External Motivation = External Control
"Kadabra, grab the alien and get down the hole."
Looks like OL's figuring he's going to have to stay behind and deal with this guy himself...
"Ah-."
Oh heck. I activate my gauntlet's crumbler function and punch the Justifier's grasping hand! Their hand jerks back, but their armour is only slightly abraded, and… It's acquired a faint orange glow.
Well, Abra
was dead centre of the broadcaster's area of effect. Only natural that some of it would stick a little too well to him.
"Kadabra. By that rationale we're all controlled by things outside of ourselves." The Justifier recovers and swings with their left hand, prompting me to open a hole in the construct and putting a kinetic barrier in place instead. "We're only a slave to what other people dangle in front of us if we choose to be. If the price is too high, it's always correct to walk away."
He blinks, shaking slightly as he comes back to his senses as I take advantage of the Justifier being off-balance to wrap tungsten chains around their extended arm while they're off balance.
Honestly, it's an obvious point of view to someone who's in
total control of their desires. Which includes the ability for OL to deny himself the ability to desire something, 'walking away' as it were.
"Yess… Yes." He flicks his wand at the alien, who floats off the ground and then shoots over to the hole. Kadabra then gets on the armour's cuirass before causing it to descend with a wand poke. He rubs his forehead with his left hand as he drops out of sight.
And I give the Justifier my full attention.
Careful, OL. That sort of thing could get risky, especially if they're broadcasting Anti-Life directly.
"Are you still aware in there?"
External Motivation = External Control
Seriously, they're not even
speaking it. It's not quite Godspeech, but I suspect it would feel damn close.
"Yes, you said. I'm not sure why you think that changes anything for me. I mean, what's the alternative supposed to be? Purely internal motivation with no reference to the external universe? If I wanted to be a lump of rock I'd have transmuted myself into one."
The Justifier isn't pulling to try to free themselves. I think they're looking at me, but the helmet makes it a little hard to tell. They don't have super strength and they can only absorb my constructs through direct contact. Though concerning, that's hardly my only avenue of attack.
And if they're exhibiting the ability to subvert constructs through melee, then it's time to get some distance and toss rocks.
In fact, since no new Jockeys have appeared and I've got them trapped, I should probably see about getting their helmet off. It's not… An efficient way to undermine Mannheim, because we don't have a safe space to put everyone we could free and we can't even guarantee that we can keep them free. But it looks like Apokolips has a new anti-Lantern ability and so I need to know more about it.
"I'm going to try removing your helmet now. Please, try to stay still."
Why do I get the feeling this guy was
designed to pique OL's interest that way?
Background heat and radiation are at levels my armour and environmental shield can easily deal with. I stick a construct manhole cover over the hole I dug, then drop the construct dome.
"Please try to hold still. I realise that as a Justifier you don't value your life, but please remember that as long as you're alive you have utility to Mannheim."
Heh. A nice little logical dodge to make someone that brainwashed
not want to suicide by cape.
I transmute a solid metal clamp and attach it to their helmet before trying to find the seal, except… There doesn't seem to be one. No, there it is, but it's currently undone. I can just lift the helmet off.
I don't trust it.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Or in this case, an unsecured covering.
I check very carefully for any sign that there's a booby trap or suicide device, but I can't… See anything.
I give myself construct armour and put a construct shield between us anyway.
And somewhere, Mannheim's rubbing his hands and thinking 'All according to
keikaku'.
"I'm going to lift your helmet off now. I realise that it's going to be a shock, but please try to stay calm."
I use the clamp to pull the helmet off over their-. His head, and-.
Dun-dun-
dun!
And my own face stares back at me.
So that's what he did with… At least one of the clones.
From the complex Manga Khan had set up in the desert, right? The one OL was using as a forward operating base?
The clone stares at me. He's lost a little fat in his face, and his sclera are reddened by very visible veins, but otherwise… I mean, he's not me; the brains of the clones were blanks that I could load myself into, not conscious and functioning brains in suspended animation. It wouldn't be impossible to… Edit them into something functional, but that wouldn't make the resulting person think anything like me.
Though it probably means that he doesn't have an 'un-Anti-Lifed' form. So in that case I should… Kill him?
Probably for the best. Especially if there's any kind of Sympathetic mystical connection...
There's a flicker of orange in eyes, which… Which is awkward, because it suggests that he can have desires of his own. And if he can do that, then he.. could be his own person.
Okay. Um. There's… Actually no Anti-Life transmitter in his helmet, which means… That his brain is fully acclimatised to the Anti-Life and doesn't need constant reinforcement.
With no soul of its own, it's metaphysique is probably comprised of the chunks of Anti-Life it's been exposed to. So it's little more than a fleshy drone.
"Can you actually talk?"
He's not… Staring at me with hatred in his eyes. Or any surprise that we share a face. I think that Dr. Balewa might-.
What are the chances Mannheim or a lieutenant with psychic powers is remote controlling it right now?
Oh, bugger off, bomb-rats.
The light and the pressure's back, but my construct armour can take it. My clone's head on the other hand can't, and it's… He's… Ash. His armour-. What little I can see of it, appears to be surviving intact. So… What was the point? He can't have been trying to make me feel guilty. It might work on some superheroes, but I originally created the clone to body jack.
I shake my head and walk towards the hole. I should fill that in after I drop down, because-.
Oh, dear. I have the feeling that was
planned, because if OL had a connection to the clone to enter it...
Charging. Charging. Ch-cha-ch-cha-chaaaaaa…
What? What just-?
...Then it also has a connection to him. And doors can be opened from
either side with enough effort.
There's a… Dark patch in my construct armour. And it's… Expanding, spreading out-.
I try dismissing that part of the construct, and it doesn't happen.
Oh, hell. The spiritual equivalent of a hacking attempt.
Um.
Move to the plug, activate crumbler gauntlet. Okay, if I get out of-. This armour should be able to take exposure to the aftermath of a low grade nuclear-
And he's already not thinking clearly. He could move right through the construct, surely, if he wanted to...
And the hits keep on coming.
Ah…
The dark patch is spreading, and I-. My other clones are Anti-Lifed, so that's a no, even if it could have worked. My armour might be able to take nuclear detonations, but not at this close a range. Leaving the area risks the other three and out prisoner.
No way to cleanse himself by respawning, allies to keep safe... This is really not great for his usual methods of problem-solving.
I don't know what that is. I'd guess something… Anti-Life orientated. Clone-me gets infected and then transfers it into me the same way I would have transferred myself into it. But I've been exposed to the Anti-Life before and while it was unpleasant it didn't have much of a lasting effect. Then again, Mannheim wouldn't do this unless he thought it could work.
I create a new bubble shield and-. It's got the same dull orange permeating it. Push it out, dismiss the cap, step in and start filling it in as I drop. Kadabra and Mahkent can deal with-.
Deal with
you, too, if you get subverted...
External Motivation = External Control
Ah…
And it looks like OL's ICE just got broken open... Leaving his Ghost wide open to rewriting.
