Sockmonkey
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Was he secretly trying to booby-trap his truck against theft or just being dense? He's dumb either way, but he sounds like they type to do that.
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
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- self insert young justice
The Other Half (part 7)
Mr Zoat
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12th July 2012
10:34 GMT -6
"…contracts in place." I nod as on the other side of the screen Prime Minister Geoffrey Talbot continues reading through his summary. "We'd put it out to tender… But LexCorp doesn't have significant competition in the field, does it?"
I nod. "He isn't stopping other market participants competing. And the patents are publically available information."
"Oh, I'm not complaining. I used to be against 'green power'. I didn't think it was economically viable. Now that it is, my government will be making moves to switch over all of our infrastructure as quickly as possible."
I glance down at my copy of the report.
"I'm just astonished that the situation was allowed to get this bad. How hard is it to build a new power plant?"
He smiles wryly.
"About as hard as building a new airport runway. The greenies don't want anything that causes pollution and the conservatives don't want anything inefficient. It was always easier to put it off than take the hit to their popularity."
"Was it related to..?"
"No, nothing to do with those people as far as I can tell. Just normal political cowardice and malfeasance. Until we started getting brown outs no one was going to do anything."
"People would rather vote for a sweet shop owner than a doctor."
"All too true." He shakes his head. "I can still barely credit the fact that Boris wasn't involved."
"Would you invite him into a secret conspiracy?" He huffs and shakes his head. "What's he doing with himself now?"
"He got elected head of the Conservative and Unionist Party. Mostly by virtue of being the only Conservative left standing that anyone had heard of."
"He didn't jump ship? I'd have thought that the Reform Party would be right up his street."
"He said he thought about it, but decided that someone needed to work as the official Opposition."
"Was that before or after someone pointed out that he'd have to quit being mayor to become an MP?"
"Oh, he's not in Parliament. Technically speaking, the Conservative and Unionist Party is a new political party, and their rules don't demand that the party leader be a sitting MP."
"I suppose that -given how many MPs they're likely to have to the foreseeable future- that makes sense."
"Makes debating with the man a bit awkward. And it means that the senior opposition MP in Parliament is my constituency MP. I can debate with him by banging on the wall."
I smile at him.
"Sounds like a stitch-up to me-. Oh, that reminds me: Myand'r told me that Weaponer Lysis wants to give you a check up. Will there be a problem with her visiting?"
He gives me a mild frown.
"Wouldn't it be easier for me to go to her?"
"She wants to see you in your natural environment."
He chuckles darkly.
"I don't consider Number Ten to be my natural environment."
"You might want to start, because you could be there a while."
We expected for the left-leaning part of his coalition to drift away after the first General Election. But with the far left part going full socialist and joining the Socialist Labour Party, a surprisingly large portion of everyone else appears to have decided to remain with Reform for the time being because there isn't anywhere obvious for them to go to. So while Geoff is staying away from strongly partisan issues, he's using the surprising unity that his party still commands to deal with issues which -while divisive- don't divide along party lines.
I think he's trying to leave the country a better place for his having occupied the office by the time he renders himself unelectable. I also think he's underestimated the appeal of having a conspiracy-busting retired police officer who definitely wins the 'my head of government could beat up your head of government' arguments in power.
"Anything else we need to go over?"
"The EU's finally getting its head out of its arse about Kahndaq. Which means that Teth Adom can nominate a UN ambassador."
"Oh?"
Given that Adom firmly believes that a country should focus its efforts on its internal affairs, he's been completely untroubled by the fact that other countries are hostile to his one-man conquest of his home country. Banks don't want to lend him money? Fine. Why would he want to borrow money? Imports and exports are expensive? Fine. That just encourages local farming and industry. His reaction to other countries not liking him was '"And?"'. I sometimes get the feeling that Adom would be happiest if the rest of the world just sort of disappeared.
"France won't veto it, and the General Assembly won't try and block the appointment."
"I'll let him know. Any chance they'll help with repatriation?"
The government he slaughtered like the rabid dogs they used to be were heavily involved in slave trading. His government has tried sending as many people as possible back to their home countries, but there are a lot of unaccompanied or orphaned children and with Kahndaq currently uncountried various agencies who should be helping out aren't.
"That's a bit more dubious. Given how poor most of their countries of origin are, you're probably better off getting Luthor on the job. Have him have a word with their business development people."
