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

[Lokpik]

I'm curious if mammon(Stargate Paul) were to stumble across the armband that turns someone into a superhero level threat. Do you think he will tweek it as a temporary one time blessing to his citizens (it's kinda like hero water or the eight gates but less harmful to the one affected)

 

[Chaoswind]

@Mr Zoat the stargate updates made me a little nostalgic and I have been reading the start of this behemoth of a fic again and I got to ask if all the Paul's with an orange ring get their body rebuild to peak Olympian?

That was pretty much the first thing the ring did once Paul noticed he had an orange lantern ring in his finger even before he scanned the planet for the first time.

I ask because I am trying to imagine how Paulmon looks to Bastet and I don't remember if the Paul from Nazi earth, demon Paul, the old one in the beyond timeline and the rest also looked like the fanart of the fic.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I'm curious if mammon(Stargate Paul) were to stumble across the armband that turns someone into a superhero level threat. Do you think he will tweek it as a temporary one time blessing to his citizens (it's kinda like hero water or the eight gates but less harmful to the one affected)

Click to shrink...

Wasn't that a Tok'Ra thing? Mammon isn't in favour of the whole 'divine blessing' thing, so if he bothered with it at all it would be something for people eight or nine generations down the line who could actually understand it.

@Mr Zoat the stargate updates made me a little nostalgic and I have been reading the start of this behemoth of a fic again and I got to ask if all the Paul's with an orange ring get their body rebuild to peak Olympian?

That was pretty much the first thing the ring did once Paul noticed he had an orange lantern ring in his finger even before he scanned the planet for the first time.

I ask because I am trying to imagine how Paulmon looks to Bastet and I don't remember if the Paul from Nazi earth, demon Paul, the old one in the beyond timeline and the rest also looked like the fanart of the fic.

Click to shrink...

Sort of. The orange ring will give your body a tune-up unless you really like it, though professional athletes tend to have very particular builds and it doesn't usually give one of those.

Other versions had to earn their muscles, except the black ring version.

 

[Shotiegun11]

What Mammon doesn't know is that Bastet plans to have a child with him with every new host, making it a new part of her yearly host change and part of the Priestesshood-ship.

He'll never escape her nefarious plans.

 

[Lokpik]

The tokra found a device from a civilization that fought against Ra, there warriors were terrifyingly effective until the population built up natural immunity to the virus that gave them these abilities and the goauld wiped them out.

 

[Ardy]

Actual air gaping was shown to be effective in story to the point he needed to generate a filament to connect to those systems instead of forcing his way through their wireless systems.

Click to shrink...

That was only after they started using scry wards to block ring scans. Remember how he took down the league of shadows? Star gate does not have those.

QED

 

[Ngamer11]

**Krieger.** The last few members of our force fly in as Robin does a quick search on his arm computer. **Adolf Krieger was a leading member of the Thule Society in Nazi Germany. But if that's him…**

Click to shrink...

I was rereading and found an error. That should say 'Wolf'.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I was rereading and found an error. That should say 'Wolf'.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

Of course, the words mean the same thing, so...

 

[Stsword]

Wasn't that a Tok'Ra thing? Mammon isn't in favour of the whole 'divine blessing' thing, so if he bothered with it at all it would be something for people eight or nine generations down the line who could actually understand it.

Click to shrink...

Atoniek Armbands, the virus makes one fast enough to be a mere blur to the eye, stronger, and increases at least some aspects of intelligence- like able to read a book in seconds, or Major Carter writing a 1000 page book on wormhole physics in less than two hours.

But even aside from the "it wears off once you develop an immunity," it also increases aggression, lowers inhibitions, and induces euphoric feelings of invincibility. So basically drunk with power in a closer to literal sense than most examples.

So even if Mammon was to get his hands on it, I'm sure he'd feel it needs plenty of work.

 

[SotF]

I'd need to go through the show, but I can confirm for certain in season 3 they were using the internet to search for Seth. Literally had web pages loading.

Daniel also says "On a whim I did a search on the US government classified net in case the CIA had a record of him".

