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

Well, the bluff worked. Still say he should have made some of the lights blink, but that's just a human thing... And those who can see through it aren't arguing...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Remote Honden-routed check-ins on noteworthy lanterns? Make sure no-ones getting a little twitchy?

So he might get to invent proper Orange Light Magic after all. And teach it successfully to other Lanterns.

I mean, that's not impossible. If he shorted out the part of his brain capable of controlling the Light, it might have stuttered long enough for neural damage to occur... And given his known Canon quirks, it's worth making sure he doesn't have any lingering issues on the physical side.

Good, good. No overloads or untoward desire-sets? Not quite a well-oiled machine yet, but...

...They're getting there. And the story spreads. Which will make people curious about what the nature of Grayven's attack involved. Would be a good chance for OL to look into Godspeech more.

Ah, impatient as ever, OL. So many things to do, so little time. Such is life.

I see they're smart enough to know to yield before a stronger enemy. Probably a standard procedure. The problem is, they don't know just how big NEMO's war-front is, do they?

The question is how many will believe them, depending on how deeply the Reach has their pincers dug in...

They grew complacent, didn't they? The Reach leadership took their peace treaty with the Green lanterns as a given that they'd have an easier time being sneaky... Which makes it a bit harder when someone comes looking for a fight. I mean, sure, they have the weapons and will for a stand-up scrap, but those forces are deeper in, aren't they?

You'd better have a good reason for that. Letting the Reach run their cover-ups unopposed is a big risk.

After all, only one or two generations? Hardly time for the Reach to become 'their trustworthy benefactors...' yet. Depending on how long the locals live, especially.

The man has a point. You won't need thugs and melee specialists for long-range bombardments, nor would you put artillery Lanterns on electronic warfare duties. Sure, a Lantern can do any of them, but some people just do better than others.

Yep. Some jobs need people who can stay on task. For Orange Lanterns, that's especially important.

Yeah, that'd be my first thought. Reach conquests usually don't care to keep the locals around, do they? Was leaving their population unmolested something the leadership insisted on in return for a peaceful surrender? Though I doubt the Reach wouldn't eventually start the usual routine after a couple of centuries passed...

...What are the chances Jade is on the team on-site right now? I mean, she's probably a good choice for the more covert jobs Darkstars might need to run...

He's no idiot OL. Even a mere Tenth-level intellect like him will pick up on Earth's bullshit nature. Now, what's so special about this world... What's it called, I wonder?

And what happened on Earth during their initial probing missions. We saw them in Canon, investigating the Meta-gene. Something like that, something that can give people any number of exotic abilities? Not to be passed up on.

Nothing but the best, eh? As long as things don't go tits-up once OL sticks his nose in... And the likelihood of that occurring rise with every moment...

I'm honestly not sure Dox cares too much about his homeworld except as a resource. So if you're expecting any concern, OL... I think you'll be out of luck.

Heh. It's funny how similar that is to the Matrix. Not the 'energy-generating' crap they had in the movie, but the original concept. I wonder if the Wachowskis had read about Colu before that?

Quantity is a quality all its own, after all.

Probably a good thing, since it means they couldn't mind-whammy invaders into submission...

Shouldn't be too hard. OL could probably disable the fleet in his sleep. Alone.

And as soon as he's gone, Dox relaxes. Imperceptibly Slightly.

Well, well... A world where the Reach hasn't performed their usual methods? That's definitely anomalous. Anyone recognise the scenario? At least with OL being deployed there, we'll get to see what's up.

---

I'm not completely convinced that the problem he had was with magic...

 

It's a pity they don't seem to know about the planetary suicide charges the Reach always install.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Should this be "minor neural shock"?

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Didn't they also have Mother Mercy help restart their core?

Even if the Martians take issue with the Guardians, they aren't strong enough to make war on them, and they have never waged a space war. Unless they formed an alliance with the OLC, the GLC would decimate them.

[Edit: added]
If anything, I could see them making a deal with the Martians similar to what happened in Shadow War on Babylon 5. Just place a Telepath or two on every ship to help them out, if their strongest telepaths can do things from a distance.

 

The problem there is how Martians have psychological problems if they aren't around other minds. A small flotilla might be alright if they could have at least surface contact with other minds, but most of the crew wouldn't be happy with that.

 

"As a being who is, by nature a D&D Character, let me to be the first- or at least most EARNEST to assure you that Intelligence and Wisdom are not always, or even usually, close bedfellows..."

i was trying to remember where i heard a quote- something about never underestimating the ability of smart people to do something spectacularly STUPID

huh. Dox is being a little less Restrained/Controlled, Emotionally speaking-
lingering effects/a sign of just HOW badly he was Rattled, or could he genuinely be slightly more relaxed around OL now that he knows he's not -entirely- a loose cannon, and is more then happy to back him up when his position is shaky?

i mean, its one thing to have reports/analysis saying someone's reliable/an asset when they're constantly giving you additional headaches by acting on their own without orders/contact with you/command, its another thing to have it confirmed they really AREN'T just another ring-addled facepuncher...

