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

Reader mode
Mr Zoat said:
"Its new rulers have expressed an interest in diplomatic contact, though I have no idea why. Since they come from Earth, I think it appropriate that you make the initial approach. You may want to return to your homeworld to gather a staff. I will remain here."

"By your command."
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Hm. Who to take. Diana and Donna, given their origins. Kon worships a Titan. A magic expert?
 
Mr Zoat said:
11th September 2012
09:15 GMT

Nyiath's face remains expressionless, and over a holographic link that actually works on me. He was assigned as my point of contact after Onik's unfortunate announcement… Well. That was when he made contact; I imagine that the wheels were set in motion the moment the former abbot was given enhanced abdication.
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...Ah, for a moment I blanked on this 'announcement' Onik made. But I presume it involved the former Abbot's 'corruption' by the Yellow Ring. Yes, I rather imagine things got a little confused and concerned amongst the government then. You have my sympathy, then, my good fellow...

"A Controller who was once a Guardian is coming here."

"Once she's done with Lord Malvolio, yes, that was what I said."
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Yes, I can imagine him needing a moment for it to sink in.

"We haven't had a Guardian visit for quite some time."

"Oh, you don't need to do anything special. Controller Hinon is very low maintenance. Just say something stupid once a day so that she can get her condescension ration and she's as happy as she gets."
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No, OL, that's only for when you're around. Presumably she hopes for you be slightly better than the rest of the idiots.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please do not attempt humour in a situation like this. Karax is undergoing a period of social and religious upheaval such as it has not known for centuries. If we are to navigate this turbulence, we must avoid inadvertent misunderstandings."

"Alright. Hinon acts like a crotchety grandmother who is severely disappointed with her entire line, but is actually an ancient being far beyond petty concerns like… Like just about anything you could do. She has a great many demands on her time, so in the unlikely event that she wants something from you, just make it happen as quickly and efficiently as possible and then get out of the way."
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See, now that is useful advice. Indeed, she may look old and doddering, but even a few minutes will disabuse people of that notion quickly enough.

"Will she want to address the populace?"

"I think it vanishingly unlikely. Do you want her to address the populace?"
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...I'm sorry, do you really think the planet isn't unruly enough?

"Would it help? What would she say?"

"Probably not, no idea. Honestly, I'm surprised that she's coming here rather than just summoning me to One Six Three Four or back to Maltus."
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Well, since you and Malvolio's Central Lantern are basically both here... I guess it saves a trip. Not that she particularly needs to worry about travelling...

"I assume that she wants to look at-. Is it really a new Green Central Power Battery?"

"It looked like one; she's the expert."
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Having, if memory serves me correctly, worked on the Orange Light Fountain with Krona? And presumably the Green Central Battery on Oa.

"But what does that mean? What does any of…" He takes a moment to steady himself. "I apologise."

"Quite alright. I'd only be concerned if you weren't."
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Indeed. Any Karaxian not having issues with any of this would probably need to be functionally sociopathic in terms of emotional responses...

"Is there anything else that I need to know?"

"Have you had a chance to read my book yet?"
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Really, OL? Now is not the time to see if he's a fan.

"Not yet. I've instructed some of my junior staff members to go through it."

"Do you want a summary of the parts relating to spectrum-?"
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He's management, OL. He doesn't need to know things, that's what the juniors are for.

"No, I can't afford to be discombobulated at the moment. Those of us in positions of government authority must remain stoical for the good of all. We can have our private breakdowns later."

"Very well. I'll get in touch when she arrives. Illustres out."
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I love that he's that blunt about this. "I don't have time to break down screaming right now. Maybe later..."

I end the transmission, and turn back to Lantern Vode-M.

"When was the last time a Guardian visited Karax?"

"Shortly after the 'peace' treaty with the Spider Guild was agreed."
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Ah, lending their personal weight to press home that the Spider Guild should not be pulling any shit. Pity the current leadership can't keep that in mind.

"About two hundred years?" She nods. "And I imagine that they had a heavy escort-."

Whoops. I didn't ask Hinon if she would have one.
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To be fair, I doubt she needs one. Anything strong enough to threaten a Maltusian would likely roll over anything less in the way.

"You didn't ask your Controller if she would bring one."

"I didn't. But it shouldn't matter. I doubt that she will, and even if she does, Lord Malvolio's fleet is right there."
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Wonder how many are visiting the planet right now? Given the Green Light connection...

"Shortly after the 'peace' treaty with the Spider Guild was agreed, three Guardians came here in person."

"Why? Why put in a personal appearance for something like that?"
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To swing their big political dicks, I would assume.

"Because it was a hard-won draw and they wanted to put in a personal appearance, perhaps."

