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

27th December 2004
21:21 GMT -5

"…still say-" I point my right arm at an automated gun turret and fire a fusion beam at it, burning metal and detonating the power cell. "-that we should call this 'Plan Gorkamorka'."

Kara uses her heat vision to stencil a section of metal wall in the side of the prison camp, which Batson grabs and uses to snowplough eight of the lizarkon garrison into their own barracks before folding it around to trap them there.

"Why would we call-" A marksman in the guard tower hits her with a focused plasma beam. She ignores the hit and stares at the gun, melting the metal of the containment chamber without puncturing the plasma bottle or battery. The sniper drops it and scrambles back at once. "-it that?"

"Because it's a perfect combination of-"
We Are Assailed!
"-cunning and brutality!" That wasn't me. An automatic system, or… Apokoliptian technology here, he'd feel it. I'm not totally sure how it works. Rally to My Flag.

A wing of gordanians with flight packs shoots over the blasted remains of the old thanagarian defence silo, weapons at the ready. Then they spot me and freeze in bewilderment. United, Divides.

Ball and chain constructs appear around their left legs, causing them to plummet to the ground. A group of air stewardess constructs then appear and with a smile neatly pluck their guns out of their unresisting hands.

I should probably take a look at their.. gear at some point. See if my alter ego has learned anything about how to make New God technology easier to use for people who aren't New Gods. It would certainly help me with sprucing up the Watchtower if John wasn't the only one who could use the upgrades.

"No one else knows what it means!"

One frustrated glance at me, then she rockets into the sky to intercept.. a fighter squadron flying in from Thandalar. Pretty good response time.

Eliza appears in front of me, dropping numerous examples of Apokoliptian technology on the ground in front of me as she does so. "This what you want?"

"Yes, thank you. Good fetching."

I float them up so I can get a better look at them. Nothing particularly outstanding, they're mostly just the bare minimum he needs for expanding his awareness. I begin constructing an aura disruptor, ignoring the explosions as the fighters lose their fight with Kara and collide with the ground. Kara drops down a moment later, the sorry-looking pilots held in her hands by the collars of their jumpsuits.

Pff. Superheroes.

While I'm only really trying to attract Grayven 50's attention by doing this, I'm.. a little… Concerned. I don't know how my own spiritual force will measure up to his. He's been a fully empowered New God for… Some time. And the volume of his territory is greater than mine. Even if I'm generous and count all of Vega thanks to the Orange Lantern Corps' hegemony. And I'm not completely sure how there being two of me will affect things, particularly with him having far greater personal experience of this sort of thing. He actually grew up on Apokolips, while the only person I've had to practise on has been Knockout. And with her officially working for me she doesn't really resist.

If anything, she seems to enjoy being subjected to…

Yeah.

The main internment block shakes as Batson takes out a wall, and then the thanagarian internees stream out and towards where Eliza is sticking a metal bar through the hush tube portal to mark out where it is. I'm not exactly sure what made the other fellow send these particular thanagarians here. Military personnel -the few who survived the conquest- are housed at a far more secure facility.

Sinestro?

They appear to be lower level officials in regional government and their families, Lantern Grayven.

Yes, he'd already decided to do away with existing power structures but he'd need someone to administer the thanagarian areas. Presumably he was holding them here until things were stable enough for a re-education program. And now they'll be guests of Queen Hyathis, the only person we could think of who both wants thanagarian settlers and could organise a food supply for them at short notice. I doubt that they'll appreciate it, but hostages can't be choosers.

Alright, area unconquered, and done in the style of Earth-based superheroes rather than a rival warlord. While Team Morka are busy trying to hack local computers and find people to interrogate, I think that Team Gorka's brute force effort is now ready.
Plant the Standard.
My own yellow light flows into the device, but there's no other visible effect of my arcane declaration of intent. Ah, but of course. I'm reading as near-identical to the other fellow. There's no harm in planting your flag on land you already unquestionably own. I need something a little more relevant, something that directly challenges the current overlord.
Challenge the Hegemon.

Currents of power and intent jerk and jangle, twisting into alignment with my God Name. Like ripples generated in the surface of a body of water by a propeller touching the water, I can feel my impetus spreading outwards, gradually mixing and fading into the network of other patterns of arcane energy already residing here. There's none of the resistance that there would usually be, at least at this stage. Thanagar has nothing like the strength of background magic that Earth has, and the ripples simply aren't… Distinct enough or invasive enough for Grayven to feel yet.

Of course, if he weren't here… Whoever had hegemony would begin finding their works disrupted, their personal authority suddenly less unquestionable. Power lies where people believe it to lie, after all. I'm not sure exactly what it looks like; I haven't used it much myself. I don't want Tamaran to be propped up by one alien and on Earth it… There would be risks I don't want to bear, and simpler and more legitimate-seeming techniques I could use instead.
Lead from the Van.
Almost makes me want to pick a place and…

No. No. What was that? Ah. Ah, I see. The.. layers Grayven 50 is using to build up his influence. I haven't seen this before. With Apokolips, the whole place is just so overwhelmingly WRONGWRONGWRONG, and none of my other New God contacts have put the.. time into the places I've encountered them to achieve it. And because our natures are so similar, I'm susceptible to... Blowback.

But then, so is he.

Lead from the Van [relates to] Challenge the Hegemon.

I watch my colleagues, the people I led here, finish escorting the former prisoners through the hush tube in opposition to the Hegemon's designs. I stand on an enemy-held planet under an enemy fleet and spit in my foe's face because I love my brother and he'd get all mopey without Barda and because I wouldn't even think about leaving this to someone else. I MUST be the one to make this challenge.

The two strains of my God Voice wrap around one another, spreading together and reaching further into the network. What else-?

Moved by My Design.

Oh, that's not even hard.

Lead from the Van [relates to] Challenge the Hegemon [relates to] Moved by My Design.

We're here because I brought us here. My work with Sunset, with the Lords and Stormwatch, my familial ties, my drive to involve myself in events. That same drive that led me to lead this assault, to challenge whatever ruler stands in opposition to me. Even this team came together because I wanted them to.

Another shift in the networks, this one over a far larger area. And I can feel it begin to undermine other related parts of my/his nature, aligning them to me rather than him.

"Stand by, team. I think we're-"

ALL SHALL KNEEL!