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

Ngamer11 · 2026-02-25T09:00:39+0000

I see. Since whoever this is failed to kill the Renegade, they're trying to twist his followers into doing it for them.

Vaermina · 2026-02-25T09:07:10+0000

Ngamer11 said:
I see. Since whoever this is failed to kill the Renegade, they're trying to twist his followers into doing it for them.

Seems kind of odd when their previous tactic was successfully wearing Grayven down.

Darko · 2026-02-25T09:13:23+0000

Vaermina said:
Seems kind of odd when their previous tactic was successfully wearing Grayven down.

They may have viewed Renegade as being the biggest threat, so they decided to focus most of their fire power on him.

The fact that he also recently used the Sword of the Fallen may make them worry that the others may have something similar.

And using psychological warfare against Renegade wouldn't really be that effective since aside from his Anti-Life exposure he doesn't really have any traumatic experiences that he couldn't power through if he needed to.

Imane does have issues that can be exploited.

Agumentic · 2026-02-25T09:37:28+0000

Ngamer11 said:
I see. Since whoever this is failed to kill the Renegade, they're trying to twist his followers into doing it for them.

It's probably more about Iname than about the Renegade. Trying to hurt her by undermining the core of her life and Godhood.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-02-25T09:38:03+0000

Mr Zoat said:
20th August 2013
11:09 GMT -7

I don't like leaving Master like that. I know he can beat the giant snake, but abandoning him while he's fighting feels wrong. I will just have to find out what is at the impact site-

I stop at the edge of the impact site.

-really quickly!

Careful, Misa-chan. Leaping before you look will be just as troublesome, and speedsters are really good at that despite how fast they can think. Especially with foes about...

It's actually so big that it's hard to see. I thought that there might be a big hole or something sticking out, but it's just… Slightly rockier rock? I can't see any buildings, or any people, or any plants or animals-.

Oh. No, there's a building.

Pretty accurate, other than the building. It took years for the Chixculub crater to be identified as such, and they only did it by comparing geological samples and satellite photography. They aren't all obvious like places like the Barrington crater.

I put my goggles on and turn up the magnification. I could run over to it much faster, but Master wants me to be cautious. So I will look carefully-.

That's my house. My house is in Japan. Why is my house-?

Okay, whatever's behind this can multitask, if it's running cons on two people at once. Probably three, once we see what Persuader's up to. Also, a Japanese suburban house just sitting out in the middle of nowhere? Getting kind of Silent Hill up in here.

I don't move my goggles, I just sprint a mile away in less than a second and turn on the telepath scrambler on my armour. And I could call upon Master's power for help, but he might need it. Swift and Precise

I stop, looking around me to see if anything was trying to take advantage of my ah!

I wouldn't be surprised if the power doing this could suppress that connection anyway...

My house is now in front of me.

That is not right.

Darn tooting! Tres Creepy.

I know that it is possible to move a house, with teleporters or levitation or just being really strong. I asked Master if he could pick up a house once and said that the only reason he couldn't was because it would fall apart.

I look at the bottom of the wall in case someone has made something that looks like my house with local rock, but it doesn't look like they have. It looks exactly like I remember it-.

If it was moved suddenly, there'd be a very obvious discontinuity at the seam for sure.

No. It is not quite-. I painted it again, after-. I painted it. And Sunset helped! She was much better at controlling the brushes than Mickey Mouse was. But it hasn't looked like this-.

I turn around and run two miles this time-

...I...

What in the Disney Adults??

-and I'm through the door even though I stop as fast as I can, and the door is shut before I reach it.

It didn't teleport, it was just there. And now I'm inside my house-.

Oh, hell no. If this was a game, this would be where the average player would insta-quit.

I look down at my naginata. It isn't good for narrow corridors or furnished rooms, when you are not sure where the attack will comer from. And whatever is doing this can move things faster than I can run.

I set the naginata aside and draw my kama.

Ironic, as the naginata was seen as a favourable weapon for noblewomen, and the halls of their mansions were likely not that much wider than modern homes. Then again, her design is probably a bit more scythe-like for style reasons...

Normally, I could just run out of the door, or vibrate through the walls. But I have seen horror movies, and spoken to Kid Flash about his training exercises. Whoever did this would not trap me in my fake house if I could easily escape. I will not even try and do something that foolish.

