and there were no sheep' for women?"

"There isn't one."

"Maybe the Amazons have got one."

"At least Mom wasn't on the list." I nod. "I'm waiting for 'she wasn't'."

"Honestly didn't occur to me."

"Oh."

"But returning to the subject of work, what led you to realise that Batman's recruitment practices were a cause for concern?"

"We couldn't tell where they were coming from. They're supposed to be volunteers, but people don't exactly rush to get their minds erased. So we started looking for people who wouldn't be missed; homeless, prisoners, orphans, things like that. Finding Darren Blake was a fluke-." I frown. "Faceoff, was a fluke." Oh, that's what that feels like. "We managed to follow him to the facility where he was being transformed."

"He seemed to be himself."

"Mind editing is the last part of the process. We got him out before they got that far."

"Facility workers?"

"There might have been some originally, but it was all OMAC operated by the time we got there."

"Right." Hm. "I was preparing a meal for your team. Given the number of people you've recovered, I think I'll have to get back to it."

"I am a little hungry. And that'll give us time to do the census."

I nod. "I'll be interested to find out how the aliens are getting here."
 
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16th October 2013
13:49 G.M.T.


From the observation deck I look over the dozens of rows of animation suspension tanks that it shouldn't surprise me that the Sivanas own. Most contain an OMAC, a few contain… What I suspect to be an OMAC part-way through reverting to whoever they were before they were changed. In addition to the four Darkstars -and I decide to restrain myself from hugging Jade- there are a couple of people I suspect were OMACs before they were changed back.
I can't imagine the transformation process is entirely pleasant to be interrupted like that. Those ones may need some medical attention when you defrost them. But more importantly, all squad members are safe.

One is human. The other is a large yellow-skinned individual who resembles Mongul. I don't actually know what his species is called, but Mongul is super strong and super tough, and the record I have been able to access state that Mongul was overthrown in a violent revolution.
While I don't think the original species of the original Mongul was ever named, Earth-16 uses the species name of 'Warzoon.' Though that's more than likely made for the series. Whatever the originals were, they were definitely powerhouses.

Thaddeus comes up alongside me. "It will take a while for us to process all of them. Georgia and I will be focusing on reverse engineering the machinery which converted them in the first place."

Georgia gives her brother a mild scowl. "I will be studying their connection to 'Brother Eye'. I'm hopeful that we can use it to infiltrate Batman's data architecture."
Again, be very careful with that, as I expect Brother Eye will be very interested in who stole a bunch of Eye's personnel.

"Careful with that. He's using both power ring and New God technology."

They both grin. "We know." / "We know."
Oh, they are absolutely looking forwards to the challenge.

Jade finishes talking to the Monguloid and turns to look up at me. I raise my right hand in greeting, and she rises off the ground and flies towards me, halting on the other side of the railings.

"Illustres."

"Darkstar Senior Agent. Had a busy morning?"
Her team are no doubt sniggering amongst themselves at the mock formality.

She nods. "I should brief you. There's a room we can use one level up."

I nod and drift upwards, letting her take the lead… Ah, it's like the room Beautia and I occupied before I activated Mr. Atom Mark 2. Along the catwalk, through the door and into the workshop, Jade closing the door behind us.
Good. Private, armoured and probably shielded too. Just in case anything serious starts.

She looks… Slightly awkward. "I know-."

I step forwards and kiss her, and I feel some of the tension leave her as she kisses me back. And then we stay standing there, with our arms wrapped around each other.
Probably not the most comfortable moment, given the armours.

But… We do have to have a conversation about this, and I pull away.

"So… What happened?"
Please, be quick but detailed. There's probably unwanted attention looking at what they left behind even now.

"We found out where Batman was getting his recruits. I didn't think that we should wait."

"You..? Found out after you left this morning?"
That was quick. And evidently they did not like what they found.

"Yes. And you said that you didn't want to be told what we were doing."