Edit: S02E07 Explicitly had a quarantine protocol which cut off the air and power to internal supply only. I imagine there are similar protocols for shutting off external communication, but I don't expect that would be the norm.

Click to shrink...

Yep, especially since there are multiple times when they do contact the surface and such...such as directly calling people in from elsewhere with things as needed.

So a way to cut it off would work.

Not sure if they have an actual cutoff like that with the elevators and stairwells, because that's more of a security system in and of itself with limiting/controlling access

 

[Mr Zoat]

April 28th, 2013
09:01 EST

"Whaw!" Ah… Janet? Good, I'm in the right place. She looks me over. "So cool you wear sunglasses inside, huh?"

I shrug a little awkwardly. How my eyes look doesn't bother me, and most people are fine after the initial surprise. But it's… A little awkward, walking down the street and having people stare.

"Got a black eye?"

"Yes." I nod. "Two, actually."

She smirks. "'Ain't really none of my business, but I say leave the bastard.'"

I blink. Which she can't see. "Huh?"

"It's from G.I. Jane? The movie?" We stare at each other. "She gets a black eye in training, and then-?"

"Ah, I haven't watched it." This.. feels awkward. I reach up and pull my sunglasses off to try and derail the conversation. "My eyes look like-"

"AH!"

"-this."

I smile a little as she covers her mouth with her hands, blushing in embarrassment. Human emotions aren't easy to tell apart with super senses, but that one's pretty easy.

"Oh, I-. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." I put the glasses back on. "I'm used to-."

"Does it hurt?"

"Taking the glasses off? Not really."

"No, the-. The eye.. thing."

"Ah, not really? I mean, they've always been like this. They still work fine, they just look-."

"You were an evil-eye baby!"

This time she doesn't cover her mouth. She just sort of stands there, the corners of her mouth tugging slightly downwards as she thinks about what she just said. But I don't know. I was pretty much like this the first time they let me out of the pod. I mean, they had to grow me to full size first. They didn't just make a scaffold and then apply stem cells and hope for the best. And I guess that my eyes would have looked like this at the time. But I.. don't think I'd have opened them until they let me out, so they probably wouldn't have known.

Huh. Hadn't thought of it like that. The first time I woke up and tried to kill everyone, the only notice they'd have had that something was wrong would have been my eyes.

"So..? My induction?"

"Yeah! Induction!" She turns away and heads for the elevator. "I'm just-. I'll just show you around, and, ah… Show you one of our current campaigns."

I follow her, nodding. "Are there any robots here?"

"Not any more." The elevator doors close and she presses the button for the third floor. "We used to have cleaning robots, but maintenance found out that Mexicans were cheaper. Then they double-checked, and found out that people from Gotham were even cheaper because we didn't have to pay off I.C.E.."

"… Oh."

"Heh. Uhh…"

I.. try to escape the awkwardness by looking through the side of the elevator-. But this is a LexCorp building, so it's lead-lined.

"I mean… We don't actually… Pay off I.C.E.."

"No. Because you get people from Gotham."

"Didn't! Didn't pay off I.C.E.!"

I nod. "No, I.C.E. doesn't cover robots. As long as they're made in the U.S., I guess."

"I didn't mean it like-. It was just a.. joke."

I nod again. "Yeah, I wouldn't hire people from Gotham either."

"No, Steve's a great guy! And-. Uh. I should.. stop joking about his hometown, huh?"

"I don't know. I know a couple of people from Gotham, and they're usually the first to make jokes about it. But if he's from Mexico, then-."

Ping.

I hear her mutter 'thank God' as she dashes out of the elevator and onto the third floor. I follow her out. Looks like a standard office layout. There's a series of large desks split up with dividers, and the ones I can see from the walkway have the normal family photos, meme images… Business reports? There's a fancier desk at one end which I guess is for the… Supervisor or manager, and there's a meeting room separated from the main office by a chipboard wall.

I don't know what Janet's worried about. Since the life broadcast, crime in Gotham's been way down. According to Robin, even the insane supervillains have dialled down the lethality. I haven't checked on Mexican crime rates so I don't know if things are better or worse there. Violent criminals didn't have a good survival rate, and there's a lot less demand for drugs now.

