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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. Threadmarks: Duplication (part 23)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Early spring, 2280
    Mid-day


    The Sky Walkers are not expansionist.

    And not just because the Desert Rangers were seriously considering making us 'extinct raider group number three' prior to my takeover. Not just because we share a border with the largest civilised successor state in North America. And not just because Mr House had a plan to overrun us with telepath-immune Military Protectrons and give our territory to the Great Khans in exchange for their help against the Legion. And not just because of the White Legs on our other border, and their growing alliance with the Legion.

    The Rangers were manageable. While it was generous of them to absorb the Vipers and Jackals rather than exterminating them, the survivors weren't strongly committed to the cause. The Whisperers actually had what might generously be described as a mutual defence pact with both groups in order to prevent the Rangers doing exactly what they ended up doing and eliminating them one by one. A few lorry loads of guns in the right hands and their supply lines would have been unmanageable. A few barrels of incendiaries and their food supplies would have gone up in smoke.

    The NCR weren't manageable, but they weren't focusing on us and there was no obvious reason for them to start. They were happy to use us as a threat to the tribal nations they were hoping to voluntarily annex, or as a road bump for the White Legs or Eighties once they finished fighting the nations to the west. And frankly, when you're telepathic, the fact that you only have to mind control one man to stop a robot army makes it far easier to deal with than a great mass of people with their own motives and desires.

    The Whisperers weren't expansionist because they had everything they wanted right here, and believed that once they uncovered enough of the zetans' technology they would be unstoppable. Why waste time and blood capturing territory the hard way now when you could get it easily later? They raided some of the smaller nearby settlements more to make sure that potential attackers remained on the defensive than to acquire resources.

    My reasons aren't all that dissimilar. Why expand when we have the resources we need to sustain ourselves? Why expand when I have no desire to rule anything outside of this research institute? Lend the Desert Rangers telepathic interrogators, offer the NCR the aid of our air force and intelligence network, sell technology to Mr House at a discount… Security by diplomacy.

    And if we don't keep our allies fully informed on the exact level of our military strength…

    Well, look, Left, I said I knew him. I didn't say I fucked him.

    I can't teleport, but I don't bother with the stairs as I reach the balcony. Instead I jump-

    Shit, the sky's turning red and I don't think it's a dust storm this time.

    -and slow my fall with telekinesis. Soldiers and Acolytes are moving to their stations, civilians are moving to the shelters and **with my mind's ear I can hear the subtle hum of the Dream Twisting revving up** as I run towards the command post.

    Our neighbours know that we have a small and professional military. They know that we have advanced aircraft, even if they don’t know their precise capabilities. But they also know that we don't have tanks or APCs, that the vast majority of our vehicles are civilian and that most of our recent building efforts have been focused on schools, research laboratories and civilian workshops, most likely with a view to us eventually joining the NCR. They know that we don’t have pre-war missile silos and aren't building nuclear weapons or missile launchers. They know that we can defend ourselves and could create a nuisance, but they don't feel actively threatened.

    As far as the NCR are concerned, the Dream Twister is a telepathic amplifier. Which it… Technically is. They don't know that it functions as a strategic telepathic weapon that can turn the inhabitants of entire towns insane. Turn them into feral savages, cause aneurisms, wipe memories completely… We took a part of the designs from the alien mothership, and the rest from our studies of our own abilities. We've never used it at full power and frankly I've never wanted to-.

    "Mister Krono!" I look around as Ambassador Granger and his bodyguard run in my direction. "You know what the hell that is?!"

    I fish out the power ring on my necklace, showing him the glow.

    "Aliens?"

    I half-stumble as **the observers share their perceptions, a four dimensional model of the sky appearing in my mind.**

    "It's a distinct possibility, Ambassador. You really should get to a shelter."

    He **knows that he should**, but he's been on the fence on the authenticity of this whole 'alien' thing and he'd quite like to clear it up so that he can stop qualifying his reports. **And he also wants to be present personally to see how we respond to attacks**.

    "I'll get to cover when the shooting starts, don't you worry."

    "I don't want to have to explain to President-."

    I jerk my head upwards as the sky buckles, a rainbow of lights shining from a point towards-.

    And then the sky bends back, a single small figure plummeting to the Earth.

    I run.

    President Anderson may have been evil, but I can't deny the brilliance of the man who actually managed to make FEV work properly. My enhanced muscles combined with my telekinesis allow me to dash across the compound in seconds, to leap over the guards gathered at the forwards muster point, vault over the front gate and head out across the recently planted farmland. A second later I realise that Goris is with me **as I reach up with my telekinetic force in an attempt to catch the falling figure**. At this distance-.

    **My Acolytes realise what I'm doing and join me, our combined efforts slowing the figure's fall and pulling them towards us**. A medical team is already leaping in a van and they'll be with.. us…

    The figure is a dwarf with blue skin. They're not close enough for me to pick out any details yet, but-.

