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

Reader mode
Shotiegun11 said:
Well this is the...third time? Or more?

Truggs as a lawyer, Demon matron at the massage parlor, and now Charlie.

I really hope this will wake the SI up and make his paranoia flair up so that he fully scans every person he talks to from now on. I don't care if other people would find it invasive.

Invasion of privacy? Unnecessary? I wouldn't care anymore after this happened a third time.
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And then people start printing Scry wards on every bit of produced clothing.
 
Vaermina said:
And then people start printing Scry wards on every bit of produced clothing.
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That in itself is a massive red flag that says, "I have something to hide."

They might just be a normal person overly concerned about their privacy, but in OL's line of work? With his past experiences? Incredibly fucking suspicious.
 
Lazurman said:
That in itself is a massive red flag that says, "I have something to hide."

They might just be a normal person overly concerned about their privacy, but in OL's line of work? With his past experiences? Incredibly fucking suspicious.
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Not really, because every shirt made will have one printed on it at the factory.

Hence the "every".
 
Vaermina said:
Not really, because every shirt made will have one printed on it at the factory.

Hence the "every".
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The SI will helpfully point out a mystical element of 'unknown' origin on a clothing brand and it will be shutdown HARD. The government would slam that down so fast. The Light would tip their hand about what influence they had in a company.

Plus, unless it was designed to completely protect a person from scrutiny, a shirt or pants would block a scan of the exposed head/hands.

edit: the missiles were protected because the casing, where the scry ward was, surrounded the missile.
 
Shotiegun11 said:
The SI will helpfully point out a mystical element of 'unknown' origin on a clothing brand and it will be shutdown HARD. The government would slam that down so fast. The Light would tip their hand about what influence they had in a company.

Plus, unless it was designed to completely protect a person from scrutiny, a shirt or pants would block a scan of the exposed head/hands.
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Except precedent was already set by the mass produced paperwork with the scry ward on it.
 
Vaermina said:
Except precedent was already set by the mass produced paperwork with the scry ward on it.
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Government wasn't/still isn't aware of that. The SI could easily cause a public outcry by mentioning a clothing brand is using magic on their customers. Which they are by selling them magic (scry warded) clothing without informing the customers.
 
Shotiegun11 said:
Government wasn't/still isn't aware of that. The SI could easily cause a public outcry by mentioning a clothing brand is using magic on their customers. Which they are by selling them magic (scry warded) clothing without informing the customers.
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The government that's using it totally wasn't aware of it.

Suuuuuuure. ;)
 
Buggy123 said:
Ah, yes, the... resources. The resources we shared. Those resources. You're... welcome?
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Pay no attention to the bot behind the curtain.

Maxx Crowley said:
What I'm puzzled about is, I had thought that after "Orange" Enlightenment, OL didn't have motivational problems. I can't help but feel that he's getting worn out by all this a little too easily.
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He doesn't have problems with balancing cross-motivations, because he always understands what his desires are. That doesn't mean he always has the emotional fortitude to force himself into the right mindset to make an orange ring work.
 
Guys from Gotham (part 17)
17th February
01:30 GMT -5

"Orange Lantern to Robin. In position."

I look around. He's either not here yet or has already left. Off-duty police officers are already being called in to deal with the situation throughout the city, but I'm not a priority. Which is fair enough; the stuff in here isn't easily weaponisable and no one is in danger. It'll probably be morning before a proper search can take place.

"So you're sure nothing was missing?"

"Nothing in the main warehouse. There might have been smaller items that I didn't get around to looking at."

Apophenia is seeing patterns where none exist. I don't remember the man's name, but I think it was the writer of Invincible who said… Something like… That while for a super powered criminal committing a crime their encounter with a superhero will be the most important thing that happens to them on that day, for the hero it's an annoying distraction from what it was that they wanted to be doing instead. If it's your city to protect and things start blowing up, you turn up and sort it out. But while it looks like a lot of similar things happening from your point of view, in reality-hello.

Part of the wall now has an empathic glow. Not a.. big part, but it's growing-.

Mud.

Ring, current location of Matthew Hagen?