I know Miss Teschmacher said that the only reason Janet has a job is that she makes a good damsel in distress, but I don't see it. Sure, she's only a little older than my documentation says I am, but that's really the only thing that might make her more appealing. Unless… I've never really noticed, but most people seem to think that Amazons are really attractive. So… Maybe I've just gotten used to a higher level of attractiveness?

"So, ah, this is where we work…" Janet turns and holds her arms out, indicating the office. "During the week. We sometimes work weekends when there's a big project on, but otherwise it's pretty much nine to five thirty, and… This isn't advertising, so... We don't really have big projects all that often."

"So what do you do?"

"Get data, plot out demands for… Just about everything, really. Look at products and services, try and work out what people want right now and what they're going to want…"

"You do that?"

"Yeah-. Oh, wait, do you mean me personally? Well, I do.. some of that. Sometimes. Miss Teschmacher says that I'm great for finding out the appropriate level of complexity for mass market items in order to avoid end user confundity. There's no sense making instructions that people can't understand."

Huh. I mean, she's right, but I don't know if she got the implication that they use her as an idiot-proofing standard or not.

"And, y'know, basic fetching and carrying and things like that. I'm kind of like her P.A.!"

"Do you know if she's okay? She seemed fine when I left yesterday, but…"

"Oh, we get problems like that all the time. I'm sure she's-." Her face goes still. "Ah, no. No we don't. LexCorp robots have an excellent safety record. I just mean-. She's great at dealing with-. Ah, little problems? Without losing focus. And she wasn't hurt so I'm sure that she's fine."

I nod. "Okay. So what are your team working on now?"

"Now? Logistics. Global shipping isn't going so great, and we're trying to work out how to make it better!"

"How?"

"Well, Atlantean portals bypass the intervening space, so they're great for logistics. But there's this British chocolate company that's pretty much covered the market there, so we're looking at other ways to move things around, just, better. Come on, I'll show you the physical space planning room!"

 

[Darko]

I shrug a little awkwardly. How my eyes look doesn't bother me, and most people are fine after the initial surprise. But it's… A little awkward, walking down the street and having people stare

Click to shrink...

So he still has black and silver eyes.

"You were an evil-eye baby

Click to shrink...

Well the people that were watching over him weren't all that good, so she's not totally wrong.

Huh. Hadn't thought of it like that. The first time I woke up and tried to kill everyone, the only notice they'd have had that something was wrong would have been my eyes.

Click to shrink...

And your eyes turning burning red probably made them forget the odd eye color fairly quickly.

"Not any more." The elevator doors close and she presses the button for the third floor. "We used to have cleaning robots, but maintenance found out that Mexicans were cheaper. Then they double-checked, and found out that people from Gotham were even cheaper because we didn't have to pay off I.C.E.."

"… Oh

Click to shrink...

Welcome to corporate America, Mitch.

We used to have cleaning robots, but maintenance found out that Mexicans were cheaper. Then they double-checked, and found out that people from Gotham were even cheaper because we didn't have to pay off I.C.E.."

Click to shrink...

Well as long as you can guarantee that a lunatic isn't going to throw some weird gas at them, then they'll probably take any work they can get.

"No, I.C.E. don't cover

Click to shrink...

Maybe "doesn't cover"

Violent criminals didn't have a good survival rate, and there's a lot less demand for drugs now.

Click to shrink...

After Anti-Life I'd have thought there'd be a bigger demand for drugs.

"Oh, we get problems like that all the time. I'm sure she's-." Her face goes still. "Ah, no. No we don't. LexCorp robots have an excellent safety record

Click to shrink...

Ahh, the corporate lie.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Maybe "doesn't cover"

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

April 28th, 2013
09:01 EST

"Whaw!" Ah… Janet? Good, I'm in the right place. She looks me over. "So cool you wear sunglasses inside, huh?"