Well, sensible of her to not waste her energy trying... Probably disappointing whatever's doing this, if it has any conscious feelings on the matter.

I walk slowly towards the stairs, keeping careful watch on my surroundings and activating my communicator. Inevitable Victory

"Iname to Master. And Persuader? Please reply when you can."

Given they couldn't see each other despite not being that far apart, I suspect each of them is in their own little illusion...

Nothing is making creepy noises, which is nice. But it doesn't make sense. Why would someone make a horror movie set on a planet no one is using? If they wanted to fight me it would much easier to make a bomb or a cold zone.

I turn my head to make sure that I take in everything.

Careful, you may notice something uncanny. Honestly, that might be why Japanese horror stuff feels creepier to westerners not used to it: That sense of the uncanny, the alienness of their narrative tropes...

Supervillains do stupid and wasteful things all of the time, but I don't have any enemies because I always kill them. I don't think that many other people know about me. Would Master's father do something like this? I think he would, but he would be more likely to have someone else do it for him. But there is no way for him to know that we would be here in advance. Unless they were following us and made a giant snake and my house really quickly? Master never said anything about his people being able to do that… An illusion?

People forget it, but Amane Misa was no idiot in the original Death Note series either. Or rather, she wasn't dumb, merely... Unwise?

I wrap my knuckle against the wall as I make my way up the stairs.

It feels real… And I cannot go around assuming that everything around me is not real.

Wouldn't do to ignore a blow coming at you just because you want to 'Roll to disbelieve' like it's D&D.

Check around me. Still nothing is happening.

I am feeling a bit silly about being scared of my own house.

Eh, it depends on whether it feels like your house or not. A slight difference in colour here, a slight tilt there... Little unsettling things that add up.

The landing is clear. The door to my room is slightly open, but I think that… I didn't always close it fully. Master said that the English word for that is 'sneck'. He said that his human family used it in Scrabble once. The doors to the bathroom and my p-. To the other rooms, are closed.

Actually true. Amazing, the vocabulary you learn when reading (or writing) fanfiction. And that's worrying, how she's blocking off all thoughts of her trauma...

I can't hear anything, just normal house sounds-.

No rain. The rain has stopped. But it shouldn't. The clouds haven't gone anywhere.

For all we know, the rain is just part of the illusory environment to begin with. No better way to make someone miserable than making them wet.

I carefully walk towards my door, and push the door open.

It's my room. I can see out of the window, and it isn't raining. The… Window isn't even wet, and it looked wet from the outside. In fact…

Now see, you cut an environmental cue liek that out so abruptly, it starts to break the illusion. Whatever's behind this seems a little amateurish.

I carefully cross the room, ready for any trouble. But nothing happens, as-.

That isn't right. The view out of the window is the same as at home in Japan, which is a very long way from here. The teacher John Constantine told me that he knows a spell to replace the view through one window with the view from another-.

I bet it's more like a deep canvas sort of 'depth' than anything. Like a skybox placed around the building with parallax to fool the eye.

I know this-. I remember those cars. I remember-.

"Misa-chan?"

Oh. Don't need skill when the person has a big old trauma button right there to mash like an arcade shooter.

I shudder.

"Are you coming to watch it with us?"

The worst kind of honey trap. A happy moment, but if she lets herself fall into it, everything goes far, far more wrong than really happened.

Mama-?

I run towards the door but I'm not moving! I'm slow! And I hear the front door opening before I even reach the landing, and Pap shouting-!

Hell, it's even messing with her ability to use her powers. Drawback of a less resilient metaphysique...

Why can't I move!

My bedroom door closes in front of me, and I grab the handle and yank on it and it's stuck! I pull and pull-!

That's it, fight. Don't let it suck you in...

My left foot kicks against-. My kama, I dropped them-. Pick them up! And slash! No Barrier Impedes

I cut the hinges and the lock and kick, and my door falls onto the landing, and run! I don't use the stairs, I just throw myself towards the ground! Towards the living room-!

They're already dead.

I didn't see them like this. Not when it happened. I just-. They're posed just like in the police photographs, only the blood is more fresh. I sheath my kama and-. And check Mama's neck. Her wrist. Her life.

The backstory trauma of dead parents... Right in her PTSD...

Dead.