    **Our telekinetic grip** breaks as they suddenly shine with golden light, orientating themselves relative to the ground and looking-.

    That's a Guardian. But the hair-. Krona! And he's using a Sinestro Corps ring!

    His eyes widen slightly as he sees and.. somehow recognises me. Was he the one who-?

    "You. Of course it's another you."

    His right hand glows with golden light.

    "And your power ring is as dead as you'll soon be."

    **One target, full intensity, activate.**

    The thing about being on the edge of a Dream Twister activation is that you don't experience the full effect. Obviously. Because if you did then you'd probably die along with the target. But you can.. tell that you're on the edge of something very nasty. As it is I'm close enough to see the exact point where Krona's eyes burst and his brain cooks off, his skull burning and contents fizzing as the liquid within superheats. His rings dim at once, and his body spins as it falls through the air into the western tato patch.

    **Deactivate.**

    I lean forwards to begin sprinting again, only for Goris to lay a claw on my shoulder and press me back. He then sprints towards the body, and-. Yes, okay, community leader, I shouldn't handle every dangerous situation personally.

    "Goris?!"

    "It is dead. It doesn't smell human."

    "The rings?"

    "All but one are damaged. Are they dangerous?"

    "If they haven't exploded then they're not going to."

    "Do you know what that was?"

    "Specifically? No. But I think that's one of the species who made the ring that brought me here." I smile thoughtfully. "Pick up the remains. We'll hand him over to the biomancers."

    "And the ring?"

    "That… I'm going to have to think about."
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2020
  2. Fellow

    Fellow Know what you're doing yet?

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    Wow... Was expecting a bit more of a fight.
     
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  3. l---erddad---l

    l---erddad---l Wait, google can see this?

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    Probably has a lantern in subspace, right? If that's true, it's just a question of Willpower or Avarice.
     
  4. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    Don't think about it! Do it to it! Have the will!
     
  5. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'once' not 'one'

    'A second' not 'I second'

    The Paul's got lucky that he ended up in a universe where there was someone there to kill him, because it certainly didn't nullify his ring powers and the potential for him coming back to do whatever it is he does to gain more knowledge.
     
  6. thebishop8

    thebishop8 Umm, ackchyually...

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    Change "make" to "makes" and "that" to "than".
     
  7. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    Since Guardians are telepathic, or just in general?

    I'd say this was a case of overconfidence.

    He looked at him and thought "Mortal gnat, you are no threat to me" and boom, got sucker punched by something that if he had bothered to prepare, probably wouldn't have worked against him.

    Pride is the worse sin, because it affects judgement, makes one pay less attention to reality in favor of opinion.
     
  8. varoksa

    varoksa Getting sticky.

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    This SI doesnt feel like a real Telepath to me, real telepaths are bald and go on long monologues.
     
  9. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    That ring should potentially greatly help this version, especially if it has a lantern in subspace and a database.

    Psychic powers are good and all, but few things beat a power ring.
     
  10. Queshire

    Queshire Not too sore, are you?

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    RIP.

    Honestly that's more satisfying than if he lived. Sure, it means missing out on all those juicy, juicy tech secrets locked in that bobblehead of his, but it also means avoiding the sudden yet inevitable betrayal.
     
  11. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    You have psychic powers and a working FEV virus! Next step you need golden armour! unify Terra!

    Take the ring!
     
  12. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Only way he's actually dead is if Zoat nerfed him to the point he might as well be a different character.
     
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  13. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Why expand when you can simply absorb? The greatest victory over a foe is to make that foe part of you without violence. And Krono's doing that, slowly.

    And all this comes from the Old World Blues mod? Man, You must have to be sharp to not get shanked by one faction while holding off another.

    One misguided 'hero' doing what they think is right, and bam, entire peoples die...

    Never mind the advanced alien attack ships. Or the telekinetic enhancers. Or any other workable alien tech laying around in the site's vaults.

    Protecting their borders through fear of a superior power? A little obnoxious, but I suppose it's better than having to kill off warbands making foolish raids.

    What they know can't hurt them. Or rather, won't hurt them unless they earn it...

    Not quite Danner Formula strong, but it's impressive.

    Ah, the best kind of weapon. The kind that makes an intimidating hum as it charges up. Too bad it has no barrel to ominously glow in the foe's face as they look down it.:cool:

    So this could be bad if anyone's watching the big guns fire off.

    Twister is right. Yowza. But, given what might be coming, it's going to be very useful...

    Given that the ring is apparently dead, or at least ticking along on unusuable charge, the fact it's glowing is ominous...

    Might get a bit awkward if the ambassador gets splattered by accident by something big and scary.

    Ah, he wants to sticky-beak. I get the feeling he doesn't think you're being completely honest with him. Who'd thought?:rolleyes:

    I suspect Krono wants as little to do with the 'president' as he has to...

    Huh, it IS Krona, speeding along at the speed of White.