I shrug a little awkwardly. How my eyes look doesn't bother me, and most people are fine after the initial surprise. But it's… A little awkward, walking down the street and having people stare.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, most people don't wear sunglasses all the time. Unless they're covering up unusual eye stuff. That's one thing that gets people weirded out. Blind eyes, wandering eyes, missing eyes... Really, eye stuff is one thing nearly everyone is grossed out by.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"Got a black eye?"

"Yes." I nod. "Two, actually."

Click to shrink...

...Not quite what she meant, Mitchell.

She smirks. "'Ain't really none of my business, but I say leave the bastard.'"

I blink. Which she can't see. "Huh?"

Click to shrink...

Nothing says it was a man who did it, anyway. 'Minor training accident on Themyscira' could cover a lot of injuries.

"It's from G.I. Jane? The movie?" We stare at each other. "She gets a black eye in training, and then-?"

"Ah, I haven't watched it." This.. feels awkward. I reach up and pull my sunglasses off to try and derail the conversation. "My eyes look like-"

Click to shrink...

I get the feeling Janet really didn't get told anything about the new guy other than his name

"AH!"

"-this."

I smile a little as she covers her mouth with her hands, blushing in embarrassment. Human emotions aren't easy to tell apart with super senses, but that one's pretty easy.

Click to shrink...

I can't help but picture a real-life counterpart of anime overacting. She seems the sort to do that.

"Oh, I-. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." I put the glasses back on. "I'm use to-."

Click to shrink...

Honestly, some people might consider that cool.

"Does it hurt?"

"Taking the glasses off? Not really."

"No, the-. The eye.. thing."

Click to shrink...

Honestly, I suspect that would be most people's first concern.

"Ah, not really? I mean, they've always been like this. They still work fine, they just look-."

"You were an evil-eye baby!"

Click to shrink...

Oh, boy... Her energy is going to get tiresome, isn't it?

This time she doesn't cover her mouth. She just sort of stands there, the corners of her mouth tugging slightly downwards as she thinks about what she just said. But I don't know. I was pretty much like this the first time they let me out of the pod. I mean, they had to grow me to full size first. They didn't just make a scaffold and then apply stem cells and hope for the best. And I guess that my eyes would have looked like this at the time. But I.. don't think I'd have opened them until they let me out, so they probably wouldn't have known.

Click to shrink...

Really, not looking like a misshapen monstrosity would have been a bonus as long as he had powers.

Huh. Hadn't thought of it like that. The first time I woke up and tried to kill everyone, the only notice they'd have had that something was wrong would have been my eyes.

"So..? My induction?"

Click to shrink...

Amusing when the intern is the more focused person in the conversation.

"Yeah! Induction!" She turns away and heads for the elevator. "I'm just-. I'll just show you around, and, ah… Show you one of our current campaigns."

I follow her, nodding. "Are there any robots here?"

Click to shrink...

On his guard after the farm, eh? Not that he expects anything serious given what he listened in on.

"Not any more." The elevator doors close and she presses the button for the third floor. "We used to have cleaning robots, but maintenance found out that Mexicans were cheaper. Then they double-checked, and found out that people from Gotham were even cheaper because we didn't have to pay off I.C.E.."

Click to shrink...

...That says so much about the state of the Earth Sixteen United States...

"… Oh."

"Heh. Uhh…"

I.. try to escape the awkwardness by looking through the side of the elevator-. But this is a LexCorp building, so it's lead-lined.

Click to shrink...

No doubt looking like he's glancing away from an awkward comment, handily.

"I mean… We don't actually… Pay off I.C.E.."

"No. Because you get people from Gotham."

Click to shrink...

And really, even with the commute, it's a step up from working in Gotham.

"Didn't! Didn't pay off I.C.E.!"

I nod. "No, I.C.E. don't cover robots. As long as they're made in the U.S., I guess."

Click to shrink...

...Now you're just messing with her, aren't you, Mitch?

"I didn't mean it like-. It was just a.. joke."

I nod again. "Yeah, I wouldn't hire people from Gotham either."

"No, Steve's a great guy! And-. Uh. I should.. stop joking about his hometown, huh?"

Click to shrink...

Because even the most reluctant Gothamite tends to be proud of their hometown. Bit of that TF2 Scout energy: 'If you was from where I was from, you'd be dead!'