I do the same for papa. He's dead too. I know he's dead. That they're both dead. But-.

If she could focus, she'd remember she has power, and that she sought that power because of this...

But I'm already trying to think of a reason why someone would do this. My house, my p-. Parents. To show that they know me? Something preventing me getting down here in a fraction of a second, and that's something that I should have been able to do easily. To make me afraid? To-?

Or something with little to no cognitive processes latching onto a traumatic moment and metaphorically slapping you with it to make you go away...

The blood is fresh. He might still be here.

I killed the real murderer, but doing it again might-.

Goddammit, Misa. Hook, line and sinker.

"Ah, Imane."

Master?

I turn around, and he's holding my naginata. And the… Point is covered in blood?

Oh, brother, talk about crude.

"I suppose it's about time that you knew."

What?

"It was always me. I killed your parents to create you."

Unfortunately, she's not really thinking clearly right now, so this sort of 'confession' scene is likely to send her haring off in search of the Renegade.

I'm still not sure if this is something playing games with them, trying to persuade them to kill each other for fun or if it's some kind of defensive system guarding the crater, but there is definitely something orchestrating these scenarios. The question is will the Renegade have to defend himself from his subordinates and if they'll last long enough to find out what and why...

WereDragon · 2026-02-25T10:50:17+0000

Mr Zoat said:
"It was always me. I killed your parents to create you."

Because of course telling someone something when they are blatantly trapped in an illusion is so persuasive. /sarcasm

Ngamer11 said:
I see. Since whoever this is failed to kill the Renegade, they're trying to twist his followers into doing it for them.

Pretty sure the git doing this could kill them all with a snap of the fingers. They are playing a very different game.
...just wish the story wasn't wasting a whole chapter on said game.

Duke Long · 2026-02-25T11:33:45+0000

Mr Zoat said:
I know that it is possible to move a house, with teleporters or levitation or just being really strong. I asked Master if he could pick up a house once and said that the only reason he couldn't was because it would fall apart.

'he said'?

Mr Zoat said:
I look down at my naginata. It isn't good for narrow corridors or furnished rooms, when you are not sure where the attack will comer from. And whatever is doing this can move things faster than I can run.

'come'

Mr Zoat said:
Supervillains do stupid and wasteful things all of the time, but I don't have any enemies because I always kill them.

…Maybe she doesn't know that resurrection is possible? But more seriously, I doubt she has fought many people who have the ability to do something like this.

Mr Zoat said:
I wrap my knuckle against the wall as I make my way up the stairs.

'rap', unless Iname is confused about the spelling.
'knuckles'?

Mr Zoat said:
I run towards the door but I'm not moving! I'm
slow! And I hear the front door opening before I even reach the landing, and Pap shouting-!

'Papa'?

Mr Zoat said:
I didn't see them like this. Not when it happened. I just-. They're posed just like in the police photographs, only the blood is more fresh. I sheath my kama and-. And check Mama's neck. Her wrist. Her life.

'sheathe'

Mr Zoat said:
I do the same for papa. He's dead too. I know he's dead. That they're both dead. But-.

'Papa'?

Mr Zoat said:
"Ah, Imane."

'Iname'
or
'Amane', unless the illusion has her name wrong.

Mr Zoat said:
"It was always me. I killed your parents to create you."

Hahaha, this is class. I will be a bit disappointed if Iname believes this.

Ngamer11 said:
I see. Since whoever this is failed to kill the Renegade, they're trying to twist his followers into doing it for them.

Darko said:
They may have viewed Renegade as being the biggest threat, so they decided to focus most of their fire power on him.

The fact that he also recently used the Sword of the Fallen may make them worry that the others may have something similar.

And using psychological warfare against Renegade wouldn't really be that effective since aside from his Anti-Life exposure he doesn't really have any traumatic experiences that he couldn't power through if he needed to.

Imane does have issues that can be exploited.

We saw that this thing might have some sense of morality earlier, so it's possible that it views Iname as someone who has unfortunately been tricked into following an evil master, and so it doesn't want to kill her.

Could also be that this thing has some limited reserve of illusion juice, and it's not confident in winning a war of attrition against Grayven.

