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

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

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  1. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    also might be a wink to grayven
     
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  2. Xmaster3000

    Xmaster3000 Know what you're doing yet?

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    No, this is just Paul putting on a show for the audience.
     
  3. Steelplaza

    Steelplaza Custom Title

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    Wasn't the state Wilson started in Vermont, not Connecticut? I think that was mentioned back in the original Doppleganger story.

    Ah, yes, here:

    EDIT: It's much funnier if it's Vermont, because Vermont is famously a liberal, rural state without anything of national interest going on there, so a politician using it as ground zero for his "fuck supervillains" national movement has the kind of unreality aura we want to see in a mirror universe story.

    Also, want to ask about this:

    Somewhere with running water and "running champagne" doesn't sound much like:

    Where exactly is OL planning on sending these Syndicate members? I don't think they're going to be interested in going to poor third world countries where they don't speak the language there's not much to steal. They're going to want to go to rich countries, or at least places in poor countries where there is wealth they can steal and extort.

    This whole idea just seems really questionable as any kind of solution. They aren't all going to go, and President Wilson has made it clear that it's not the level of Syndicate presence in the US that determines his response.

    Meanwhile, OL is essentially exporting super-powered society destabilizers to other countries. Let's say Syndicate members go to, I don't know, Poland. They overthrow whatever organized crime there is and undertake a campaign of terror and destruction to extort as much money as they can from anyone in Poland with money. (And yes, I have a feeling Syndicate crime is going to be dramatically worse than the status quo, if only because local law enforcement is so much less prepared to deal with it.) So now the lives of the citizens of Poland are worse off. Is the net benefit to the safety of the world enough to justify sacrificing Polish lives and freedom? And even if it is in some mathematical sense, is it really moral to force the burden on people in another country in this way? Now repeat and multiply by every other country Syndicate members are going to.

    Remember, this isn't like the Crime Lodge and New York. Paul isn't advising them to conquer the countries, just become parasites using violence and superpowers to squeeze out as much money as possible.

    Still, maybe there's more to this plan that we're not seeing. Incidentally, I was reading through prior chapters and Don Scott made an interesting comment early on:

    This is the only time anyone implies that Wilson and Luthor are headed for a violent confrontation. In every other conversation, everybody talks like Luthor is going to play loyal support until "his turn" comes around and he gets in office the legal way. Now the question is, was Scott just saying whatever to try and calm Olympia down, or did he slip here and reveal something that doesn't match the story he wants to build for Orange Lantern later on? I mean, later in the same post he says this:

    Probably the earlier comment was just saying whatever to clam Olympia down, but I do wonder....
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2019
  4. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    Actually I believe that's a mistake, but not for the reason you think it was.

    The Super Family, being a bunch with superman level powers, retaliated when Wilson went to war against them, escalating the conflict til the the entire state might as well have been Afghanistan.

    While originally that state was Connecticut, I understand Zoat later changed that to Wisconsin.

    So that quote wasn't about getting idiots elected, but about the war with the authorities turning their areas into someplace that needs Red Cross to send in international humanitarian aid.

    And hence why it shouldn't be a surprise that the "good guys" here have a "I'll destroy the village to save the village" mentality, they already destroyed a state with their Leeroy Jenkins routine.
     
  5. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    The Vietnam War was only 30 years before before the 2nd Gulf War.

    Here we are talking a country with space forces, energy weapons, killer robots, kryptonian clones, and hover tanks fighting fighting countries that have stuff you would expect to see in real life 2000s.
     
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  6. Chaoswind

    Chaoswind Lord of nonsense

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    Nukes is the name of the game, in a world as fucked up as this one I doubt non proliferation had much of a leg to stand, IE no one in the international community is going to believe a piece of paper will be a worthwhile guarantee and certainly all bets were probably off the moment the US used tactical warheads to deal with a bunch of super criminals, because if the US is willing to nuke itself, then NO ONE is going to believe they would have any moral qualms to not nuke other countries, thus the only defense left is to have nukes and delivery mechanisms of their own, so I would expect everyone stable enough to not be a failed state to have a bunch of nukes of their own by now, with the more advanced delivery mechanisms being constructed as we speak.
     