"I don't know. I know a couple of people from Gotham, and they're usually the first to make jokes about it. But if he's from Mexico, then-."

Ping.

Click to shrink...

Ah, saved by the bell. Alas, no more messing with the lady.

I hear her mutter 'thank God' as she dashes out of the elevator and onto the third floor. I follow her out. Looks like a standard office layout. There's a series of large desks split up with dividers, and the ones I can see from the walkway have the normal family photos, meme images… Business reports? There's a fancier desk at one end which I guess is for the… Supervisor or manager, and there's a meeting room separated from the main office by a chipboard wall.

Click to shrink...

Yes, the classic cubicle farm. Albeit likely with concealed security weaponry, because Lexcorp.

I don't know what Janet's worried about. Since the life broadcast, crime in Gotham's been way down. According to Robin, even the insane supervillains have dialled down the lethality. I haven't checked on Mexican crime rates so I don't know if things are better or worse there. Violent criminals didn't have a good survival rate, and there's a lot less demand for drugs now.

Click to shrink...

Huh. Sort of a spiritual backlash from the darkness of the Anti-Life. Who knew that's what it would take to make the planet a little more Silver-agey...

I know Miss Teschmacher said that the only reason Janet has a job is that she makes a good damsel in distress, but I don't see it. Sure, she's only a little older than my documentation says I am, but that's really the only thing that might make her more appealing. Unless… I've never really noticed, but most people seem to think that Amazons are really attractive. So… Maybe I've just gotten used to a higher level of attractiveness?

Click to shrink...

It's probably that, yes. When your minimum baseline for 'pretty' is a seven or eight out of ten, everything below that feels plain.

"So, ah, this is where we work…" Janet turns and holds her arms out, indicating the office. "During the week. We sometimes work weekends when there's a big project on, but otherwise it's pretty much nine to five thirty, and… This isn't advertising, so... We don't really have big projects all that often."

Click to shrink...

I hope they at least get paid overtime for crunches...

"So what do you do?"

"Get data, plot out demands for… Just about everything, really. Look at products and services, try and work out what people want right now and what they're going to want…"

Click to shrink...

So, nothing dramatic. Just trying to plot the future of demand based on what's been selling...

"You do that?"

"Yeah-. Oh, wait, do you mean me personally? Well, I do.. some of that. Sometimes. Miss Teschmacher says that I'm great for finding out the appropriate level of complexity for mass market items in order to avoid end user confundity. There's no sense making instructions that people can't understand."

Click to shrink...

Too true. Of course, there's the other extreme of dumbing down too far. Like modern Lego instructions which can use an entire page for adding one or two pieces...

Huh. I mean, she's right, but I don't know if she got the implication that they use her as an idiot-proofing standard or not.

"And, y'know, basic fetching and carrying and things like that. I'm kind of like her P.A.!"

Click to shrink...

Well, she must have some skill at her job, or she wouldn't still be here. I doubt they get handsome young superhumans enough to warrant keeping her on just for that.

"Do you know if she's okay? She seemed fine when I left yesterday, but…"

"Oh, we get problems like that all the time. I'm sure she's-." Her face goes still. "Ah, no. No we don't. LexCorp robots have an excellent safety record. I just mean-. She's great at dealing with-. Ah, little problems? Without losing focus. And she wasn't hurt so I'm sure that she's fine."

Click to shrink...

Ah, the cute kind of scatterbrained.

I nod. "Okay. So what are your team working on now?"

"Now? Logistics. Global shipping isn't going so great, and we're trying to work out how to make it better!"

"How?"

Click to shrink...

Short of developing Lexcorp airlift vehicles for cheap, there can't be much they can do...

"Well, Atlantean portals bypass the intervening space, so they're great for logistics. But there's this British chocolate company that's pretty much covered the market there, so we're looking at other ways to move things around, just, better. Come on, I'll show you the physical space planning room!"

Click to shrink...

No doubt the science division is working on a technological equivalent.