Given Mr Hagen's nature, neither metahuman suppression collars or binding chains would work on him, so he's mostly kept separate from Belle Reve's other prisoners. His H-dial use is carefully monitored, but with a degree of humanity restored and Ted's research team in daily contact he hasn't demonstrated any sort of desire to act out.

Matthew Hagen remains in Belle Reve.

And I know that Ra's didn't like other people having access to Lazarus Pits. No League of Shadows member has reported anything like 'Clayface' being used by the organisation before, and Talia didn't know exactly what would happen. As far as I know, the only other person who knows how to make them is Nyssa, though I suppose there's no particular reason why Ra's couldn't have had other children before her who were also in on the secret.

Or this could be some sort of elemental… No, that would have made the rune stone light up. A mud person from some other source, or someone might have discovered the Lazarus process independently… I'll have to ask.

The area displaying an empathic resonance is creeping forward. Not as much of a resonance as a living person usually displays, though I don't have a great deal of experience in using this ability on a distributed intelligence. Or however clay people function. I deliberately turn away, looking around the area while directing the wraith to approach it from behind. I don't know how stretched it is, though I can probably grab it fast enough to stop it getting away.

Or… I know roughly what Mr Hagen's maximum speed is. I could just grab it along with the building around it and then just rebuild it afterwards. Or leave that for the locals. They have a supervillain civil repairs budget-. No, no. The best way to handle this is a civil conversation, but since I strongly doubt that whoever this is will listen and respond sensibly I'll let them get more of their bulk out before making a grab. I don't know exactly how much of their body needs to be in a place before that becomes the 'main' part and I don't want any disassociation incidents.

Master.

The wraith is behind an object doing an impression of a cleaning cart, the presence of a mortal soul clearly visible to its arcane senses. The clay person's arcane feel is off enough that the wraith's usual desire to consume appears to have been suppressed. Course plotted…

I turn to face the clay patch.

"Charlie, can we talk about this?"

It doesn't stop moving, but it does slow ever so slightly.

"Once I found out that you weren't who you claimed to be, there was basically no way for you to escape. Good work mimicking the cleaning trolley; Matthew Hagen still struggles to maintain the form of other objects for any length of time."

Now it stops.

"Look, I don't.. really derive any satisfaction from violence. Certainly not for its own sake. You've been spotted. Unless you've got a lot of additional abilities compared with the other clay person I've met, there's no way for you to escape. Please, surrender. If you're having a problem of some sort, I can help. We can help. If someone has some sort of hold on-."

And it's pulling back and go go go!

I thrust down the corridor, construct grabber already in motion as the main mass leaps towards the vents in the ceiling! There's a brown smear as I cut the clay mass in… Half? Maybe? I seal the struggling mass in a construct sphere even as I run a construct up into the ventilation system after it, passing by the squirming mass and sealing it in. Good work, me.

"Orange Lantern to Robin. It was another clay person. I have them contained. Please ask Batwoman if she's ever heard of such a thing during your next scheduled contact."

"Will do. You think they came from the same place?"

"I don't want to assume-" I'm not detecting any Lazarus chemicals, but I don't detect them in Mr Hagen either. "-but that's the first thing I'd check."

"Are you going to stick around there?"

"I kind of have to, now. Fortunately, they were a good deal more talkative than Mister Hagen when he first put in an appearance, so hopefully they won't mind having a conversation. Otherwise, now that Belle Reve knows how to contain a clay person I can drop them off there."

"On what charge?"

"Trespass. And it'll only be until we can calm things down enough to actually do an investigation and find out what happened to Mister Adelsen."

"Okay, I'll talk to Waller. You try getting something out of whoever they are."

"Will do. Orange Lantern out."

I pull the mud out of the ventilation shaft with an airtight shield and add it to the main ball, then create speaker constructs on the inside.

"I'm afraid that the police are a little busy at the moment. Could I persuade you to talk to me?"

The pressure on the interior surface of my construct decreases slightly, and a pair of glowing red eye holes appear.

"Can you actually talk like that?"