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  7. Threadmarks: Doppelgängered (part 18)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    5th February
    20:56 GMT -5


    Raquel -14 stares blearily at me. "Dunno. Duncare. G't… Medicine."

    She pulls a hypospray out of her equipment harness, and injects herself. Medicine or 'medicine', I wonder? According to my ring it contains psychoactive substances which are.. moderating the negative effects of what Owlman put her through, though I doubt that some of those compounds are purely medicinal. The effect of the drug isn't immediate, but she starts looking more relaxed almost immediately. I wonder..? How many people associated with the Syndicate are like her, and would gladly walk away if they could get palliative care elsewhere?

    "Hey!" The local version of Artemis spots me with Raquel and glares at me. "What do you want?"

    "Arrowette, have you seen Talon? I need to talk to him ab-."

    "Don’t care. Saw him sneaking off with Sai. Went-" She waves her right arm at the stairs. "-that way."

    I frown. "Sai didn't work with Owlman's part of the Syndicate-."

    Arrowette snorts. "Uh, yeah, I don't think they're talking all that much."

    Ugh? Ring, Jason Todd -14 isn't any older than Jason Todd 16, is he?

    No. Jason Todd, born 16th August 1999.

    Twelve-? I blink. "You.. think-?"

    She makes an exhalation of exasperated contempt. "You're just as bad as your 'big brother'. We're supervillains. They wanna go off an' do whatever? Whatever. Following the rules got my Mom stuck in a wheelchair and turned.. my.. Dad into President Wilson's boyfriend who I couldn't pick out of a police line-up. Fuck the rules and fuck you."

    "U-uh." No, this is irrelevant. I'll just… Knock. "Does it not strike you as odd, your sister being a Made Man?"

    Artemis puts her left arm around Raquel, who instinctively leans into her. "Nah, she's great at this stuff."

    "Her.. alter ego was a supervillain on-."

    "Yeah well she's not her. We're not just evil versions of you, we're our own people who just happen to be kinda like you." She regards me for a moment, then grins. "Wait, are you banging her?"

    "I'm going to go and find T-"

    "Hah! You totally are! Guess bizarro-Zorina doesn't put out."

    "-alon." I turn away and head for the stairs. "Enjoy the party."

    "Don't think Talon likes guys! But you do you! Asshole!"

    I walk up the stairs and look around. Shadowcrest -14 is either bigger than its alter ego or they've increased its internal dimensions with magic. Or.. maybe it links seamlessly to other buildings? Don't know, and it's not particularly important anyway. Empathic vision is limited to relatively short range, and I'm not.. seeing what I remember from Talon.

    I pick a direction and start walking. Talon is Jason Todd, notable for being kind of a thug, dying, and coming back from the dead as a murderous vigilante when he wasn't a flat-out villain. Our Jason Todd is living in a Wayne Foundation-funded children's home, but… Artemis had a point. Comic Jason Todd ended up as he did for in-character reasons. He was a thug because that's the life he knew. He was trying to get better under Batman's tutelage, and died trying to rescue… Either his mother or a woman he thought was his mother -I don't remember which- from Mr Napier. When he was resurrected he was understandably angry with Batman for leaving the Joker alive, and reached the conclusion that Batman's methods wouldn't work.

    Owlman grabbed people off the streets and experimented on them. That doesn't generate the sort of loyalty and gratitude comic-Jason felt for his mentor. Talon probably only stayed on because Owlman controlled his cybernetics. Which creates a very different dynamic. Comic-Jason wanted to please his mentor. Talon wouldn't. Oh, he might accept Owlman's methodology, but he wouldn't accept his ends.

    And Jade? Okay, say she's a purely self-interested agent. It could be an opposite of neutral is still neutral thing. Jade 16 joined the Shadows because she knew how to locate them and wanted to learn what they had to teach. And as a result of her upbringing, she didn't have any real hang-ups about killing people. Jade -14? She'd have left home at roughly the same time as the Syndicate got together. So… She'd have known where to find them, her home life was in a similar place…

    But Jade 16 did that despite knowing that her father worked with them. And Jade -14 would know where to find… The US military, or… Whoever. Maybe… My own alter ego talked her around somehow? No, she wasn't part of his team, and she was already with the Syndicate before he got here. What motivates her? Well, her father is a hero, which means that however much she dislikes him she wouldn't hate him anything like as much as my Jade hates hers. So she wouldn't reject-.

