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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. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    Since it's Genosha they might have Wipeout with them, relying on his ability to suppress mutant powers.

    No reason to believe that would do anything to a power ring, so the Genoshans should be in for a nasty surprise even so.
     
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  2. Cuchulin

    Cuchulin Versed in the lewd.

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    So he is Clint Eastwood?

     
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  3. Threadmarks: Fleet Traction (part 1)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    1st January 2013
    14:58 GMT -5


    "I can't…" Oliver glances at me and then looks away pensively. "I can't help feeling that we're playing into Mannheim's hands, here."

    "Yes. You are."

    He jerks his head back around. "What? Why didn't you say something earlier?"

    "Because he wins coming and going. If human society descends into collapse and misery then it's easier for him to finish his work and take over the planet. But if you arrest that collapse by fitting into his paradigm then it increases the chance that he'll get you along with the planet, just a little later. And maybe give his master a greater insight into that part of the Anti-Life."

    His mouth hangs slightly open for a moment, then he masters himself.

    "He really does. So all we can do is hang in there, try and keep ourselves together and work out how to stop him before it goes too far."

    "That's the best option we've been able to come up with. The alternative is evacuating Earth with as many people as we can and then bombarding it from orbit."

    "Half right." He reaches back with his right hand to rub the fresh tattoo on the back of his neck. "And this isn't reliable."

    "You won't be able to know how to act without being able to feel some things. But if you want to work towards enlightenment-" I look over to where Connor Hawke is talking to Paula Nguyen. "-then he's probably the best person to talk to."

    "I only got into Buddhism for the girls."

    "Bald girls, huh? So does Canary still wear a wig..?"

    "Whu-?" He blinks. "No." He blinks again. "Sometimes. She's not bald, that's her hair, but..." He shakes his head. "Okay, you got me out of the spiral, good work."

    "The perils of living with a psychologist. I-."

    "Chime!"

    I nod, Oliver looking first at my ring and then at my face. "Time for you to go?"

    "Yes. Excuse me."

    I walk over to where Paula is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a small statue of Buddha. I never really… Asked about her religious beliefs. I've nagged Jade about picking one and I.. know that I mentioned the utility to Paula once. I just assumed that she'd go with Vietnamese not-Shinto. I nod to Mr. Hawke, but his eyes are closed as he… Prays, probably. Or centres himself for the trying times to come because there isn't much more antithetical to Buddhist ideals than the mission he's about to undertake.

    Paula on the other hand has open eyes, staring at the incense stick burning just in front of her. Of course, I… Don't know that she isn't praying too, but unlike Mr. Hawke I actually do need to speak to her.

    "Paula?"

    I need to speak to her because she was in Gotham when the Anti-Life hit and she didn't have any particular resistance. She didn't kill anyone, but the area around her home is a good deal less riotous than other places due to the fact that she… 'Established control'.

    "You are leaving."

    Her face is fairly blank as she says it.

    "I am. How are you doing?"

    "Attachment is the source of all suffering. So I am putting all of my attachments away in a box in my mind, that I will open when this is over."

    I.. nod. That might work, or the Anti-Life might eat the box.

    "Does that help?"

    "It means that I no longer mind. I will be able to help Batwoman more effectively this way."

    Because Batman's going to be spending most of his time organising our counterattacks, he's left Gotham in the care of his wife. She knows how to be a cult-leader, and she won't hesitate to dominate in the way most reliable Justice League-affiliates might. And if she could move away from the League of Shadows despite all of their indoctrination then she can probably manage Anti-Life exposure better than most people.

    I think.

    I hope.

    "Okay, well I'll… I'll let Jade know that you're managing."

    She nods. "Once this is over, I will appreciate that you did that."

    But it doesn't exactly reassure me, seeing how she's dimmed her own lights.

    "I'll leave you to your meditations." I take a step back. "Orange Lantern to Mister Miracle. Tube to low Earth orbit, please."

    BOOM!

    I turn and fly through the tube, looking down at Earth.

    Damn it.