Janet really does seem a bit of an office ditz, doesn't she? Bet she's still popular because she's just that honestly friendly. Unless it's all an act and she's really a supergenius social manipulator tasked to convince him to stick with Lexcorp... Nah. Regardless, this job seems fairly innocuous, and a fairly easy one for Mitchell's kryptonian intellect. Let's see how well he does...

 

[Darko]

n. "I'm use to-."

Click to shrink...

"used to"

 

[Darko]

Amusing when the intern is the more focused person in the conversation.

Click to shrink...

Mitchell is new here and he may want to be focused until he gets a hang of the place.

Janet on the other hand hs probably been working there for years, so she's more comfortable.

...That says so much about the state of the Earth Sixteen United States...

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately that isn't only confined to Earth 16.

Because even the most reluctant Gothamite tends to be proud of their hometown. Bit of that TF2 Scout energy: 'If you was from where I was from, you'd be dead!'

Click to shrink...

Stockholm syndrome on a massive scale.

Huh. Sort of a spiritual backlash from the darkness of the Anti-Life

Click to shrink...

Or it could be the White Light just making regular drug experiences seem insignificant.

Plus with how civilization is on the brink of collapse, it's possible that any drug farms were converted into actual farms for crops.

Who knew that's what it would take to make the planet a little more Silver-agey...

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't call it that.

 

[boo600]

…is this site hosted in America?

It may be taken down in three months, if so. Mr Zoat, if that happens, do you have a new site to move to?

 

[Mquz]

…is this site hosted in America?

It may be taken down in three months, if so. Mr Zoat, if that happens, do you have a new site to move to?

Click to shrink...

What are you talking about? Can't find anything on new policy?

 

[Osserumb]

I believe it's an allusion to current political news.

 

[Neruz]

Ahh, the corporate lie.

Click to shrink...

To be fair; Lex's robots really don't seem to ever malfunction, and almost every time they do malfunction it turns out to have not actually been a malfunction at all.

 

[Bud-E]

I know Miss Teschmacher said that the only reason Janet has a job is that she makes a good damsel in distress, but I don't see it. Sure, she's only a little older than my documentation says I am, but that's really the only thing that might make her more appealing. Unless… I've never really noticed, but most people seem to think that Amazons are really attractive. So… Maybe I've just gotten used to a higher level of attractiveness?

Click to shrink...

Ha. Match is so used to 10's an 8 is unappealing!

 

[Ngamer11]

"That plan calls for using an attractive woman close to the target's age. He lives with Wonder Woman, and a island full of Amazons."

Click to shrink...

I was rereading parts of the latest episode and found an error. That should say 'an'.

 

[Mr Zoat]

"used to"

Click to shrink...

I was rereading parts of the latest episode and found an error. That should say 'an'.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

…is this site hosted in America?

It may be taken down in three months, if so. Mr Zoat, if that happens, do you have a new site to move to?

Click to shrink...

Rule enforcement on this site is almost entirely arbitrary, but I'm pretty sure that talking about an ongoing US presidential election would come under the enforced part of Rule 8.

Speaking in the abstract, I imagine that an anti-immigration candidate would be entirely happy to celebrate the work of whatever part of the nation's law enforcement establishment was responsible for ensuring that immigration law was followed. You don't follow 'Arrest that man!' with 'No, what are you doing!' when they actually do it.

 

[BoML]

Okay, that was mildly amusing, and I liked Match's "the straightest straight man" act to Janet's "foot in the mouth" disease.

Now, another thing I noticed in Story Only thread. Specifically, in this post:

"Are you certain? If I understand our position, those things are the only outside force that can threaten Tamaran."

"And.. maybe.. Apokolips, with boom tubes. I don't know how to block those. But.. I know, because they didn't immediately come after me. Larfleeze doesn't due deferred gratification or patience or.. strategy. If he did, he'd have found me already. And if his people haven't been to Tamaran already, I doubt that they're going to now."

King Myand'r nods. "Having heard your tale of what became of the Citadel Admiral, I am very glad that I didn't try wearing that ring."

Click to shrink...

