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

' generation '

Also, maybe I wasn't paying attention. When did Diana become more powerful or a demigoddess? Was this during the Sheeda invasion arc? Or in relation to what Paul was stirring up with the Titans and how Diana and Donna were created?

 

I mean, I may ahve forgotten in the MASS of content for the story, but, uh, can Paul truly die?

Like, does the Ophidian have claim on his soul? Would the Ophidian settle for Hades or some other god dictating where he goes?

Is there some sort of Avarice Afterlife he's unknowingly going to go to if he dies fully, that he doesn't know about because he hasn't fully died yet, and nobody with true Avarice Enlightenment has died/been besties with the Ophidian?

The lore of this ABSOLUTE BEHEMOTH is tough to keep straight sometimes.

Ehhhh, maybe? Maybe not, though, IIRC guns aren't infallible, and basically twist the meaning of 'innocent'.

^^^^ This.

 

Well, sorta.

This was ... a way to get rid of the bullet.

I don't think that'll happen, Ted.

If she was there the first time then she may have gotten spooked when it didn't work and retreated.

We saw Diana use more of her powers during the training episode.

Paul has died and his soul went to an afterlife.

Granted, him going to an afterlife was a work of a third party, but he can very much die.

Whether he'll go to Erobus or the Plane of Avarice when he dies is up for debate.

Heck, he may still go to Heaven or Hell, since according to the angels a person needs to actually participate in the worship and rituals of their gods in order to go to an afterlife that belongs to those gods.

Paul may not do too much of that, or at least lacks sincerity, so he may also end up in the Abrahamic again.

 

Well, clearly, the next time Paul dies:

Death: "Right, you're kind of a weird case, so I've gotta bring in a specialist here."

Paul: "...But you're... Death? Isn't his your entire thing?"

*Curtain raises, Delirium walks onstage, Audience made up of afterlife representatives claps confusedly*

Delirium: "WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE FIRST ANNUAL AFTERLIFE ROULETTE-"

Paul: "I'd rather this wasn't annual, to be honest."

Delirium: "-ROUND AND ROUND THE WHEEL GOES, WHERE IT STOPS, NOBODY KNOWS!"

Paul: "Then again, considering the world I live in, maybe I could get one of those sundae cards?"

Delirium: "Ohhhh, and it just passed Plane of Avarice!"

Ophidian: *HISS!*

Delirium: "Oops, looks like it's gonna be Hell-"

Mammon: "Shit, really? Can I just give him away instead? Or sell him, maybe?"

Delirium: "OH! What an upset! And it lands on... SILVER CITY! Come on up and take your prize!"

Angels: "...do we have to?"

 

So spirit of vengeance trapped inside the guns?

 

Yeah, best to get the squishy 90-year-old out of there. Target or not, he's the most at risk. Though... Doesn't that behaviour with the construct shield seem familiar? Looks like you might have found that mystery sniper.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

At least he's faster than she can keep up with. Downside is, she's too tenacious to give up, thanks to the Guns' curse.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean you're safe.

Slippery as an eel, with a hell of a bite.

...Makes me wonder if she's tried to shoot him at other times, only for him to Exit, Honden Right and causing the shot to miss him...

Good idea, because I don't think the other ladies have quite the same talent with 'Bullets and Bracelets' that Diana does.

Long story short? Supernatural assassin with ghost powers... The usual thing.

The sidearm of choice for American military forces for most of the Twentieth Century.

They'd kind of have to be, but I suspect the mystical aspects are something else entirely.

Ah, Adrenaline. Also the Ring's ability to disable pain reflexes.

I doubt they moved in the same circles. Likely not the same city, either.

Figures. The bullets aim to do the most damage possible. So a hit to just meat will punch through. But bone? He's lucky it didn't fragment.

He was in the way. No doubt the Guns have little consideration for collateral damage.

Hey, if the banana fits, Ook Ook...

...Same old OL. No idea of restraint. Good thing Ted has a damn strong stomach.

So you need to get the Guns away from the cursed wielder. Good luck with that.

Sounds like he hauled ass to the Embassy.

...Maybe her teleportation has a height limit. Or requires something to stand on when landing. Like Reaper from Overwatch.

And how many of them are still around? I'm guessing not a lot.

Ow. That says a lot about the bullet's lethality, then. Diana's basically bullet-resistant, isn't she?

Heh. I'm guessing Alan still hasn't really looked at what his ring can do, has he?

Sounds like the whole League might get a bulletin about her. Though some might not want to stick around. Looking at you, Barry. Icon and the Hawks probably have a bit of blood on their hands too...