A pleasant side effect of our work in Africa is that the 'supply' side of certain industries has dried up. There's enough honest work that for the first time in decades people aren't being driven to try to migrate to Europe for work. And that means that people traffickers and slavers are going out of business even if they manage to dodge the genomorphs.
"I'll give him a nudge. Nothing else pertinent to report on my end."
He nods.
"Right then. I'll see you at the next meeting."
"Prime Minister."
"Don't bloody remind me."
He presses a button, and the screen goes dead. I check the clock. Hm. Yes, she's probably back by now.
I get out of my chair.
Mother Box, hush tube to Sunset's laboratory.
Ping.
I step through to see Sunset working on her arcane modelling program. She glances around.
"Hey."
Looks promising.
"How'd it go with Celestia?"
She looks back around.
"It was… Informative? It was exactly the sort of lesson that if she'd given it to me before I left then I wouldn't have left. We didn't really… We just focused on the lesson. We didn't talk about anything else."
"But you managed to spend productive time in one another's company?"
"Yeah. I guess that's progress. Grayven, did you-" She swivels her chair around. "-suggest that to her?"
"Yes, of course I did. But she managed to carry it out without making a mess of it."
"By that low standard, good for her." She frowns. "But I thought you didn't want me to talk to her any more."
"I don't think things between you can be fixed, but on the off chance I'm wrong I'm happy to coach her on how to relate to you. I don't think she's a bad person, I just don't think you're right for each other." … "So to speak."
"Well… Thanks."
"And in the strategic review I highlighted the lack of other ponies to take over the day/night cycle as a key weakness, so getting you up to speed is good for the planet."
She looks unimpressed for a moment, but I see the rational side of her that I've tried to cultivate review the idea and realise that it's valid.
"Well. Still. Thanks."
I smile broadly. "You're welcome."
10:34 GMT -6
"…contracts in place." I nod as on the other side of the screen Prime Minister Geoffrey Talbot continues reading through his summary. "We'd put it out to tender… But LexCorp doesn't have significant competition in the field, does it?"
I nod. "He isn't stopping other market participants competing. And the patents are publically available information."
"Oh, I'm not complaining. I used to be against 'green power'. I didn't think it was economically viable. Now that it is, my government will be making moves to switch over all of our infrastructure as quickly as possible."
I glance down at my copy of the report.
"I'm just astonished that the situation was allowed to get this bad. How hard is it to build a new power plant?"
He smiles wryly.
"About as hard as building a new airport runway. The greenies don't want anything that causes pollution and the conservatives don't want anything inefficient. It was always easier to put it off than take the hit to their popularity."
"Was it related to..?"
"No, nothing to do with those people as far as I can tell. Just normal political cowardice and malfeasance. Until we started getting brown outs no one was going to do anything."
"People would rather vote for a sweet shop owner than a doctor."
"All too true." He shakes his head. "I can still barely credit the fact that Boris wasn't involved."
"Would you invite him into a secret conspiracy?" He huffs and shakes his head. "What's he doing with himself now?"
"He got elected head of the Conservative and Unionist Party. Mostly by virtue of being the only Conservative left standing that anyone had heard of."
"He didn't jump ship? I'd have thought that the Reform Party would be right up his street."
"He said he thought about it, but decided that someone needed to work as the official Opposition."
"Was that before or after someone pointed out that he'd have to quit being mayor to become an MP?"
"Oh, he's not in Parliament. Technically speaking, the Conservative and Unionist Party is a new political party, and their rules don't demand that the party leader be a sitting MP."
"I suppose that -given how many MPs they're likely to have to the foreseeable future- that makes sense."
"Makes debating with the man a bit awkward. And it means that the senior opposition MP in Parliament is my constituency MP. I can debate with him by banging on the wall."
I smile at him.
"Sounds like a stitch-up to me-. Oh, that reminds me: Myand'r told me that Weaponer Lysis wants to give you a check up. Will there be a problem with her visiting?"
He gives me a mild frown.
"Wouldn't it be easier for me to go to her?"
"She wants to see you in your natural environment."
He chuckles darkly.
"I don't consider Number Ten to be my natural environment."
"You might want to start, because you could be there a while."