"Or they didn't think that the locals would accept it without their overt approval. I think that the Sector Lanterns or an Honour Guard Lantern would have done for a show of support."
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But would the Spider Guild have paid attention to a treaty for long without the tacit threat of several Guardians being there?

"Are you insinuating that the Guardians betrayed us?"

"Quite the opposite. The Guardians might not have the best people skills, but they are better at understanding social dynamics than their disinterest would suggest. They didn't want mass rioting, so they openly spoke in favour of a resolution they probably weren't actually all that happy about."
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Well, mass rioting over the peace treaty, anyway. I bet the devout Lanternists were celebrating piously over their presence.

"That-"

My ring blinks.

"-would-."
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...And that will be Hinon, no doubt.

"Illustres."

"Yes, I know who you are." Hinon's face appears over my ring. "Come to Lord Malvolio's flagship at once."
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Show some consideration, dear, he's only human, after all. He's not omniscient.

"On my-" Her face disappears. "-way."

I smile at Lantern Vode-M.
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Duty calls. I'm sure she knows how it is.

"Looks like I'm getting called away. Do you want to join in, as much as your current rules of engagement will allow you? If nothing else, you can shuttle anyone my subordinates rescue away from the conflict zones. They can attack larger convoys together than you can on your own."

"Yes. I shall."
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Heh, letting her keep busy while OL's away.

"Great. And when I get back, I'll run through everything Guy's told me about attaining enlightenment with you, see if you can work out how to make the transformation yourself. Excuse me."

I

step out, the glowing will beacon of Malvolio's Central Power Battery showing me where to aim by the way it drowns out local desire. I
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I bet the Oan Central Battery and the Orange Central battery make similar landmarks in the emotional planes...

return to the material universe just as Malvolio and Hinon exit his burning doorway.

"Sir, Lord Malvolio."
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Probably not the first time she's experienced the realm of Will's World. Assuming that's comparable to OL's Greediport.

Hinon ignores me, flying past me to get a better look at the Green Central Power Battery-.

"Hinon, you're not planning on jumping ship yourself, are-?"
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Eh, she's done Green. Probably found it dull.

"Of course not." She stares at it, floating around it slowly as Malvolio's closeness causes it to glow brighter. "Minosyss." She waves her right hand and knowledge appears in my wind. Oh for goodness sake-.

"Its new rulers have expressed an interest in diplomatic contact, though I have no idea why. Since they come from Earth, I think it appropriate that you make the initial approach. You may want to return to your homeworld to gather a staff. I will remain here."

"By your command."
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Well, that's a cue to get Donna and Diana on board if nothing else. Road trip for the Team ahead, I wonder?

Well. The factory world for the Sun-Eaters. This should be very interesting. And it's populated by the Titans of Myth, too. I presume they've recently moved in, and looking to make nice with the Controllers. I wonder if they've heard about OL's unique relationships with the Olympians yet? Should be amusing to see how they take him...
 
Mr Zoat said:
"Its new rulers have expressed an interest in diplomatic contact, though I have no idea why. Since they come from Earth, I think it appropriate that you make the initial approach. You may want to return to your homeworld to gather a staff. I will remain here."

"By your command."
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How would the Greek gods react to Paul telling them that some Titans have taken over a planet? Also, did they escape Tartarus, or are they some of the Titans who were never imprisoned in the first place or something?
 
Chojin Patriarch said:
No, OL, that's only for when you're around. Presumably she hopes for you be slightly better than the rest of the idiots.
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I think her hopes will not be fulfilled.

Chojin Patriarch said:
...I'm sorry, do you really think the planet isn't unruly enough?
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This is Paul.

Nothing us too unruly for him.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Indeed. Any Karaxian not having issues with any of this would probably need to be functionally sociopathic in terms of emotional responses...
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Or just very chill.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Well, that's a cue to get Donna and Diana on board if nothing else. Road trip for the Team ahead, I wonder?
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And so soon after renegade had his adventure with our two favorite Amazons.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Well. The factory world for the Sun-Eaters. This should be very interesting. And it's populated by the Titans of Myth, too. I presume they've recently moved in, and looking to make nice with the Controllers. I wonder if they've heard about OL's unique relationships with the Olympians yet? Should be amusing to see how they take him
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And we may be seeing some of those Titan Seeds.

Which I'm assuming will be something like New Gods.
 
Mr Zoat said:
"Of course not." She stares at it, floating around it slowly as Malvolio's closeness causes it to glow brighter. "Minosyss." She waves her right hand and knowledge appears in my wind. Oh for goodness sake-.

"Its new rulers have expressed an interest in diplomatic contact, though I have no idea why. Since they come from Earth, I think it appropriate that you make the initial approach. You may want to return to your homeworld to gather a staff. I will remain here."