The eyes just stare for a moment, then a vague face appears in the mud around them. Still somewhat dim, emotion-wise. In fact, looking a little closer…

I don't.. think that's a person. Which means that this is either automated somehow, or… Or it voluntarily split itself and the intelligent part is somewhere else. Does it need the rest of its mass? Is it stuck at one size, or can it just absorb more mud? Mr Hagen wasn't terribly clear, Waller hasn't wanted to give him ideas by letting him practise and I haven't wanted to push it because he already suffers from mild alien body syndrome and I haven't wanted to make it worse.

But… The orange light does show some images, weak and pale imitations of what the full mind would show. And while the wards on this building are blocking my vision, if the rest of the mud person wants to escape they're going to have to leave that effect area. Alternatively, I could turn up my vision power all the way and try and burn out the wards. They're probably quite weak. I can't see Gotham splashing out on a high-tier magician after all; it's probably the default warding sigil etched onto light switches or something.

…

No. No.

I fly up and out of the building, gaining enough height that I can see around it easily. Then I wait and watch.
 
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Mr Zoat said:
Given Mr Hagen's nature, neither metahuman suppression collars of binding chains would work on him.
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Should be "collars or binding" not "of".


edit: also

Mr Zoat said:
"Once I found out that you weren't who you claimed to be, there was basically no way for you to escape. Good work mimicking the cleaning trolley: Matthew Hagen still struggles to maintain the for of other objects for any length of time."
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Should be "form of" not "for of".
 
Mr Zoat said:
"Orange Lantern to Robin. In position."

I look around. He's either not here yet or has already left. Off-duty police officers are already being called in to deal with the situation throughout the city, but I'm not a priority. Which is fair enough; the stuff in here isn't easily weaponisable and no one is in danger. It'll probably be morning before a proper search can take place.
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Seriously, Batman leaves town for a few hours, all hell breaks loose. Gotham City, everybody!

"So you're sure nothing was missing?"

"Nothing in the main warehouse. There might have been smaller items that I didn't get around to looking at."

Apophenia is seeing patterns where none exist. I don't remember the man's name, but I think it was the writer of Invincible who said… Something like… That while for a super powered criminal committing a crime their encounter with a superhero will be the most important thing that happens to them on that day, for the hero it's an annoying distraction from what it was that they wanted to be doing instead. If it's your city to protect and things start blowing up, you turn up and sort it out. But while it looks like a lot of similar things happening from your point of view, in reality-hello.
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"The day I graced your little village was the greatest day of your little life. But for me... It was Tuesday."

Part of the wall now has an empathic glow. Not a.. big part, but it's growing-.

Mud.

Ring, current location of Matthew Hagen?
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Oh, goddammit, another Clayface?

Given Mr Hagen's nature, neither metahuman suppression collars of binding chains would work on him, so he's mostly kept separate from Belle Reve's other prisoners. His H-dial use is carefully monitored, but with a degree of humanity restored and Ted's research team in daily contact he hasn't demonstrated any sort of desire to act out.

Matthew Hagen remains in Belle Reve.
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So, Basil Karlo, Preston Payne... Sondra Fuller has Kobra ties... So many Clays to pick from... Assuming that's even what this is.

And I know that Ra's didn't like other people having access to Lazarus Pits. No League of Shadows member has reported anything like 'Clayface' being used by the organisation before, and Talia didn't know exactly what would happen. As far as I know, the only other person who knows how to make them is Nyssa, though I suppose there's no particular reason why Ra's couldn't have had other children before her who were also in on the secret.

Or this could be some sort of elemental… No, that would have made the rune stone light up. A mud person from some other source, or someone might have discovered the Lazarus process independently… I'll have to ask.
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An Earth-aligned metahuman, perhaps?

The area displaying an empathic resonance is creeping forward. Not as much of a resonance as a living person usually displays, though I don't have a great deal of experience in using this ability on a distributed intelligence. Or however clay people function. I deliberately turn away, looking around the area while directing the wraith to approach it from behind. I don't know how stretched it is, though I can probably grab it fast enough to stop it getting away.

Or… I know roughly what Mr Hagen's maximum speed is. I could just grab it along with the building around it and then just rebuild it afterwards. Or leave that for the locals. They have a supervillain civil repairs budget-. No, no. The best way to handle this is a civil conversation, but since I strongly doubt that whoever this is will listen and respond sensibly I'll let them get more of their bulk out before making a grab. I don't know exactly how much of their body needs to be in a place before that become the 'main' part and I don't want any disassociation incidents.
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Ah, still hoping that rational discourse can settle things. Never change, OL.

