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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. Threadmarks: Realigned (part 10)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    6th February
    17:09 GMT


    "Hey."

    Onigar Ton's head floats just above Guy's ring as we fly across one of the planet's oceans. There won't really be any way to disguise that we've spoken to her, but hopefully it should be possible to disguise that we're going to speak to her. Once we're there, we…

    "A.. Green Lantern? What do you want?"

    Well, we can protect her in the short term. And while we.. could evacuate her from the planet if the government decides that talking to us warrants her death I don't really want to mess up her life like that.

    "I just recently heard how War Hounds get made. I wanna talk to somebody who cares about it. You got half an hour?"

    "Y-e-. Yes. I do. Where do you want to meet?"

    "
    We can be anywhere on the planet in about three seconds, so wherever's good for you. We could probably move you someplace else if that'd be safer."

    "No. If a Green Lantern is involved then they have bigger problems than me. I'll meet you at my apartment-"


    I raise my right forefinger to my head.

    "-in eight minutes-"

    The walls of her apartment are block-printed in blue and red, and there's a certain 50's science fiction feel to the design. Slightly larger than the human equivalent furnishings and objects would be, though I'm not sure if that's a style choice or an adaptation to the fact that a War Hound might visit. Xor didn't ever describe their living arrangements to me so I've got no idea whether or not Onigar was living with her parents when he was arrested. Not that I think they'd have hired a new ex-War Hound after what happened.

    "-once I've had a chance to put some clothes…"

    Onigar turns around, holocom unit in hand and a nightdress-.

    "On."

    I turn away.

    "Sorry, sorry. Should have waited until you finished your sentence."

    I hear Guy's snort.

    "It would have been polite. You're not Green."

    "No. The Orange Lantern Corps is a new organisation. Ah. Would you prefer it if I left for eight minutes?"

    "I'm not prudish, I just wanted to seem professional. Lantern Gardner… Two minutes?"

    "Sure thing."

    I hear her set the holocom handset down, then head out of the room.

    "What is your name, Orange Lantern?"

    Ring.

    "Illustres Paul."

    "And what is an Illustres?"

    "Most Green Lanterns patrol regions of space called Sectors. The Honour Guard are an elite force reserved for the toughest opponents. They are led by an Illustres. Above the Illustres is the Clarissi, who manages the Corps on a day to day basis."

    "And the Orange Lantern Corps is the same?"

    "We're a newer organisation. My position is equivalent, but it won't mean as much until we've actually got some Honour Guard level Lanterns for me to lead."

    I hear a rustle of cloth, and turn towards the doorway she walked through.

    "Would it be helpful if I swept the premises for monitoring devices?"

    "No. As I said, there is no sense in murdering me. While my outspokenness has led to my censure, I'm simply not relevant enough to anger anyone capable of ordering an assassination."

    She walks back in, wearing a Star Trek style suit in green and blue.

    "So unless there is anything specific which you wish to say and do not wish to be overheard, there would be little point."

    "Thank you for speaking to us, and again, I'm sorry for appearing like that."

    "Mm. Teleportation?"

    "Effectively. But I can't take passengers, which is why Lantern Gardner stayed where he is."

    She nods. "What species are you?"

    "Human." I generate a stellar map. "The Alignment is here-" I mark it. "-and my own dear homeworld is here."

    "One world? And it produced two high-ranked Lanterns?"

    "Three. And three other Lanterns. Currently in service." I frowns. "Sorry. Four other Lanterns."

    "You have so many that you forgot one?"

    "She's new. Sort-" There's a knock on the balcony's sliding door, Guy still smiling at my faux pas as I turn to face him. "-of."

    Onigar waves at the door, which slides open to allow Guy access. Hm. This tower is tall, but those surrounding it aren't much shorter. Given how Lanterns glow I'm pretty sure that her near-neighbours will be talking about this. Which… Might create a situation in which the government's assassins -if such assassins truly exist- can't afford not to kill her in order to save face. But… She knows her government better than I do.