    I step out onto a mezzanine overlooking a library. On the other side I see Sai in full costume walking down the staircase. No.. Talon in evidence.

    "Sai!" Her face mask turns my way. "I'm looking for Talon." I float up over the railing and drift towards her. "Do you know where I might find him?"

    "I'm not his keeper."

    Sounds just like my Jade. "I wasn't implying that you are." I land at the bottom of the stairs. "Artemis just said that you-."

    "Surprise!"

    Huh?

    My kinetic barrier flares into life as a.. female Joker-lookalike slams a mallet into the back of my head to absolutely no effect. I frown at her.

    "Yes, that… Was surprising. Doctor Quinzel once hit me with a mallet, but hers was inflatable."

    The young woman looks at the mallet. "Would'ja believe that's never happened to me before?"

    "I bet you say that to all the boys. Look, have either-?"

    I suppose that the poison gas in the flower is a... An evil clown classic. I step into it and grab her with both hands. Rings, remove her equipment and-

    Compliance.

    -then-.

    I recognise her emotional makeup. She's the person who appeared in the Mountain just before Q-Ranger. And she didn't evacuate with us, which means…

    "And you're a hero."

    She grins in that too-wide Smilex way Mister Napier is wont to do. "I'm not good, I'm just drawn this way."

    I scan the area, just catching Sai sprinting down a corridor before the house's magic disrupts things too much. And she won't be running towards Talon. Chasing her is a bad idea.

    "Talon's doing something, isn't he?"

    "He's suckin' alla the way to the center of a tootsie pop."

    "Brand."

    She shudders as the sigil appears. Nothing in the files suggests that Talon knows the first thing about magic. Ditto with Sai and whoever this woman is. They can't bring down the wards. Slade's people already have most of the identities of the Syndicate members. Attacking to try and free Dame Carol stopped being worthwhile this morning and I know that she's reported in.

    "Take me to Talon."

    "You got it, boss man."

    She vaults up the stairs and dashes down the corridor, me close at her heels. We take a right, head up a small flight of stairs and through a door…

    And see Talon look around as the Justice League shimmers into being in front of him.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2019
  8. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
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  9. Slayer Anderson

    Slayer Anderson Orthodox Heretic

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    Ah, but which Justice League...

    Paul's Justice League or the Justice League Animated Universe?
     
  10. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    Hmm. Perhaps Talon's position on the importance of personal agency extends to others, in a limited capacity?
     
  11. gustyeagle

    gustyeagle Know what you're doing yet?

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    I didn't even think that Justice League Animated Universe was even an option, but that would be amazing.
     
  12. Queshire

    Queshire Not too sore, are you?

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    So, the question of the day: which Justice League is this?

    EDIT: Dang, ninja'd
     
  13. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Is Talon trying to go good, or just getting rid of the competition before going underground is a better question.
     
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  14. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Slight problem with that logic... She's the crime universe counterpart of Earth-12 not the crime universe counterpart of Earth-16.

    So the answer is that Earth-12 Jade is probably just a Hero.

    Assuming this isn't an illusion and assuming Zoat doesn't massively nerf them it's going to suck to be Paul in a few minutes.
     
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  15. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    In her case, she's probably enjoying all the funny colors anyway...

    Ew...

    Double-Ew.

    Okay, I'm sure she's got her reasons, but... Damn, tone down the Bitch levels, girl.

    Bitchy yet perceptive. An annoying combination.

    Empathic vision is limited to relatively short range, and I'm not.. seeing what I remember from Talon.

    Superflous 'the' here.

    He'd happily jam a knife in Owlman's heart, if he had a way around the controls...

    And if the morality swap applies to the Shadows, she'd find a zen monastery full of martial arts masters devoted to improving mankind...

    Ugh, Joker's Daughter? Then again, the Joker doesn't exist here does he? (except as either Red Hood or some heroic jokester)

    Fitting...

    Jessica Rabbit you ain't.

    These two words seem transposed.

    "He's suckin' alla the way to the centre of a tootsies pop."