"By your command."
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It's greatly amusing how Dox and now Hinon keep trying to sideline Paragon.
 
Wait canonically from this story the Titans are all sealed away on earth. Was there a mass breakout while Paul was away?
 
Bud-E said:
Wait canonically from this story the Titans are all sealed away on earth. Was there a mass breakout while Paul was away?
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No, I don't think so.

In the comics the Titans were banished into space by Zeus and eventually took over the planet.

The planet where they are now was apparently some kind of nexus for dimensional travel.

I'm thinking that maybe the Titans somehow used the nexus to spread their influence there.

They're probably still bound in Tartarus, but Old Gods in this fic can create avatars to interact in the mortal universe, so maybe the Titans there are avatars, while their greater selfs are still trapped.
 
Radix said:
And not only is Grayven his own boss, he is the boss of others. He actually nourished his own team, trained up operatives. He built up his own social circle.

Meanwhile Paragon kind of has his acolyte oramge lanterns and the science network.
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And has way too many bosses!

Did he never see Office Space? Having way too many bosses is trouble because is freaking impossible to please all of them!
 
Mr Zoat said:
Whoops. I didn't ask Hinon if she would have one.

"You didn't ask your Controller if she would bring one.
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Technically OL didn't talk to Hinon at all. Dox was the one who told him Hinon was coming, and he didn't ask Dox if she was bringing an escort. But then Dox might not have known.

Mr Zoat said:
"Of course not." She stares at it, floating around it slowly as Malvolio's closeness causes it to glow brighter. "Minosyss." She waves her right hand and knowledge appears in my mind. Oh for goodness sake-.
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Ah, the Titans of Myth on an alien world built to create and imprison Suneaters. Yes, that would- (Eyes focus on early part of the article.)

Due to its unique properties, it was visited by the Maltusian offshoot race known as the Controllers who desired it as a weapons factory. Millennia ago, they arrived on the planet where they cowed the native Minosyssians to serve them as slaves to mine a special ore on the world which was unique as it was naturally immune to the powers of a Sun-Eater.
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Wait, what was that....

cowed the native Minosyssians to serve them as slaves
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Awkward! Hinon's hands are probably clean since she's been sleeping far beyond "millennia ago" but you have to wonder about the other Orange Light Controllers.
 
Steelplaza said:
Technically OL didn't talk to Hinon at all. Dox was the one who told him Hinon was coming, and he didn't ask Dox if she was bringing an escort. But then Dox might not have known.



Ah, the Titans of Myth on an alien world built to create and imprison Suneaters. Yes, that would- (Eyes focus on early part of the article.)



Wait, what was that....



Awkward! Hinon's hands are probably clean since she's been sleeping far beyond "millennia ago" but you have to wonder about the other Orange Light Controllers.
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Zoat either kept that part or he changed it so that the Controllers were fair and didn't enslave them but may have had a relationship like they do with the Clickers, having them serve them by helping their society in some manner.
 
Doccer said:
The what now?
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In this story a Light Fountain is what a Central Power Battery technically is.

It's basically a device that forms a connection with its respective emotional plane and draws power from it.

A CPB is what's put around it to better regulate said power as well as to connect to the rings.
 
Darko said:
The planet where they are now was apparently some kind of nexus for dimensional travel.

I'm thinking that maybe the Titans somehow used the nexus to spread their influence there.
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Better guess: it's a dimensional nexus, so there's no reason for them to be the titans from this dimension.
 
Sungate (part 5)
  • Threadmarks
    • 11th September 2012
    09:54 GMT

    Okay. So. Prior to Hinon's faction of Guardians leaving and joining the Controllers, the existing Controllers were pursuing other options as far as megaweapons went. One of the more notorious examples of their system-killers of choice were the sun-eaters.

    I actually remember them from the comics, where one tried eating Sol and it took Parallax-Jordan killing himself to finally get rid of the thing. And another, where a member of the Legion of Superheroes… Ferrous Lad? Died, stopping it reaching an inhabited system. And I think Animal Man used one to gain stellar navigation and faster than light flight once.

    In reality, they're nothing like that common. Once Hinon's faction joined the Controllers, they policed their stray pets properly rather than just letting them wander off. And their chosen storage site was a naturally occurring dimensional warp in the system containing the planet Minosyss. That dimensional warp has caused the matter in the system to display all sorts of anomalous properties, one of which is to make the innate matter manipulating powers of the maltusians… Unreliable.

    And to get around that while still extracting what they wanted from the place, they decided that the thing to do would be to enslave the entire population.