Master.

The wraith is behind an object doing an impression of a cleaning cart, the presence of a mortal soul clearly visible to its arcane senses. The clay person's arcane feel is off enough that the wraith's usual desire to consume appears to have been suppressed. Course plotted…

I turn to face the clay patch.

"Charlie, can we talk about this?"
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"You're nicked, mate. Give it up."

It doesn't stop moving, but it does slow every so slightly.

"Once I found out that you weren't who you claimed to be, there was basically no way for you to escape. Good work mimicking the cleaning trolley: Matthew Hagen still struggles to maintain the for of other objects for any length of time."
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Huh, someone better at being Clayface than the first one.
Correction: 'the form of'

Now it stops.

"Look, I don't.. really derive any satisfaction from violence. Certainly not for its own sake. You've been spotted. Unless you've got a lot of additional abilities compared with the other clay person I've met, there's no way for you to escape. Please, surrender. If you're having a problem of some sort, I can help. We can help. If someone has some sort of hold on-."

And it's pulling back and go go go!
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Well, so much for being reasonable. They always try to run...

I thrust down the corridor, construct grabber already in motion as the main mass leaps towards the vents in the ceiling! There's a brown smear as I cut the clay mass in… Half? Maybe? I seal the struggling mass in a construct sphere even as I run a construct up into the ventilation system after it, passing by the squirming mass and sealing it in. Good work, me.

"Orange Lantern to Robin. It was another clay person. I have them contained. Please ask Batwoman if she's ever heard of such a thing during your next scheduled contact."
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I doubt Talia would know much about this... Especially if he/she/they was created after the Shadows' destruction.

"Will do. You think they came from the same place?"

"I don't want to assume-" I'm not detecting any Lazarus chemicals, but I don't detect them in Mr Hagen either. "-but that's the first thing I'd check."

"Are you going to stick around there?"
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Unless you want this guy running off...

"I kind of have to, now. Fortunately, they were a good deal more talkative than Mister Hagen when he first put in an appearance, so hopefully they won't mind having a conversation. Otherwise, now that Belle Reve knows how to contain a clay person I can drop them off there."

"On what charge?"

"Trespass. And it'll only be until we can calm things down enough to actually do an investigation and find out what happened to Mister Adelsen."
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Still hoping he turns up okay, eh?

"Okay, I'll talk to Waller. You try getting something out of whoever they are."

"Will do. Orange Lantern out."

I pull the mud out of the ventilation shaft with an airtight shield and add it to the main ball, then create speaker constructs on the inside.

"I'm afraid that the police are a little busy at the moment. Could I persuade you to talk to me?"
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Full recording, of course.

The pressure on the interior surface of my construct decreases slightly, and a pair of glowing red eye holes appear.

"Can you actually talk like that?"

The eyes just stare for a moment, then a vague face appears in the mud around them. Still somewhat dim, emotion-wise. In fact, looking a little closer…
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Oh, dear...

I don't.. think that's a person. Which means that this is either automated somehow, or… Or it voluntarily spit itself and the intelligent part is somewhere else. Does it need the rest of its mass? Is it stuck at one size, or can it just absorb more mud? Mr Hagen wasn't terribly clear, Waller hasn't wanted to give him ideas by letting him practice and I haven't wanted to push it because he already suffers from mild alien body syndrome and I haven't wanted to make it worse.
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Ugh, the joy of barely understood abilities.
Correction: 'voluntarily split itself'

But… The orange light does show some images, weak and pale imitations of what the full mind would show. And while the wards on this building are blocking my vision, if the rest of the mud person wants to escape they're going to have to leave that effect area. Alternately, I could turn up my vision power all the way and try and burn out the wards. They're probably quite weak. I can't see Gotham splashing out on a high-tier magician after all; it's probably the default warding sigil etched onto light switches or something.
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OL... Expediency does not outweigh respectability..

No. No.

I fly up and out of the building, gaining enough height that I can see around it easily. Then I wait and watch.
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Presumably you're also scanning underground routes.