    Hoo boy. Which universe is this lot from then?

    Incoming obligatory 'let's you and him fight' pre-teamup situation detected!
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2019
  16. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    Not as amazing as Grayven's Justice League.
     
  17. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  18. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    Paul is the best supervillain.
     
  19. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    I think Talon just wants revenge.
     
  20. Razorfloss

    Razorfloss I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    talon is going to try and burn this place to ground not giving two-figs about who is collateral damage
     
  21. Prince Charon

    Prince Charon Just zis guy, you know?

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    Before she had the Cosmic Staff, she had a Cosmic Converter Belt, that was used by the original Star-Spangled Kid (who later went by 'Skyman,' before being killed in a way that I won't go into because you can follow the link - though it's slightly more complicated than the current version of the wiki states). So, it's not like she was unprotected.
     
  22. Buggy123

    Buggy123 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Eh, probably. But Earth-12 seems to share a lot of aspects of Earth-16, including the existence of Young Justice and its roster. There's a good chance that Jade is the same instead of being a hero.

    If they didn't fight him when he admitted to committing xenocide, they ain't going to fight him for working with criminals while himself doing almost nothing illegal, for the sake of things like avoiding "retaw si alobe".
     
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  23. Badass6969

    Badass6969 Well worn.

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    I know it’s been awhile since it was posted but where’s Part 20 of that Indigo Lantern snip? Because I’m really wondering if any supers blew up on Saul or were extremely baffled that the guy’s NOT A FAKE douchebag or has horrible vices
     
  24. l---erddad---l

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

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    ...That would be a terrifyingly inefficient way of killing everybody on Earth. Like, at least cast a spell to turn the White House into Antimatter if you're going that far!
     
  25. Buggy123

    Buggy123 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Depends a lot on the limitations, honestly. There are probably a fair few ways to munchkin it, but we'd need to know more details about it.
     
  26. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    That would break the one hard rule of the crime verse.

    Wrong Justice League, all signs point to this being the JLAU version.

    And that threat? That would just have JLAU Batman pulling a vial of Ebola cure from a pouch on his belt.
     
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  27. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    I think the effect is intended to be more localized. Such as with, say, "Lla negyxo sag, evael siht ytic!"

    Spoken from the outskirts, of course.
     
  28. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    I've been reading old threads, and I came across a note Mr Zoat put during episode 26 that said Arisia Rrab would appear in the story a few weeks after Zatanna's birthday on 2012, which happened earlier in this episode. Mr Zoat, will we be seeing her soon? I remember you putting a post in SV that had her as a future member of the Team.
     
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  29. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

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    Ok, I have to comment because nobody is saying it. This Earth -14? It is not the opposite to the DCAU. This Justice League? It most probably is not the Justice League from the DCAU.

    How can you tell? Easy, the Green Lantern is Hal Jordan and I don't remember seeing any Hawkgirl in the movie. In fact, I think the wiki has it categorized under different labels as well. I mean, even the Aquaman is different and it is not just slight changes in the animation.

    Besides that, with how Zoat has already modified Earth 16 and also Earth -14, they seem to be a parallel of each other; I mean, there was never any glimpse of any Young Offenders (obviously) but still here they are and they seem to parallel Earth 16 (what with Lamprey, Zorina, Arrowette and now Raquel as well).

    On the other hand, maybe the Justice League that just warped in is the Justice League from this Earth, Luthor and/or his pals; I think they call themselves that as well, unless the Illustres calls them Justice Underground (which obviously they are not anymore).
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2019
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  30. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    In the part you didn't quote, I mentioned her second device, the superspeed and agility it gives her, and one of her feats from her series, so the odds of my somehow being ignorant of the character seems pretty small. :)

    Anyway, I'm just thinking how badly Talon playing with an interdimensional device could have gone.

    The only reason he couldn't have summoned the Blood League, as an example, is Zoat's distaste for post flashpoint material.

    I for one though would have found the war between Wilson and the Syndicate being disrupted by a vampire apocalypse amusing.

    As Mengsk mentioned in a Starcraft novel, in chess "you don't have to worry about a massive wave of green pieces coming in from the side to suddenly wipe everyone out."
     
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