    The Hawk family are conquering North Africa in the name of Teth Adom. Not that that involves much actual fighting. Hopefully, that will be an Anti-Life compliant way of throwing off the Anti-Life. Between Adrianna and Euanthe, the situation with the Earth's plants should be handled.

    Everywhere else I looked…

    It's going to take a very long time to fix this.

    But I don't have time for this any more.

    I warp space, accelerating towards the edge of the system. Without really thinking about it I end up flying past the corpse of the Mother Star, its dead eye staring towards Earth.

    That's a… Nice image to leave with.

    Alright, stop. Can't really feel any of the Anti-Life aura out here, though it's disturbingly easy to look back and see where it's focused. I

    step out

    and reappear over Sereaven. Six months ago I rescued all of their eggs from a Reach booby trap cum amnion extractor and moved them into a N.E.M.O. incubator. Since then the locals have wholeheartedly converted to N.E.M.O. and created underground fortifications to contain the new generation of incubators designed and built by them. The defence platforms and docking gantries are a bit primitive at the moment, but they're expanding constantly and the first locally-build ships should be completed within a year.

    The L.E.G.I.O.N. fleet in system wasn't built here, but as a testament to the strength of our alliance it's here anyway. Virtually all of the ships are L.E.G.I.O.N. standard pattern designs with only a small amount of variation to take into account differences in preferred living conditions of their crews. Darting hither and thither or just hanging in space are my Lanterns. Not… As many as there were in the earlier stages of the war. This is really supposed to be a job for the fleet, with Lanterns only around to deal with Scarab Warriors. It doesn't do to get dependent, especially when we know that the Reach are working on anti-Lantern weapons. Darkstars will be on the planet to assist the garrison in the event of a landing, or at teleport stations ready to board enemy ships should an opportunity become available.

    We look ready.

    Let's find out if we are.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2023
  4. iamnuff

    iamnuff Connoisseur.

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    Lol.
     
  5. Bud-E

    Bud-E Stand up so I can push you down!

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    Who are the Hawk family and why isn't Khandaq army doing that

    And why has nobody moved the giant Star Conqueror's corpse? I can't imagine the Guardians like it just floating in space.
     
  6. BR549

    BR549 This is filth! FILTH!!

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    Hawkman and Hawkwoman, and because this is a (reluctant) job for Justice Leaguers, as explained.
     
  7. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    "built"
     
  8. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    It's also possible that they're his reincarnated friends.
     
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  9. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

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    Damn, guess saving Earth has to be on pause then. Time to see what new evils the Reach has come up with and hopefully beat them back. Unless this is another shoe to drop and the Illustres and N.E.M.O. are about to suffer their major defeat and reversal, which is possible as well.

    Hasn't been good days for the good guys in a while, eh?
     
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  10. m_d

    m_d Fascinated by storytelling

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    That's why Khandaq's army isn't doing it. The New God Anti-Life paradigm that's been thrust upon Earth's inhabitants means that they'll fall in line and yield to sufficiently strong individuals more readily than to armies. Now, once North Africa are following them, there might be benefits to being absorbed by Khandaq if that means that Adom's efforts to shield his territory from the effects of Anti-Life can be extended to them, but it depends on whether the increase in population/territory means that it becomes harder by virtue of that increase, or whether it's more a matter of the degree to which the people and lands are his. There's also the possibility that the growth might mesh with New God narrative power and decrease the power of the Anti-Life locally making that shielding easier. Hard to say.
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2022
  11. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    It's inevitable, as the result of him flipping the table and setting up a new one in one smooth movement, thanks to his Anti-Life broadcasts. Until you can learn to cheat the rules of his game, you're stuck having to play it for now. But you will learn, and you will win.

    At least this way, he doesn't win immediately. Which he was damn close to, if not for a few resistant heroes.

    But you do have some of the craftiest, sneakiest minds on Earth working on the problem. Sooner or later, they'll work out the loopholes and exploit them mercilessly.

    I'm guessing it serves as a ward against the Anti-Life, then. But a ward they have to focus on to hold steady, rather than relying on it to passively resist.