    "Thanks. Sorry about Paul. He doesn't always think before he teleports."

    "He has apologised for himself." She glances at me before returning her attention to Guy. "Would you like to take a seat?"

    "Yeah, thanks." He steps forward. "Who ex-?"

    His environmental shield ripples as a high velocity round strikes him on the shoulder.

    "Huh?"

    Guy looks towards the balcony-

    Armour, construct armour, construct armour for her-

    -as a volley of shots strike him in the chest.

    -and a kinetic barrier-.

    The ceiling gives way as-. Xor-? No, regular War Hounds, three of them, enter the apartment through it, plasma projectors… Stowed as they lunge at us bare-handed.

    Guy generates a shield and launches himself off the balcony, heading for the snipers operating out of the building opposite. I send out a kinetic barrier, causing the closest War Hound to run straight into it and rebound. The second grunts in pain as I turn aside his punch with a crumbler gauntlet -no force field- and then shudders as I apply a brand. The third goes for his plasma projector, but a construct pincer grabs the fuel cell and pulls it free before it can build up a charge. He swings the butt of the gun at my head, the gun crumpling against my armour as my brand on his colleague completes. I try construct manacles, but he tears those apart easily so I opt for a brand again, my armour just about strong enough to hold him off until my sigil appears on his forehead.

    I take a step back.

    "Ms Ton, are you alright?"

    "W-? Yes, but this makes no sense. Why-?"

    "It looks like someone thinks you're worth killing after all."
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2019
  2. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    There's an issue with the size.
     
  3. Travisplo

    Travisplo Dapper Necromonsieur, a fine undead gentleman

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    Zoat, formatting issue. XP
     
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  4. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    If I correct it before you post it doesn't count.
     
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  5. Yog

    Yog Know what you're doing yet?

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    Hmm, interesting. Clearly, something is going on. My guess it's a coup attempt of some sort. Someone decided to replace "honor" with "blind obedience to General EvilMcEvilFace", and wants to keep the attention off the War Hounds while the new generation replaces the previous ones? Or maybe they are doing away with service limits, turning War Hounds into a full-on slave caste? Or maybe it's War Hounds themselves who are doing the coup.

    The interesting part is that this is clearly a panic response - because trying to assassinate a honour guard Grean Lantern, and an Orange Illustres, knowing at the very least that said Illustres is, well, Illustres, is not a far thought-out action.
     
  6. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    Good thing they didn't wait the full eight minutes, huh?
     
  7. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    That should merit a full response from Paul, Guy, and the local GL. Just give them a few hours and the people behind all of this will be apprehended. All they did by attacking was make their inevitable capture much more swift. Combat isn't the main draw of this episode, but the intrigue. Hopefully it pays off in the end.
     
  8. Z000

    Z000 If this is trash, then find me in the dumpster

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    why do they think this is a good idea

    if this was on Earth then sure, some idiot may be actually capable of surprise shank Paul and Guy but out here in the middle of average-vile, what do they expect those snipe to do, tickle them ?
     
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  9. Jormuungaand

    Jormuungaand Out of work World Serpent

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    No closing quotation marks.
     
    Mr Zoat likes this.
  10. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    ...hopefully won't walk into an assassination attempt.

    Should his entire speech be green if he's talking?

    Wait a second, OL...

    Dammit, OL!

    Oh, you are never living this one down.

    Facts not known to all that many, it seems.

    I hope you're certain of that...

    So, tight-fitted pants and jacket, with boots and a tendency to ride up when seated? :p

    So casual about it... Then again, I doubt Earth is of that much interest to most.

    Say it with me: Earth Bullshit.

    Extraneous space.

    Wheels within wheels, plans within plans...

    Called it! Assassination attempt!

    Not going for kills, then. Presumably the snipers were a distraction.

    Total time, all of five seconds. High level PCs are crazy broken.

    Indeed. [/spock]

    Welp, this is gonna go well. Someone has an interest in her not talking...
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2019
  11. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Honesty, like killing a GL would be a good idea.