Specifically, the bolded and underlined part. To me, that should say "doesn't do deferred gratification". Now, I will admit that I am not a native English speaker, but that bit just doesn't read right to me. Any meaning for the world "due" doesn't really fit to that sentence.

EDITED

 

[Mr Zoat]

Now, another thing I noticed in Story Only thread. Specifically, in this post:

Specifically, the bolded and underlined part. To me, that should say "doesn't do deferred gratification". Now, I will admit that I am not a native English speaker, but that bit just doesn't read right to me. Any meaning for the world "due" doesn't really fit to that sentence.

EDITED

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[boo600]

Thank you, corrected.

Rule enforcement on this site is almost entirely arbitrary, but I'm pretty sure that talking about an ongoing US presidential election would come under the enforced part of Rule 8.

Speaking in the abstract, I imagine that an anti-immigration candidate would be entirely happy to celebrate the work of whatever part of the nation's law enforcement establishment was responsible for ensuring that immigration law was followed. You don't follow 'Arrest that man!' with 'No, what are you doing!' when they actually do it.

Click to shrink...

My apologies. I do rather like this story, though - I merely hope it will remain available in its entirety, in years to come.

 

[Megaolix]

…is this site hosted in America?

It may be taken down in three months, if so. Mr Zoat, if that happens, do you have a new site to move to?

Click to shrink...

Don't even start. Drop it.

And let us worry about QQ itself ourselves.

 

[Ngamer11]

"Okay, so they come from a parallel Earth where almost everyone is suicidally depressed as a results of something called the Anti-Life. When they're brought here, the effect ends. Ultrawoman and Power Ring want to use people from my parallel to create a population who aren't as violent as local humans, so they can build a stable society for them to rule over. All of the people who come over are happy about it because they're not suicidally depressed anymore. I came here because I'm part of a superhero team on the other side. We're trying to fix the whole Anti-Life situation, but having somewhere to put the people we can't help yet would be really useful. On the other hand, a group calling themselves the Crime Syndicate of Amerika don't exactly instill confidence."

Click to shrink...

I was rereading and found an error. That should say 'result'.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I was rereading and found an error. That should say 'result'.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Mr Zoat]

April 28th, 2013
09:43 EST

Janet looks confused as she works the cafeteria coffee machine. "Oh, I don't know. I think that stuff gets handled at whatever department we send the data to. You'd have to ask Miss Teschmacher about it."

I nod as I look around the empty room. I always figured that every part of LexCorp would be a 24-7 operation, but I guess that Business Development isn't quite that time critical? If they're forecasting years or decades in advance, then there's no reason why a… A treasury report, or people starting buying slightly more hats all of a sudden really changes anything.

"Thanks."

She smiles as she puts the coffee down, and I can tell from the smell that she forgot the cream and sugar. If this is all it usually takes, I'm starting to get a little worried about how lonely male metahumans must be.

"It is a good idea though. I know we get loads of data on areas that LexCorp doesn't operate in. You should mention it to her next time you see her."

It wasn't anything radically clever on my part, but it would make sense for this part of the company to sell its conclusions to other businesses. Aside from anything else, it would let them mark out potential acquisition targets.

I take a sip of my coffee, which… Yeah, Ferdinand would put whoever made this through remedial coffee training. It's… Making me think about how lucky I am. I grow up in an embassy with someone as great as Princess Diana as my mom and Connor as my brother, and Johanna… Had none of that. No real parents and her sister got cut up for parts. I take another sip. It's… Pretty bad. I don't know if it's just me or something, but this sort of coffee combined with super smell and super taste… It's not a good combination. I can't just try and get used to it or ignore it, I've just got to accept the bitterness.

"Does this place always shut down on Sundays?"

"Not completely. Catering and I.T. are usually in doing cleaning or whatever while everyone else is on a break." She looks around like she's only just noticing that the place is empty. "Huh. I guess I'm just in early today."

Oh great. So they made sure that everyone except the company white goat is away from the site. Maybe when whatever they've got planned happens I can hide her in a cupboard and use some of my powers? But if there aren't any robots here then I don't really see what-.

"She-ee's a killah queeeeen!"