We expected for the left-leaning part of his coalition to drift away after the first General Election. But with the far left part going full socialist and joining the Socialist Labour Party, a surprisingly large portion of everyone else appears to have decided to remain with Reform for the time being because there isn't anywhere obvious for them to go to. So while Geoff is staying away from strongly partisan issues, he's using the surprising unity that his party still commands to deal with issues which -while divisive- don't divide along party lines.
I think he's trying to leave the country a better place for his having occupied the office by the time he renders himself unelectable. I also think he's underestimated the appeal of having a conspiracy-busting retired police officer who definitely wins the 'my head of government could beat up your head of government' arguments in power.
"Anything else we need to go over?"
"The EU's finally getting its head out of its arse about Kahndaq. Which means that Teth Adom can nominate a UN ambassador."
"Oh?"
Given that Adom firmly believes that a country should focus its efforts on its internal affairs, he's been completely untroubled by the fact that other countries are hostile to his one-man conquest of his home country. Banks don't want to lend him money? Fine. Why would he want to borrow money? Imports and exports are expensive? Fine. That just encourages local farming and industry. His reaction to other countries not liking him was '"And?"'. I sometimes get the feeling that Adom would be happiest if the rest of the world just sort of disappeared.
"France won't veto it, and the General Assembly won't try and block the appointment."
"I'll let him know. Any chance they'll help with repatriation?"
The government he slaughtered like the rabid dogs they used to be were heavily involved in slave trading. His government has tried sending as many people as possible back to their home countries, but there are a lot of unaccompanied or orphaned children and with Kahndaq currently uncountried various agencies who should be helping out aren't.
"That's a bit more dubious. Given how poor most of their countries of origin are, you're probably better off getting Luthor on the job. Have him have a word with their business development people."
A pleasant side effect of our work in Africa is that the 'supply' side of certain industries has dried up. There's enough honest work that for the first time in decades people aren't being driven to try to migrate to Europe for work. And that means that people traffickers and slavers are going out of business even if they manage to dodge the genomorphs.
"I'll give him a nudge. Nothing else pertinent to report on my end."
He nods.
"Right then. I'll see you at the next meeting."
"Prime Minister."
"Don't bloody remind me."
He presses a button, and the screen goes dead. I check the clock. Hm. Yes, she's probably back by now.
I get out of my chair.
Mother Box, hush tube to Sunset's laboratory.
Ping.
I step through to see Sunset working on her arcane modelling program. She glances around.
"Hey."
Looks promising.
"How'd it go with Celestia?"
She looks back around.
"It was… Informative? It was exactly the sort of lesson that if she'd given it to me before I left then I wouldn't have left. We didn't really… We just focused on the lesson. We didn't talk about anything else."
"But you managed to spend productive time in one another's company?"
"Yeah. I guess that's progress. Grayven, did you-" She swivels her chair around. "-suggest that to her?"
"Yes, of course I did. But she managed to carry it out without making a mess of it."
"By that low standard, good for her." She frowns. "But I thought you didn't want me to talk to her any more."
"I don't think things between you can be fixed, but on the off chance I'm wrong I'm happy to coach her on how to relate to you. I don't think she's a bad person, I just don't think you're right for each other." … "So to speak."
"Well… Thanks."
"And in the strategic review I highlighted the lack of other ponies to take over the day/night cycle as a key weakness, so getting you up to speed is good for the planet."
She looks unimpressed for a moment, but I see the rational side of her that I've tried to cultivate review the idea and realise that it's valid.
"Well. Still. Thanks."
I smile broadly. "You're welcome."
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Darko
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'was thinking'
Yeah, I imagine she'd like to see if his enlightenment can truly help him cope with the urge to slaughter his fellow politicians.
It may stop him from being a berserker, or makes it more controllable, but politics can make even saints into berserkers.
'surprising'
Action politician anyone.
Though Adom may be able to beat him.
And maybe Hypolita, not sure if she has powers similar to Diana, but she is a demigod.
'to his'
I think he did that in his ending in a video game.
As in, he covered Kahndaq in a magical forcefully and destroyed the rest of the planet.
'I step'
moralrelativity
Recovering pendant.
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Darko
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transhumansage
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wait grayven is the prime minister of uk now?
Darko
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No, he was addressing the other guy there, who is the Prime Minister, and an ally of his.
Chojin Patriarch
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Ah, from one Enlightened Lantern to another. There's just no getting away from the coloured quotes, is there, Mr Zoat? And that's the name of the Enlightened fellow that I keep forgetting! From embittered Police Detective to amazingly-restrained Prime Minister, all because of Grayven busting a secret society of devil-worshippers...