    Fortunately, that was a… Long time ago. The place has recovered, the descendants of the slaves have… Yeah, it was over a billion years ago. It's about as relevant as that time the proto-Moon hit the proto-Earth is to most humans. We know it happened…

    The better educated ones know it happened, I should say.

    But there's no emotional weight to it.

    But, yes. Dimensional weirdness makes most forms of faster than light travel unreliable, so they don't have external trade. They don't have the fuel resources to build an industrial society themselves, so… There they are. Certainly not a bad place to live, the occasional physics anomaly aside.

    The current rulers are a bit of a mystery. They flew in on what is basically a city built into a hollowed-out half-moon a couple of decades ago and took over pretty quickly. That was our first clue that the place is thaumically active. The Darkstars' best guess was that they were New Genesians, but it's the wrong part of the galaxy for them and… While the people of New Genesis aren't above being openly worshipped, they usually don't directly rule worlds under their protection. These people are doing just that, through a bureaucracy of local collaborators. No idea why they want to talk to me, but if N.E.M.O. can get a few dozen more magicians out of it then it's time well spent.

    Not… Totally sure why Hinon wants me to pick up a staff… Sure, you can find someone like just about anyone somewhere on Earth, but school is back on so basically everyone on the team is unavailable. Except Canis, but… No. Amon could probably get the time away but I wouldn't want to undermine Adom's authority by offering him a place on the mission when he's supposed to be doing something else. Angelika? Not sure that a group of demigods would have the same instinctual respect for her that they would for someone who felt like them.

    Diana and Alan are reasonable choices, except that I know Diana's working overtime on diplomacy to try and keep world governments working to repair the damage done by the Sheeda attack. Alan, on the other hand…

    "Illustres to Blue Lantern Alan Scott."

    My ring blinks. And then blinks a little more. And-.

    "Yeah? Oh, hey, Paul."

    Alan manages a wan smile, but he's clearly distracted.

    "Are you free? I can call back."

    "Sorry, son. Some crazy-. Cultist types broke into one of the Sheeda arms dumps. It's an all-hands for the Justice League."

    "Understood. Don't let me keep-"

    His face vanishes.

    "-you."

    That could well require the team's attention as well. Ah. Euanthe's busy with Brazil, Queen Hippolyta… Maybe? But she'll probably want a staff of her own and that… Might be a bit much for Themyscira.

    Starting to think that turning up on my own would be the best idea. But Hinon specifically said…

    Who the heck do I know who… Isn't…

    I

    step out and then

    11th September 2012
    12:56 GMT +3

    appear inside the Temple of Hades, waving at the surprised-then-resigned priestesses as I fly for the doorway to Erebos. Down down down down... Despite having died, this bit doesn't feel any different. Though it is at least faster now that I've stopped worrying about being insufficiently reverential, though transitioning is still right out.

    And out. Palace that way, and as I gain height I can still see the queues heading into the courtrooms. I'm a little surprised that Hades hasn't set up temporary accommodation or something, though I suppose that they don't really need it. Now, where would-.

    "Lantern!" / "Oh, Lantern!"

    Two women dressed richly in Greek fashion hail me from the walls, and I fly towards them. They want me for something, and I need directions. Can't say that I recognise either of them, either from past visits or from the statues on Themyscira.

    "Ladies. What can I do for you?"

    The shorter one covers her mouth with her right hand as the taller one laughs.

    "You can apologise for not coming to see us sooner!"

    "I'm.. sorry, but this is Erebos. And I have no idea who you are."

    "Ah. Then I will introduce myself. I-" She puts her right hand on her chest. "-am Gaudia."

    Not 'gaudy' in the modern English sense. Her jewellery is actually quite modest. Rather, she's a minor goddess, representing guilty joys. Which-.

    "Which makes you Aporia."

    Who I would have chosen as my patron goddess if 1) I was selecting on the same basis as I told Kon to select his patron and 2) I'd heard of her at the time.

    "It does indeed. You haven't died again, I trust?"

    "No, I'm here to ask Princess Melinoë to accompany me on a diplomatic visit. Do you-?"

    "Oooooh."

    Aporia lowers her hand as she and Gaudia giggle.

    "Do you know where she is?"

    "We were going to see her now." Gaudia masters her expression, though Aporia can't stop herself grinning. "She has busied herself recording the novel fears and paranoia of our new residents, but I'm sure that she'll make time for you."

    "Glad to hear it. Lead-."

    "Though there is one thing we would like to know in return."

    "And what might that be?"

    "What do a couple of sadly underappreciated goddesses have to do to persuade you to… What was the phrase?"

    "'Put a ring on it'?"

    "'Put a ring on it', yes. We both have an excellent understanding of desire." She raises her eyebrows and regards me accusatorially. "Why have you ignored us so?"
     
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