    Even a rookie can make themselves bulletproof, and a single GL can take down a whole crew of spaceships.

    Worse, not the GLs have an official reason to investigate.

    And let's not forget the OCP that is Oh El.
     
  12. Buggy123

    Buggy123 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Hmm, should any of this be orange? I can't remember what the standard is for ring actions like this.


    Eh, I think it was just a normal attempted assassination, and they ended up attacking the lanterns because "Shit, call it off! They brought a army and we didn't!" couldn't quite make it through the command chain in time.
     
  13. Sorrow

    Sorrow Getting sticky.

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    What does OCP stand for?
     
  14. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  15. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Ah, evil stupidity, how you weren't missed.

    "Sir, they just explained to her how they are both high ranking Lanterns coming from a world that produced seven Lanterns total"
    "Excellent. Order our men to attack using conventional weapons. Oh, and have the Hounds go for hand to hand combat"
    "Brilliant sir. It will be done immediately"
     
  16. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    Outside Context Problem
     
  17. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

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    Good thing he didn't wait for 8 mins.... hell, he didn't even wait 8 seconds.
     
  18. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    Outside Context Problem. As Gamurath has already said. First mentioned AFAIK by Iain M. Banks in his novel Excession, which is part of his Culture series of books.
     
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  19. Prosecutor-0

    Prosecutor-0 Getting out there.

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    If you start writing about nasty hobbitses and "my precious", I'm outta here… :p
     
  20. bobsimmo

    bobsimmo Simmr001 on SV/SB

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    Guy, Hal, John, Paul, Alan.... both Carol's?
     
  21. Twilight666

    Twilight666 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Guy, Hal and Paul are the high-ranked Lanterns.
    The three others are Alan, John and the Russian rookie.

    And Carol -14 is the sorta new one
     
  22. thepsyborg

    thepsyborg Not too sore, are you?

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    It would not surprise me if there are more people capable of being a genuinely existential threat to Earth and/or the human species, solely on their individual efforts, on Earth than off it.
     
  23. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

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    Does Carol -14 really count? I mean, she's in Zamaron right now, came from a parallel universe and do we know if she's going to stay in this one?
     
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  24. Sad Machine

    Sad Machine Unshackled Unclaimed

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    Mr Zoat did Paul ever talk to Zod again?
     
  25. Mquz

    Mquz Versed in the lewd.

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    So... if they were gonna assassinate her with a sniper shot... why not just go for it? They managed to get Guy’s shoulder, and she wouldn’t have immediately blabbed. Could have gotten her in a few minutes, before she could have said anything. Also, headshot her instead of going for the low lethality target (shoulder). This is likely a capture / bodyguard team.
     
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  26. Xelloss

    Xelloss Know what you're doing yet?

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    Well, she is human so it probably counts
     
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  27. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Mr Zoat, in the TV Tropes entry for this fic, there is a trivia page filled with the things you said will happen in the future. It's still not full, but you can look it up to check if you forgot something.
     
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  28. Amrynel

    Amrynel Wat.

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    OL observes the surrounding buildings "aren't much shorter". Could've been aimed at the lady's head and Guy's shoulder (closer to the window) happened to get in the way since he'd just been in the middle of stepping forward (or it turned an upper torso shot aimed at Guy into a shoulder shot). Guess we may find out soon.
     
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  29. CTrees

    CTrees Chasing the ring

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    The others left off the excellent quote:

    "An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop."

    Essentially, an OCP isn't just a problem a society is unprepared for, but one which they have no reason to believe could exist. Say, if our world was suddenly attacked by the Red Lantern Corps, or historically, certain native populations dealing with invasion by people with guns.
     
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  30. inglorius

    inglorius Getting sticky.

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    Realigned (part 6):
    Double quotation mark at the end.
    Unless those "assasins" had no idea what Green Lantern is, this looks like deliberate sabotage. Conflict between honor and orders, which we were hinted at?
     
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