"I didn't, but it might have been useful to know before Batman sent me to investigate, and I had to pretend that I don't know what LEGION disintegration charges look like."
Which might be a little hard to believe. Although OL didn't say anything about the possible weapons used...

"We made it with Tuttle's technology, but…" She nods, eyes tightening slightly. "The yield is the same. I thought it would be best if it had a blast radius that everyone was familiar with."

"You're probably right, but I put records of all standard NEMO munitions in the League's database just in case we had anything they might find useful."
...It won't be too hard for forensic teams to notice the specifics.

She nods. "So we might get found out."

"So he might call me in for an explanation. How close are we to needing to take direct action?"
Which might mean fighting Batman and Mister Atom, Brother Eye and an army of OMACs.

"We did this morning."

"Are you..? Planning on doing it again right away? Because you have my support but I'd like-."
Twice might be pushing their luck. This is an investigative stage, not a full-on subversion operation.

"Thank you."

"I'd like a little warning so I can work out what I'm going to tell everyone."
Especially the League members who are going to be very concerned why the unusual Lantern colours are fightign each other.

She thinks it over for a moment. "No. Not.. yet. I want to finish interviewing all the OMACs we captured, and then we'll need to find out how they ended up here. And then we'll have to follow up on that."

"Okay. But… If they're outside of his Sector… Do you want me to stick around for that?"
Especially the obvious alien. Warworld hasn't been near Earth yet, has it? So whatever species he is shouldn't have been in contact with Earth at all yet.

"Are they expecting you back?"

"I don't have any particular task assigned to me."
Since assisting Beautia seems to mostly involve heavy lifting, and they can manage that with a few burly lads and forklifts.

She regards me with mock-scepticism. "Myra can spare you?"

"Of all the people it's worth being jealous of, the poor woman responsible for governing Hub City isn't one of them." Ah… "Though.. since Beautia's research program is turning into a rollout, I might also be spending slightly more time-"
Well, at least he's being upfront about the possible distraction.

Jade shifts her weight to her right hip, raising her eyebrows.

"-time with her."

"Now why might you feel the need to warn me about that?"
...You have seen Beautia Sivana, right? So hot even the straight women and gay men tend to take a second look...

"Because she's an attractive woman I went on a date with once." She nods. "And if you had flat out turned me down, I might-" I nod. "-well have considered dating her."

"I did flat out turn you down."
Boy, that would have been an interesting alternative to see. Not really urgently, but someday.

"No, you said 'not right now'. That was the best result I'd gotten from a woman."

"Oh?"
Is that just in this universe, or..? 😅

"Melinoë called me an idiot, Selina said I wasn't old enough and Donna implied that she might say yes if every other man was dead and there were no-." I frown. "What's the equivalent phrase to 'and there were no sheep' for women?"

"There isn't one."
Not without invoking dirty jokes about white woman and pets... Could probably sub in something about things that run on batteries?

"Maybe the Amazons have got one."

"At least Mom wasn't on the list." I nod. "I'm waiting for 'she wasn't'."

"Honestly didn't occur to me."
...At least for this timeline. In one with a little more common sense...

"Oh."

"But returning to the subject of work, what led you to realise that Batman's recruitment practices were a cause for concern?"
I'm sure she's happy about that inside, but really, they do need to focus on work right now.

"We couldn't tell where they were coming from. They're supposed to be volunteers, but people don't exactly rush to get their minds erased. So we started looking for people who wouldn't be missed; homeless, prisoners, orphans, things like that. Finding Darren Blake was a fluke-." I frown. "Faceoff, was a fluke." Oh, that's what that feels like. "We managed to follow him to the facility where he was being transformed."
It's not often someone uses the 'real name first' gag on him.

"He seemed to be himself."

"Mind editing is the last part of the process. We got him out before they got that far."
Seems a bit risky. What if they find someone who can manage to break free while empowered before the mental layer is applied? Then again, with all OMAC empowerments being controlled by Brother Eye... I suppose that makes an acceptable safety mechanism.