Janet grabs her phone. "Hey Miss Teschmacher! … Yeah, he's right here." She holds the phone away from her ear. "She says 'hey'." Hm? Oh yeah, just showing him around. … No, are we expecting anyone? A delivery? Ooh, does this mean that someone else has to carry it up this time?" She stares at my right arm for some reason. "Yes he does. … No, like, five feet away? … Okay. I will. See you on Monday!"

She puts the phone down.

"Okay, so apparently there's some kind of delivery coming today. Would you mind bringing it up for me?"

"Uh." I shrug. "Sure. I can do that. What is it?"

"Oh." She frowns. "She didn't say. Is it a problem?"

"Well, if it's something small then I don't mind but if it's something big then I might need help. Won't the delivery guys just bring it to where you ask?"

She shrugs. "Miss Teschmacher didn't think so. Maybe it's a security thing?"

"I'm not even a LexCorp employee."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have gotten this far if you hadn't passed vetting. And it's not like we don't know who you are. Wonder Woman suddenly having two sons was kind of a big deal. I mean, who are we gunna mistake you for, Clark Kent?"

Ah. "Who's that?"

"This reporter guy who did an article on our work one time. He made it sound really sinister."

I.. frown. "Sinister how?"

"Like… We worked out that the market in laundrette washing machines was gunna shrink in future even though demand was strong right then, and that went up to the Board and a couple of factories got shut down."

"Okay, that… Sounds like normal business to me."

"Yeah. But… Okay, so, apparently, during the… Thirties? Car companies used to buy up tram and bus companies and close them down to create more demand for cars. And so the article said that because we weren't producing as much while demand was high, then the price would go up, and then laundrettes can't get washers or parts then they go out of business so they put their prices up, which means that buying a home washer starts being a better choice. And, y'know, LexCorp makes them too."

"But if you make both, why do you care which one gets bought?"

"Oh, well, that actually made sense."

…

"Okay, how?"

"The laundrette models get used a lot more, right? So they're built to be easy to maintain and the laundrette attendants learn how to fix basic stuff. But the home versions are made to be smaller, so they can actually fit through regular-sized doors and into peoples' utility rooms and stuff. But that makes them harder to maintain and so they stop working after fewer washes."

That… Ah, that sounds like it could be true? I don't-. I only wash my own clothes on Themysicra, and they don't use modern machines to do it.

"So what do you think about that?"

"It's not like it's a sinister plot. It's just convenient not to have to take all your clothes down the street to wash them, and that's the way the market was going. It's not like we can mind control people into buying the things we want them to. And we're not the only company making washer-driers; if we were wrong then other companies will pick up the slack."

And… That sounds reasonable, too. I don't know. I always thought that LexCorp made most of its money in cutting edge technology, but I guess there's not much call for a superhero to know about the ins and outs of the washing machine market. You can't really punch normal business shenanigans, even if you wanted to.

I take a moment to think about where I'm planning on interning.

Maybe I could do more good here than I thought?

"Actually, you do look kinda like Clark Kent." Her eyes widen. "Oh God, is he your Dad?"

I let myself look as awkward as I feel. "Ah, he'd have been in high school, and Mom was still on Themyscira. You know, with no contact with the outside world and no men. I mean, if he was really good at swimming I guess it wouldn't be completely impossible, but, ah… No."

"So, like… Who is?"

"Ah…"

Bring-bring! Bring-bring!

Janet huffs, and then picks up her cell. "Y'ello? Okay, we'll be right down."

She hangs up and then stands up, giving me an excuse to abandon most of my coffee. "Okay, they're here. Let's head down."

I get up and follow her towards the elevator. "Did they say what it was?"

"No, but it sounded like it was a computer company, so I guess it was something… Computery?"

So, bulky, but not all that heavy. That sounds like something that I can carry without giving away how strong I really am. Unless…

"Do you have a sack barrow?"

"A what?"

I mime out using one. "Like a.. sort of L-shape, with handles and two wheels? It's used for moving boxes."

"Oh! Yeah, I know what you mean. There's one in the post room on the first floor."

"Great! Let's go get it."