The Sword of the Fallen is a fairly likely candidate for the difference in behaviour, since it one-shot the Provider and this entity seems incapable of depowering it as it depowers other equipment, which might have spooked it a little.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Ironic, as the naginata was seen as a favourable weapon for noblewomen, and the halls of their mansions were likely not that much wider than modern homes. Then again, her design is probably a bit more scythe-like for style reasons...

Note the mention of 'when you don't know where the attack will come from'. I imagine a defending noblewoman typically would know where it was coming from, so the situation is incomparable.

Mr Zoat · 2026-02-25T12:14:53+0000

Duke Long said:
'he said'?
'come'
'rap', unless Iname is confused about the spelling.
'knuckles'?
'Papa'?
'sheathe'
'Papa'?
'Iname'
or
'Amane', unless the illusion has her name wrong.

Thank you, corrected.

Steelplaza · 2026-02-25T13:21:19+0000

This is really starting to seem like Black Mercy type effect. Mind controlling these three past their anti-mind-control would be difficult, but surely not as difficult as reshaping reality like clay while ignoring all their exotic defenses.

Signaller · 2026-02-25T13:37:29+0000

I honestly forgot that Misa wasn't just an obscure DC character that Zoat pulled out from an archive.

Signaller · 2026-02-25T13:45:30+0000

Mr Zoat said:
The teacher John Constantine told me that he knows a spell to replace the view through one window with the view from another-.

I dont know for sure but I'd guess just "teacher Constantine" as a translation from Sensei, without a first name? As an aside, a quick google says it'd be コンスタンティン which is transliterated as Konsutantin, apparently the closest that set of phonemes allowes.

Huttj509 · 2026-02-25T14:26:53+0000

WereDragon said:
Because of course telling someone something when they are blatantly trapped in an illusion is so persuasive. /sarcasm

It's some sort of mental attack preying on memories and emotions (either directly, or in service of the attack).

Grayven was able to pull out of it easily due to his connection to Luna, and that being a firm thing to focus on.

Note that Mina knows the house is fake, that someone's messing with her, but the scenario with her parents still affected her strongly.

Just because you know it's false doesn't mean it won't pull at your brain in debilitating ways.

hkim · 2026-02-25T15:40:02+0000

Ngamer11 said:
I see. Since whoever this is failed to kill the Renegade, they're trying to twist his followers into doing it for them.

The timestamps on that section and this one are about a minute apart - they're happening simultaneously and I bet there's a Persuader bit too.

Bigreader · 2026-02-25T18:11:48+0000

I've forgotten the origin of this speedster. Also, did they do a Kingdom Hearts and meet mickey mouse at some point in some other universe, because she mentioned how mickey mouse didn't paint as well as some other person.And that struck me as odd

Duke Long · 2026-02-25T18:43:58+0000

Bigreader said:
I've forgotten the origin of this speedster. Also, did they do a Kingdom Hearts and meet mickey mouse at some point in some other universe, because she mentioned how mickey mouse didn't paint as well as some other person.And that struck me as odd

She's Miss Amane from the Death Note anime. She exists in this universe because of Ambush Bug's bugs. She met Grayven via his Japanese ogre tentacle orgies (I think?), and asked him to kill the murderer of her parents. Instead he made her a speedster New God and let her kill him herself.

Mr Zoat · 2026-02-25T20:34:08+0000

Bigreader said:
I've forgotten the origin of this speedster. Also, did they do a Kingdom Hearts and meet mickey mouse at some point in some other universe, because she mentioned how mickey mouse didn't paint as well as some other person.And that struck me as odd

View: https://youtu.be/B4M-54cEduo?si=EdPXS_Lh76wBHTUz&t=9

Zig · 2026-02-25T20:42:22+0000

Duke Long said:
She's Miss Amane from the Death Note anime. She exists in this universe because of Ambush Bug's bugs. She met Grayven via his Japanese ogre tentacle orgies (I think?), and asked him to kill the murderer of her parents. Instead he made her a speedster New God and let her kill him herself.

Wait really? I thought she was just some random Japanese girl named Misa that he met and then gave her the god name Iname as an inside joke to himself?

Someguy Somewhere · 2026-02-25T21:02:39+0000

You Know....I thought it was policy for Gravyen to send Drones First....after the whole Castle Doom thing. Really failing to follow your own SOP manuals here with this exploration....leaping before looking really is Renegades Kryptonite.

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

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