"Facility workers?"

"There might have been some originally, but it was all OMAC operated by the time we got there."
Presumably because they can overcome tiredness and work much longer hours per shift.

"Right." Hm. "I was preparing a meal for your team. Given the number of people you've recovered, I think I'll have to get back to it."

"I am a little hungry. And that'll give us time to do the census."

I nod. "I'll be interested to find out how the aliens are getting here."
So run off a few dozen quick rounds of bacon, eggs and toast? Some of those folks are probably gonna be hungry...

And presumably they haven't even had a chance to consider the Sivana twins' little theory of how the mental modifications are being made. There's going to be a lot of questions asked of the captured prospective OMACs, I bet. Another issue will be how to undo the changes made, physical or mental and if the people altered will want them to be...
 
I'm guessing you aren't aware that Highfather is one of the few beings in DC comics that have a history of kicking the ass of the emotional entities.
If you're talking about that time he tried to get every ring, then I'll remind you that that's New 52, and Zoat dislikes that.
 
I don't... Think so..?
IIRC then during the chapters where Grayven dealt with the Caligula Club you gave a brief Word of God that Paul only vaguely remembered the club from the comics and he hadn't bothered to investigate because he thought it seemed too cartoonishly evil to possibly be real.
 
Oh, great. When this is over and all the forcibly conscripted OMACs are liberated, they'll probably all join up with Anarky's group, or whatever remains of it just to spite Crazy Steve.
I'm more worried about loss of trust in the Justice League leading to people flocking to Lex or other members of the Light.
 
The solution to all of this was for OL to explain his actual origin after the anti-life thing was handled, at least to Batman.
 
but Mongul is super strong and super tough, and the record I have been able to access state that Mongul was overthrown in a violent revolution.
Wasn' Mongul the being who enslaved Mother of Mercy? Flying abiut in some sort of massive city ship? Or did he resort to that because he was overthrown?

Also there is still the post I quoted about the double Euanthe-Ivy dialogue.
 
Wasn't Mongul the being who enslaved Mother of Mercy?
Yes.
Flying abiut in some sort of massive city ship?
I think you're thinking about the SI's encounter with Mongal.
Or did he resort to that because he was overthrown?
He built up the Dread Horde (canon DC name) because he was overthrown.
Also there is still the post I quoted about the double Euanthe-Ivy dialogue.
Uh, sorry, work decided to send me to set up a trade show stand despite the fact that I've never done that before. Ended up getting home a little late.
 
Psychoprompt (part 22) New
21st April 2258
13:56 G.M.T. -5

"Well-." Ugh. "Yes, in a military context-. Though there have been times when that hasn't been the case."

Mayan looks like she has a headache. "There have been times when senior officers have received commands from junior officers?"

"Yes. Uh. In the British context, groups of junior naval officers during the Age of Sail might stage a mutiny and turn pirate. The main period where I'm aware of something like that happening as an ongoing situation was in Japan during the early twentieth century, where-."

My ring blinks.

"Ah, excuse me." I raise my left hand to my ear and generate a handset. "Matthew Underwood."

"When you said… 'Whatever I can manage'… How fast can you-"

Scan.

Ah, I see. He's… Hiding in an underground car park, and it looks like police in the area are looking for someone.

"-pick me up-?"

Move.

Mayan and her room vanish, replaced by… A car park time forgot. I lay my right hand on Mr. Ironheart's shoulder and transition us into orbit.

His head jerks around, staring in shock! "What the fuck!"

"Mister Ironheart. Do you have it?"

He looks down at the planet slowly turning below us. "Eh-. How? Telekinetic flight is... Possible, but there's no record of anyone strong enough to actually pull it off."

"An elder species gave me a magic ring. The records?"