Good luck getting that past all the regulatory groups, somewhat-curtailed political opposition and nutcase conspiracy theorists.
Given the situation... Very?
Not any more, though. With Cosmic Energy Collectors, everybody gets to be happy!
The old 'if it ain't broke, why fix it?' logic eh? Bury your head in the sand and the problem will go away on its own... Guess that isn't working out so well now, is it?
I wish I could comment, but so many of my ideas would run straight into Rule 8...
Ah, name recognition. A solid case of 'better the
Logical enough. Someone's got to provide a voice to say 'Is that a good idea?'
I bet that makes matters awkward. Matters you can't discuss with non-Members and all that...
Ha!Checking in on her work, eh? Making sure he hasn't gone total berserker yet? Despite the quite obvious provocation he gets every day...
That would be an interesting trip to explain to Parliament... "Right, I have to go into another universe to take care of a medical matter..."
Bit late for that, isn't it? His natural environment would be the detective's office of the Yard, or local pubs...
Things are that unsettled still, eh? Good luck, Lantern Talbot...
'Socialist Labour party...' Yeah, that doesn't raise all manner of red flags... Hopefully they turn out to be something of a paper tiger...
Well, his only rivals in that field in this universe might be Adom, Orin, and maybe Rama Khan. Tapping into the larger multiverse brings in President Superman.
Ah, his old-fashioned heroic approach to regime change upset a few international agreements, didn't it?
Unfortunately, the world as it is now can't be ignored so easily, Adom. Ultimately, unless the New Light can head such things off, I foresee it ending poorly, like in the 52 Limited Series, following Infinite Crisis. Some neighbour will get it into their head that they can take him, trigger a war and Adom decides to get Biblical in his retribution...
I suspect the general atmosphere in the UN Security Council is 'Oh god, not again. What did Kahndaq do this time?'
I suppose that might be one way to develop a workforce for his Spacefleet without divided loyalties...
Good to see the New Light doing things the old Light never would. Because they were supervillains.
Well, then...
"Cheeky bastard..." Grayven does like tweaking his allies' noses, doesn't he?
Ah, Sunset's been visiting home, eh? Has she gotten around to seeing her parents, or is she still putting that awkwardness off?
She's probably used to him casually popping out of Hush Tubes by now...
You were expecting her to be upset about something?
Ah... Yes, that would probably qualify as potentially upsetting...Without trying to kill each other? Progress! Let me guess, teaching her about being an Alicorn?
Why do you sound almost surprised? Yes, she has problems, but Celestia is a thousand years old, she's no slouch in the socialisation department.
Yes, that did sound a bit... Yes. It's what comes of her being more-or-less isolated from all concept of peers for so long, after Luna's exile. Given that even the highest-ranked nobles sort of defer to her like an almost religious figure...
And that's an amusing symmetry: Twilight and Sunset, both transitions between Day and Night... If events on Equestria turn out anything like canon (they should be in season Four right now, aye?) The two of them will likely end up being a new Diarchy.
Don't think she's not still annoyed at you about it, though.A pleasant little catch-up on the England situation that some of us might have forgotten about, and Sunset mostly getting along with her former mentor? I'm almost looking forwards to whose viewpoint pops up next...
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
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Also, who really doesn't want to be, which is one of the things that makes him great for the job.
Stsword
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More specifically, he's talking to the cop he gave a red power ring to.
So the UK prime minister spits acidic napalm-like substance that is in fact liquid rage.
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
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To be fair, he's one of the saner variety of Red Lanterns, and so probably doesn't do that very often. What I found impressive about him is that he (IIRC) already had Rage Enlightenment when first introduced.
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
I think that's okay.
I'm dreading the day when the two of them speak to each other, and I have to use different shades of red in the speech marks.
What regulatory groups? This isn't America. Britain only gimps government power if the politicians don't want to be seen making a decision.Good luck getting that past all the regulatory groups, somewhat-curtailed political opposition and nutcase conspiracy theorists.
They're not even that.
Darko
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Good luck getting that past all the regulatory groups, somewhat-curtailed political opposition and nutcase conspiracy theorists.
To be fair, after what happened with the previous government, those conspiracy theorists may feel extremely confident and justified in their beliefs.