Welp, that was peculiar. Let's hope this gets straightened out quickly, for the sake of OL's patience.
 
In the batman part of the DCAU, Clayface once spawned a 'scout' that became an independent intellect, taking the form of a little girl named Annie. Robin (Tim) ran into her wandering around. Actually one of the better episodes for drama and emotion, as she wants to live, and clayface wants to reabsorb her, with robin nearly snapping at the end.

If this is some other form of clay person scout, there might be something to ask the big dirt clod about.
 
Maxx Crowley said:
Nah.

What he really should do is just hunt down Vaermina-16, turn him into an orange construct, and then haul him around in his ring.

What I'm puzzled about is, I had thought that after "Orange" Enlightenment, OL didn't have motivational problems. I can't help but feel that he's getting worn out by all this a little too easily.



Well he IS still a human being, and people are not all knowing, all doing machines. As has been stated in the various chapters, it has been a rather long night, with OL getting quite fed up and tired of all this.
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I noticed that too. OL just seems a bit off.
 
Shotiegun11 said:
Government wasn't/still isn't aware of that. The SI could easily cause a public outcry by mentioning a clothing brand is using magic on their customers. Which they are by selling them magic (scry warded) clothing without informing the customers.
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Then inform the customers. If you're a villain, create a problem: say, sell a few pairs of mail order magic x-ray glasses / shades that let people see through clothes (and maybe walls?). Shouldn't be too hard to make, and would be a genuinely popular product with mass market appeal. Maybe just sell the instructions to make something like that from everyday materials, if you want to be lazy. Nothing illegal about selling those. Or just put them on the internet. Now, putting wards on walls is probably a bit too expensive for most organizations. So, how are women supposed to prevent peeping toms? By buying Scry warded clothes that prevent such devices from working. Or, if you want to use a shadier solution, buy magic ward stickers. Create a market as part of your evil plan.
Man, I think I've seen parts of this plot before?
Seriously though, it's an incredibly underregulated market with a lot of potentially unique products. Why aren't shady companies getting in on the magic revolution?
 
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Someguy Somewhere said:
In the batman part of the DCAU, Clayface once spawned a 'scout' that became an independent intellect, taking the form of a little girl named Annie. Robin (Tim) ran into her wandering around. Actually one of the better episodes for drama and emotion, as she wants to live, and clayface wants to reabsorb her, with robin nearly snapping at the end.

If this is some other form of clay person scout, there might be something to ask the big dirt clod about.
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Zoat might be taking inspiration from Cassius Payne, son of Clayfaces whose parts when separated become independent, and can even merge with people like a muddy Venom like Claything.

In Gotham Academy, Annie would have a cousin, Katherine Karlo. She pretended to be her roommate to go home for the holidays, she came back with a goldfish bowl to sleep in.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Regarding tomorrow's segment, I have checked it with the mods and got the okay, but I will remind you that discussing modern politics is still against the rules. Discussing historical politics is of course fine.
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Hear that, everyone? Rant in a Napoleonic context for the next bit.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Regarding tomorrow's segment, I have checked it with the mods and got the okay, but I will remind you that discussing modern politics is still against the rules. Discussing historical politics is of course fine.
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Oh we out here checking with mods beforehand now. Mm. Okay, I see you OP.

Who says they can't teach an old Zoat new tricks.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Regarding tomorrow's segment, I have checked it with the mods and got the okay, but I will remind you that discussing modern politics is still against the rules.
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So, does this mean we should be playing a round of "Guess the Hot Potato" to see if anyone can figure out exactly what the issue is in the next chapter is a potential Rule 8 topic?

Only one guess allowed per person allowed.
...
I'm going to go ahead and guess that is has to do with the new Clayfaces gender identity.
You know, for the extra Irony points if that ends up being what it is.

Will OL misgender the New!Clayface due to the nonstandard morphology, and any sexual organs being as malleable as clay, and variable between male, female, both, neither, and 'what is this I don't even' at any given moment? What happens if OL guesses incorrectly and uses the wrong pronoun?

Find out next chapter. Same Lantern Time, same Lantern Forum! (Well, fingers crossed about the same Lantern Forum part...)
 
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