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

27th December 2004
22:18 GMT -5

Yes, I suppose that I should have realised that Grayven 50 would have some sort of contact with the factions of Apokolips. On the other hand, Granny Goodness is wearing her default outfit and not any armour. But-. She's the faction leader. If I kill her, Grayven 50 can step into her place and take her resources. She might be willing to tolerate him at the moment but she doesn't work for him. Unless she.. thinks that he's a reasonable Darkseid stand-in? How loyal was she to Darkseid?

And the others? I'd rather rehabilitate the Kryptonian boy. That means that leaving Lashina alive gives me the best chance. She won't be happy if I kill the other Furies. On the other hand, is there any real way out of this that doesn't involve killing Grayven?

No. No there isn't.

Stompa leaps through the boom tube as Granny Goodness steps aside, angling her feet at Rayner. He evades easily, then robotic arm construct which grabs her and throws her at Mad Harriet, knocking the lunatic off her feet. Lashina comes through next-.

Grayven 50 returns his attention to me, his eyes glowing again. I drop a bucket on his head and then create jet engine constructs and blast myself across the room. Weak blaster shots pitter patter off my construct armour, and I intercept a ribbon from Lashina with the Sword of the Fallen. She tries to bind my weapon but her whip fails to entangle it before it slices the ribbon in two. She scowls under her mask and leaps at me with her severed weapon held between both hands so I slam a pile driver construct into her abdomen and shove her back.

Granny Goodness spots where I'm heading just fast enough to turn away and scramble for cover, but not fast enough to actually get away. I strike her in the back with a smile on my face, only my right arm wrapping around her shoulders preventing the impact from sending her flying. Seize the Initiative.

"Granny-." So Grows-.

I draw the Sword of the Fallen with my left hand and slash it across her throat, blood spurting across the deck as her arteries are severed. I'm not sure whether wounds from the Sword will kill New Gods outright or just prevent regeneration, but that should do it in either case. I release her and cancel my jet construct, allowing her soon-to-be corpse to slam into the wall as I use my ring to absorb my momentum. She ragdolls, blood still spilling from the wound as her left hand tries to grip her throat and her right-.

I dart towards her and grab her Father Box before she can call up a new boom tube. Mine Now. Then I grab her by the hair and hold her up.

"Now-!"
Unwilling Servant [subverts] Seize the Initiative.
The omega beam from Grayven 50 hits her in the chest. Her body explodes, though fortunately for me it's a clean explosion without any of that unpleasant goo-splatter.

"Granny!" ˥ǝssous ˥ǝɐɹuǝp.

Lashina's distraction allows Barda to get a solid hit to the top of her head, knocking her to the ground. Stompa and Mad Harriet appear somewhat discomported, while Bernadeth's too busy dodging Rayner's strikes to pay it any attention. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that Grayven 50 did that. We did both agree that she needed to die, and he did prevent me from showing off. On the other hand, he just acted against a member of the group the Furies belong to. He'll have a harder time getting them under control.

Whatever. I take a replacement daiklave out of subspace while frantically transmuting and x-ionising a series of metal darts just a little smaller than the eye openings of Grayven 50's armour. Then I march towards him. Unstoppable Advance.

His eyes glow and I grab a console, ripping it from the deck as I pass. The omega beams lance out and I move to interpose-. The beams slalom around to my left before darting back in, and I'm forced to dash forward to avoid being struck by them. They curve back around, but this time I just throw the console at them too quickly for Grayven 50 to redirect. I accelerate as the blast wave passes me.

"Hm." I Stand Inviolate.

Grayven 50's eyes glow again and I raise my right arm, forming a coilgun and loading an x-ionised dart. Track, aim for the left eye, fire!

The red light seeping from his helmet flares slightly just before the dart hits home, but he-

"Agh!"

-staggers anyway, his right hand instinctively rising to shield his injured eye and incidentally blocking my shot at his other eye. No matter. Three paces, two paces-

He drops his hand and one-eye omega beams me, striking me in the chest. "I will strike you down!"

Aaaaaaaaaaagggghhh! The pain is-. My armour smoulders and my ring flickers, but I can't stop! Grayven 50 takes a step back as I keep coming, his eye glowing-

"I will make your power mine!" "Your power will become mine!"

-another coilgun shot forces him to look away! I swing my daiklave across, biting into the right side of his helmet and knocking him off his feet! The helmet has a vicious tear in it where the daiklave hit -not enough, not unless he stops moving entirely, but I'll take it- and he's a little slow in rolling to his feet.

He gives me a one-eyed glare. Not By Strength,-

Something.. changes…

I duck, and the radion beam goes over my head. Who-? I look in the direction it came from and just catch the muzzle of a radion beamer poking through a hush tube. Given how brutal we are there are only so many New Gods who could pull that off-. Kanto.

-By Guile.

Orange light leaps out but the gun is withdrawn and the tube closes before it can penetrate. Great, my chest is still burning from the omega beam, my rib bones are.. humming, breathing hurts, and now this arsehole can make attacks of opportunity. And that wasn't a knockoff weapon like the thanagarians were using. The version used by Darkseid's personal assassin probably would punch through my ring-based defences.

No.

I swing my daiklave at Grayven 50 but he slams his right hand onto the floor, causing his whole body to leap off the deck and back to his feet.

How do I persuade Kanto to stop? Convince him that he's wasting his time on a lost cause?

I maintain two gun constructs, one loaded with darts and the other a cold gun. A freeze shot to Grayven's head probably won't kill him, but it will hurt. Rather than risk him wrecking my backup daiklave I keep it moving, swinging it in his direction. He's forced to assume a boxer's stance, his gauntlets up and ready to block serious shots as he backs up. I step forward a little quicker than he's expecting, blade slicing through his left guard. He retaliates immediately, right fist swinging at the flat of the blade -I pull it back- and then he surges forward, body checking me and pushing my daiklave aside. This close it's useless so I drop it, can't reach the Sword-.

His right eye glows next to my face as my ring and aero-discs struggle to keep me upright! Can't get the dart gun in place, but the cold gun-! I can't get a decent grip on him but I yank him left as best I can while tilting my head right-!

The cold beam hits his left eye hole, the beam continuing to pour on as he tries to maintain his focus-.

"Ruuuuuugh!"

He loosens his grip, pushing me back as he turns his head away. The omega beam leaps out a moment later, but he targets my construct rather than anything vital. It's destroyed, but now I can bring my hands up. I grab the Sword of the Fallen and swing it at the crack in the side of his helmet-.

And a blur in black armour punts me across the room!