 

Based upon how personal, powerful, and competent OL comes across to the other lanterns, I'm surprised any of the others would want to follow Dox

 

to be fair, he does appear more then a little bit impulsive without a line inside his head like we have-a worrying trait in someone who actually HAS the power to single-handedly overthrow a civilization,and exterminate their ruling species on, if not a whim, simply because they decided they WANTED to....

i mean, there's a VERY good reason nobody on earth will ever let him live down the time he perved on the entire planet, altered the moon's orbit/rotational speed to make one side always face earth and built a cake larger then some cities,turned himself in a demon and had to be shot/shot repeatedly with a demon-killing weapon to not go native, randomly carried out a performance of New York, new York in front of planet-wide media coverage on a whim.....
not to mention the stress-induced meltdown that lead to most of the above that almost turned him into a planetary/galactic scale threat until he was successful de-escalated by a task-force including a/several Sector lantern(s)...
-and if those stories make their way off earth, well....
you can excuse eccentricity in members of your elite guard/special forces units if they're extremely competent when they're on duty, and hold off the shenanigans until they're not, but having a seeming flake/fruitcake in charge SELDOM makes people feel confident... wither they're potential allies or potential employees...

 

'they return'

Is that guy that made Effigy making more soldiers like Effigy, or at least other similar superweapons, because he seems like a more useful destructive guy than someone that can't do something if he doesn't want it?

Will Effigy show up and fight in this war?

Technically your father/creator/slave master is more intelligent, unless you've modified yourself to be smarter.

Has Dox increased his intelligence level?

Technically only a few people know about that and it isn't brought up as much as the cake thing.

 

Hey, where is Jade? Shouldn't she be around the OL corps? Why isn't OL taking a few minutes to see her?

 

Or on how good Reach propaganda is.

Or how stupid the population is.

They may view the population as more useful unmodified, or just haven't figured out how to modify them.

You just love summoning Murphy, don't you?

If they imprisoned him for being too smart like in the comics, then he may not care,

Though I think he also helped free them in the comics.

And even if he doesn't care he may still want to get revenge on the Computer Tyrants for selling him.

 

yeah, fair point on that one, mostly chose it as an example of the kind of impromptu/ impulsive- action that backfired,in this case almost to the point of death of personality/permanent alignment shift, though i guess it doesn't really match the others due to being contained info

 

She may be on assignment right now, so him going to her may not be wise.

 

Is that natural to them? Or is that a holdover from what the Guardians did to them. Because, if there wasn't, then the fears of Burners ever leaving their solar system would be pretty nil.

I think another problem is that Martians just aren't that telepathically powerful in YJ. We know M'gann's link has distance limits (though the Bialya mission suggests that it might be a good distance - on land). We never see M'gann read more than one mind at a time. And the distances ships would be in space would be great. But, maybe a Martian version of Battle Meditation would do wonders for the fleet.

In Justice League, we see Manhunter scan an entire city, and it nearly breaks him (though that was more from humans, than the stress). I have no idea the true strength of the comic-versions of Martians.

I think it really shows just how powerful telepaths are in Babylon 5, that the stronger ones can affect the Shadows from huge distances.

[Edit: added]

Maybe she's part of the team Paul is going to support. She was skilled with these kinds of things on Earth, so it probably didn't take her long to learn the skills needed to do it on alien planets.

 

Thank you, corrected.

Jade's a Darkstar. Covert operation, intelligence and counterintelligence. She shouldn't be anywhere near the SI during combat operations.

 

Either "they can get either" or "or get reinforcements".

than

 

Spoiler: D&D stats explained...ish.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Unless the combat operation is, say, exfiltrating her and her team. But otherwise, yes.

 

Brainiac is no longer a Coluan, he's an AI now.

Perhaps that indicates that Brianiac's 12th level intellect was one of the improvements of his transformation?

In which case Brainiac being smarter doesn't invalidate the statement that Vril Dox is the smartest Coluan ever.

But I thought Dox's issues came partially from his father being disappointed in him because he wasn't as smart as him, so I was surprised by that statement too.

 

Dox's issue comes from him never having control in his life.

First Brainiac tortured and experimented on him since he was a child, then the Computer Tyrants imprisoned him, and then the Dominators also imprisoned and experimented on him.

 

You do realize that people can have more than one issue, right?

Because Dox has more than one.

Having a supervillain father and being a pariah for having a supervillain father would give someone more than one issue right there.

 

Yes I do realize that people can have more than one issue.

Though Dox's lack of control for most of his life is probably the biggest reason he's such a control freak.

His hatred for his father also probably comes from his father basically torturing him and treating him like an object for most of his life.

It would also kind of difficult for Brainiac to be dissapointed in his creation, seeing as he made him less intelligent than him.

I also doubt Dox cares about the opinion of his creator.

And aside from that thing with Guy, we haven't really seen his relation to Brainiac be brought up and how people mistrust him for it.

 

It's both interesting and worrying that they know about Paul's mind enslaving....

 

'you're so'

Not sure that worked.

 

It's not exactly a secret that Paul uses mind control. The Reach probably told them to discourage them from working with the Orange Lantern Corps. Probably left out a lot of context.

 

I have to say, sacrificing innocents just because they gained notoriety and because it’s convinient is out of character for OL. Unless you meant they gained that reputation by actually committing crimes.