    So, perfected FEV is basically the Erskine formula? Or a post-natal version of the Danner formula.

    That should enough for Krono to immediately [Worry]. I mean, sure, it's clearly a Guardian, but... They're not always good guys.

    His evaluation is a little off, but yes, [Worry] just became [Concern].

    Ah, he wants a little petty revenge, even though this Paul had nothing to do with anything that happened to him.

    Looks like he's dropped all his defences to squash a bug. In that case, this...

    ...Should be quite effective. Especially since his Maltusian Symbionts are offline, and thus unable to protect him..

    Ouch. Pop goes the bobblehead.

    Yeah, who do you think you are, Captain Kirk?

    "In fact, it smells like... Popped Corn? And now I am hungry..."

    ! Krono... Krono if you don't snag that ring immediately, you are a moron!

    Oh gods... If the Maltusian Symbionts can be recovered... FEV? Fuck that. Imagine reality-altering Psionic Mitochondria!

    If this were an online game, I'd immediately call Hax! on the opponent that has multiple god-mode technologies drop into his lap from a random event...

    I called it, Krona was inbound. And from the way I read it, he immediately made the fatal mistake of assuming the Ring-less Paul in front of him was defenceless... Not keeping a little in defence was a big, big mistake. And even if he remains about as a non-corporeal entity, he's not in his home universe...
    And Krono's 'playthrough' of Old World Blues just got ludicrously easier... Especially if the Gold Ring can be duplicated...
     
  14. Cuchulin

    Cuchulin Versed in the lewd.

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    I hope so, this SI could use one.
     
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  15. Dakkan Sall

    Dakkan Sall Random Encounter

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    Should be "once" I believe.

    And so Krona ultimately falls to Krono. One has to wonder if the same metaphysical differences in not allowing Rings to work properly (or however it was meant that being there would negate Krona's advantages) will also keep any chance of Krona going energy being. One would hope so, at least.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2020
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  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Rings work in this universe as Krono was able to give himself psychic powers with his ring, though it is possible that the laws of that universe act a bit differently than how Krona is used to, so maybe he would have a hard time of it, but he could still figure out a way around it.
     
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  17. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    I found the instance of the word 'one' you mean, but it would be a good deal more helpful if you'd provided me with more text here.
    Thank you, corrected.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  18. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    I dunno. That Big Red freshness doesn't seem to have done a whole lot for his dragon breath.

    full effect
     
  19. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Boom headshot. Literally.

    Abd if a lantern is connected to the ring...well, the wasteland will learn of Pauls peaceful ways! By force!

    I can't wait.
     
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  20. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    You fixed the correct one.

    Previously it was 'Eighties one' now it's correct.
     
  21. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    Boom boom.
     
  22. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    And then he gets eaten by one of the Great Old Ones.
     
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  23. Vanathor

    Vanathor 『Back In Black』

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    I mean, per the update, Krono just used what is normally a telepathic WMD against a single target that wasn't expecting something like that. This is the equivalent of Professor X using Cerebro to melt someone's brain that didn't have the benefit of Magneto's helmet.
     
  24. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    It's more like Magneto having his helmet and anti-telepath training, then getting his head ripped off by a parallel universe version of Xavier who got telekinesis rather than telepathy.
     
  25. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    You might want to go back and actually check the scale of the weapon.

    And keep in mind fallout towns range from a few dozen to a few hundred people.
     
  26. Ace Dreamer

    Ace Dreamer Questioning The Nature of our Realities

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    Hmmm... Interesting...

    Just me guessing, but, I wonder if Krona is now in that Gold Ring, as the same sort of AI that Sinestro is in Grayven's Yellow Ring? If the local physics is not cooperative then he probably had a very limited list of options left. Just one Gold Ring surviving is, therefore, quite suspicious... And, the local SI is quite right to be cautious.

    I do like the idea of stealing Secrets of the Guardians from Krona's corpse... Got to be able to get something out of him...
     
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  27. topin89

    topin89 Virgin Centrist

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    I hope laws of physics are different enough and near-gods die when they are killed here. Won't expect, though. There's a chance he became bounded to that one working ring, but I won't expect that either.
     
  28. jaelin910

    jaelin910 habitual lurker

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    You might want to actually go and look up a definition of WMD and, well, once you've done that you might want to take your own advice and-
     
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  29. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    As the SI is British, a settlement of a few dozen people is a 'village', or possibly a 'hamlet'.
     
  30. jaelin910

    jaelin910 habitual lurker

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    My response was initially going to be a request a cite for those numbers not being due to hardware/software limitations then it occurred to me to request a cite on Krono using the word that way and only then did it occur to me to look up a definition of WMD and thus find that surprisingly tiny things can count. So Vaermina's point is
    • Flat wrong. But if we ignore that, its-
    • Missing a citation. But if we ignore that, its-
    • Missing another citation. But if we ignore that, its-
    • Not... particularly significant.
     
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