Ah, old people with new toys.

Yes, OL. Who else has been shooting at you lately, hmm?

So, that question's solved. Presumably she assumed she'd only need or get one shot off.

Almost certainly not. Hell, her origin is using the Guns on a particular asshole she failed to successfully prosecute.

Sorry, Alan, no time to chat. It looks like she found a vantage point.

Thankfully, the Ring is still on auto-dodge, right? Right? Still, this could be a lively couple of chapters. And hopefully more than a little frustrating for the spirt of the Guns. Imagine having to try and chase down someone as slippery as OL is. And she's stuck pursuing him until she either kills him, or tries to kill herself (which simply aborts the 'case' she's on...) I wonder which is more likely.

 

Actually, she uses her bracelets to block bullets because they can penetrate her skin. Something about her being tough enough to take blunt attacks, like punches, but not tough enough to stop piercing attacks, like bullets.

 

That always felt weird.

Then again, it's far from the weirdest weakness she's ever had.

 

construct -> constructs

 

In the comics, yes, at least until the nineties, where with her death she was turned into an Olympian and gained invulnerability that covered piercing attacks like bullets.

Here, since that doesn't make sense to Zoat, she is bullet proof, and those guns hurt her anyway.

 

Thank you, corrected.

To quote MacBeth, 'Tell me about it.'

You'd rather it be in a bike?

Yeah, I'm not using that particular piece of canonically stupidity. Originally, Diana needed to use her bracers because she was only as strong as an peak fitness human woman. As her strength has been constantly amped up they've kept the bracers, but they don't serve the same function any longer.

I don't think so?

These particular guns are mystically empowered.

 

So she only uses them to control where bullets ricochet, and in case whatever is shot at her is tougher than a normal bullet. Could she one day do that big shockwave attack from the DCEU by slamming her bracers together?

 

If I had to put money on it, I would bet that the guns 'logic' looks for spirits whom died unjust deaths. In the canon Wildcat example, the man was sentenced for a crime he did not commit, to punish the man for other crimes he did. But my guess is that if Wildcat killed the man with his own hands, Crimson Avenger II wouldn't have targeted Wildcat.

I can think of at least one time OL killed someone for a unjust reason, very early in his career. Sure, Al Ghul got better, but isn't he suspected to be actually factually dead now?

 

I'm not sure whether the guns would consider his killing of Ra's al Ghul to be unjust.

 

I think Paul might be getting his just deserts for the Citadelian genocide he committed.

 

Paul has committed a lot of other murders that could also qualify.

The Citadelians are far from innocent, but as we know, the guns don't care about innocence.

 

Paul sniped him just so he could find the Lazurus Pit faster. Not for any act Ra ever took, just so he could find something to steal it. Sure, OL expected him to get back up, but rail gun head shots do count as lethal, and the guns' judgment is infamously spotty.

 

Mr Zoat, I was rereading, and found some errors. Since there is red coloring due to Red Lantern Paul, I'll mark the errors in orange.

These should all say 'Tamaranean'.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

He's definitely been doing the work of Eris.

 

Oi, if you know she's magic, and she's already hit you, get out of the Thaumosphere.

 

Goddamn Constantine "avoid me" magic is really good. I mean it not only distracted Paul but it also distracted everybody in the thread too, nobody even remembers that he was the target of the next investigation.

 

Paul is an energy snake inside an organic body, it shoulf take full body destruction to kill him.

And wow have orange rings been nerfed; whatever happened to the whole eat anything?

 

Whenever Paul finally remembers that he has to go find Constantine, someone else remembers that they need to find Paul. In such a chaotic manner that everything from before is forgotten.

 

I am reminded of that one fan explanation of why she uses bracers instead of just standing there like Superman, bullets make her boobs jiggle and that causes gunmen to target them to see them bounce instead of trying to kill her.

 

Mr Zoat, are we still going to see the follow up on Earth 10 after this business with Crimson Avenger II is finished?

 

Probably.

 

Zoat, I want you to know your story has completely killed my ability to be scared by supernatural horror films.

Whenever the monster does something scary I just keep flashing back to Dr. Mr. Gotham being this terrifying creature that devours souls and Paul nonchalantly de powering him before reading him his rights and carrying him off to prison.

Do you know hard it is to take a demon-monster stalking someone through a cemetery seriously when you keep imagining an overweight cop hopping out from behind a bush and tazing them repeatedly while shouting "STOP RESISTING" and then hitting them with a nightstick?

It's really hard.

 

The QQ logical explanation for combat distractions.