He nods jerkily, reaching into his jacket to pull out a data chip. "Everything I could get. They don't exactly keep the backups where anyone can reach them."

Scan.

Oh dear.

"Keep it, you'll likely need it later. And now that I've confirmed your affidavits, I will now tell you that Lyta is a guest of the Vorlon Empire."

"The.. Vorlons..? Because she scanned their ambassador?"

"That's what she gambled on, yes. I've got no idea what they've actually done with her."

He looks around again, his composure somewhat restored. "Can we be spotted here?"

"In theory, yet. But the normal spy satellites are actually closer to the planet than we are, and I'm not actually emitting much light."

"Are we going to your ship?"

"First place they'd look." Hm. "Alright, put the chip away, I've taken a copy. Our next stop is Babylon Five, because that's the one place I can speak to a vorlon without intruding on their territory again."

"No one who's gone into vorlon space has ever come back."

"I can ask the other ambassadors if they'll grant you asylum. Ambassador Delenn seemed quite reasonable when I spoke to her. You'd have to abandon your current identity… Honestly, you wouldn't be able to come back from there any more than you would from the Vorlon Empire-. Look, you were on the inside track, right?"

"Of what?"

"Psi Corps." He nods carefully. "How big is the telepath underground? I mean… Are a lot of people trying to avoid Psi Corps, or is it a small number, or what?"

"We don't know. Trying to avoid the Corps is a crime, so people doing that try to avoid detection. I can tell you about people we found who agreed to join the Corps, or who joined after the decided it was better than the telepath suppression drugs, but I have no idea how many there are in total." He frowns. "I am surprised that you think that the minbari would take me in."

"Minbari society is rigid, with everything in its place. Including the telepaths. Generally, minbari assume that they're regulated by their own superiors just like everyone else. There are a few jobs that require telepaths, but generally they're not treated differently to anyone else. That said, joining Minbari society is a lot like joining a monastic order, so it's not for everyone. You might be better off on one of their protectorate planets rather than an actual minbari world."

"I think-. Uh." He cringes, like he just had a stomach cramp-. And… Pale translucent bands of blue-white light run over his visible skin and clothing like a low quality nineties special effect.

"Are you alright?"

"No. Psi Corps' attempt to increase my power had certain… Side-effects."

Scan.

Huh.

"I could probably undo the changes to your body, if you wanted. I've got a copy of your pre-experiment medical data."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but I'm not a pilot either, and I fly pretty well."

"No, thank you. I would prefer to ride it out."

"As you wish. Ready to leave?"

He frowns. "Are you going to fly to the jump gate?"

"No, the jump gate has cameras, and there are a lot of ships in the area."

Set course. Good job Babylon 5 is closer to Earth than to the Vorlon Empire. And engage.

The stars blur around us.

Mr. Ironheart's eyes widen. "Faster than..? That's… Possible?"

"Yes. They are really quite advanced elder species. Two, one."

And there's Epsilon Eridani. Mr. Ironheart has another quick blue pulse, and then goes back to looking normal.

"So my plan is that I'm going to drop you off in my quarters and then try to get an audience with the ambassadors. Psi Corps is probably watching the space ports, but they're not going to be trying to look for you off Earth yet. That said…"

Fabricate and hack.

"Here's a fake identification card." I pass it to him. "It'll only work on Babylon Five, and only if they limit themselves to a quick scan."

"'Harvey Dent'?"

"I've got a theme going. To be clear, 'Harvey Dent' isn't a telepath, so don't read anyone's minds."

"I can't completely stop myself; no telepath can."

Synthesise.

A syringe of telepathy suppressant appears in my hand.

"I'm not sure what the glowing thing you're doing is about, but a lot of people live on Babylon Five. I'm fine with taking risks for myself, but I don't intend to put innocent people in danger, or cause unnecessary trouble for my allies. If you're telling me that you have yourself under control, fine. Otherwise…"

He nods, and takes the syringe, while I fly us towards the station.
 

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