Except the oil, coal and other energy companies.
More like planet.
Renegade mentioned Myand'r, and seeing as the OLC is on Tamaran in the renegade side, the Weaponer is probably there.
And maybe Hyppolita.
Depending if her being a demigod has given her certain powers.
And morons.
Though I guess the two go pretty well together.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the renegade is an equal opportunity asshole, to friends, enemies and complete strangers.
One of her chief characteristics seems to be bitchiness, so it's understandable if he expected that.
Assblaster5000
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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And nothing of value was lost.
Mr Zoat
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On the contrary: a great deal of value was lost.
Stsword
Versed in the lewd.
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I imagine they don't run out of his favorite biscuits though.
Not after the first time anyway.
Handlewithcare
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I mean, if I were british I'd vote for him.
"Guy literally so angry about corruption it makes him fly and shoot blood" is a pretty good promo tagline
"Talbot. The Angry Choice"
I bet when he shouts ORDAH! People listen
"Guy literally so angry about corruption it makes him fly and shoot blood" is a pretty good promo tagline
"Talbot. The Angry Choice"
I bet when he shouts ORDAH! People listen
Rebu
hey, little Anna, you're the one
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*opens mouth*
*Looks at the forum rule banning discussion of modern politics*
*sighs*
*closes mouth*
Mr Zoat
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No, no, the person who shouts 'order' is the Speaker, not the Prime Minister.
Cuchulin
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Some one who can give a voice to peoples rage can be very popular when you have a lot of people that are angry and feel like they been forgotten/left behind by their government, just look at who came to power during the 1930's.
Someguy Somewhere
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Full of himself mostly, I honestly don't know why he was so particular about it. He was a lefty shooter though, maybe he thought having to grab it a certain way to get it out fast...which was pointless due the Sane and Legal side of things demanding a trigger lock during transport ( I'd prefer a chain lock thru the action for pump guns). He was never just gonna snatch it from the rack and start blasting because he'd have to unlock it. If he Did want to leave it unlocked and loaded, again, pointed at the back of drivers HEAD in a box full of loose tools driving on bumpy roads. He was the one driving that truck most of the time, but even riding shotgun (ha HA) with him I don't want his head evaporating when we hit the next pothole.
Of course after his later run ins with the conservation officers, he thought he'd solved his problems with long guns by switching to carrying a pistol. Which in the states isn't a huge issue, but up here? Nigh impossible to carry legally. There are exceptions for those that do prospecting, or run a trap line in the north. He paired up with a trapper and did some work on a line. Come with a LOT of restrictions on where you can carry, but it let him get away with things for a while. Problem with it came a year or two later when the trapper forgot to re-up on his trapline license. No Trap Line, means not a Trapper, means no permission to carry for either of them.
He's STILL fuming over that.
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Dur'id the Druid
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Darko
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This was a renegade chapter, not a Raul chapter.
The red quote marks belong to Geoffrey Talbott, a former British policeman who wanted to bring down Britain's corrupt government.
He achieved red enlightenment, I think when he was killing some guy that helped the government.
He later allied with renegade in bringing down the government and renegade had that female Weaponer, Lysis I think, make him a red ring.
He's now the Prime Minister of Britain and is allied with renegade.
Ardy
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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i think you'll find that in this case the Prime Minister absolutely can
Mr Zoat
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...
Because Geoffrey Talbot -the man speaking with them- is in an office in London while Grayven is in Challenger Mountain.
I actually remember that one!
Only with Lex via Grayven.
He achieved enlightenment after all of that, when he was stuck working out what he was going to do with himself for the next thirty years, knowing full well that the people ultimately responsible for what happened were going to get away with it.
If you want to be like that about it, someone in the observers' gallery could just shout out 'order'. But bringing the House to order is the Speaker's job, and they generally do it by saying 'order, order'.
Ardy
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Yes but in this case who are they more likely to listen to?
Darko
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And who is going to try and stop Geoffrey if he decides to do it.
Michael McDoesntexist?
Mr Zoat
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Since the Speaker is in theory neutral while the Prime Minister is generally hated by half the country? The Speaker.
Darko
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Maybe, but other Prime Ministers can't exactly claim the status as being the ones that helped destroy a satanic, cannibalistic, pedophilic cult, so Geoffrey may have a lot of love now from the people.
And also possess an extremely powerful weapon on their fingers.