    Ah, the original Huntress has resumed her heroic role? I can't remember if she's augmented, but it would be a good idea, if only to prevent a repeat of the injuries that got her into that wheelchair first time around.

    'Sometimes'? When you and she feel a bit nostalgic for her pre-dye-job days, eh?

    Whoops, that'll be the NEMO deadline. The league will just have to handle the rest of this crisis themselves.

    I wonder if any of them think of it as him cutting and running, even though they know he has other obligations...

    Wonder if Ollie knows who Connor actually is? He'd honestly have to be blind not to, and it was more or less confirmed in the comics when they met... (By way of Ollie having an old photo of baby Conner from back in the day.)

    To be fair, she could well be considering her current place in things, and her part in super-heroic society. She wouldn't be the first villain to reform and become a hero... Especially with OL's involvement.

    ...Hopefully Holly and Karon are in her area of influence. So many minor characters whose fate we still don't know...

    I'm guessing she's got something Zen going on to resist the Anti-Life...

    Hopefully, it doesn't come to that. But it's her decision.

    Ah, Talia's handling things in Gotham, then. Batman clearly trusts her to keep his city safe...

    <Fingers crossed.> Or she may end up breaking, and going full cult-leader in turn... Which would probably be worse for batman...

    Let's hope you all come out of this in one piece to be able to fulfil that promise, then.

    Since Mannheim seeing him leave Earth normally would probably be dangerous, eh? And it's not safe to greediport directly out of the exposure zone.

    Heh. An odd symmetry to both his arrival and his first time leaving, back at the end of that first year...

    So, is that just the alien Hawks, or does that also include the reincarnated Hawks? The joy of sharing a heroic mantle...

    ...As frustrating as it is, you have other obligations, other duties. You can't shirk one set in favour of the other...

    Heh. I can see it being a nice warning post on the borders. 'We killed this. Do you want to try us?'

    Trust the League to be competent enough to handle it themselves, OL. Look to your own affairs now, and what you've made.

    Nothing like saving a whole planet's next generation to sway their opinion. Well done there, OL.

    Not the first time the different arms of the service have coordinated together... But possibly the largest assembly thus far, I bet. Given what's coming at them, it's understandable.

    Let the campaign begin!

    So the scene shifts, from Earth in peril to the Reach's biggest pushback against NEMO. And with it, the scale of the situation grows. From a single world to dozens in danger from an enemy far larger than they can fight alone. Perhaps we'll get to learn more about OL's local Nemesis, who's no doubt in a highly-valuable position in the Reach fleet's command structure...
     
  12. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Dang Paul, hurry up with bitch-slapping the Reach.

    Earth society after this will be unrecognisable.

    And also filled with a burning desire to wipe Apokolips of the maps.
     
  13. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Paul already told Ollie that Connor's his illegitimate child. Ollie was previously told this, but this was in his playboy days, so he didn't believe it.
     
  14. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Hawkman I, Hawkwoman I, Silver Scarab and Fury.
    Because armies are slow and ponderous things, and needed back home.
    A number of reasons. Because it's not hurting anyone just floating there. Because they're not sure how dead 'dead' is in a thaumically active system like Sol. Because they don't like exterminating species and are curious to see if they can turn Star Conquerors into something less malevolent in time.
    Thank you, corrected.
    Did I just remember something that one of you lot didn't? Oliver made the decision to talk to Connor a while ago. They've been in semi-regular contact since.
     
  15. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    The Reach seemed to have a deal with Apokalips, so they may have given them some new weapons.

    Nope.
     
  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Everything seems to be getting worse.

    If the Reach and Apokolips are working together then he can tip them off that he's coming.

    He'd basically be opening a hole into a realm that connected to every mind in the universe and risking letting Anti-Life into it.
     
  17. Chaoswind

    Chaoswind Lord of nonsense

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    One guy forgot, don't generalize.

    It's relevant episode is when Aquaman had his illegitimate son kidnapped by his brother to release Oceanus.

    Oliver got told about his son then and has established contact an indeterminate amount of time after.

    We also got tangential references to him from Artemis, I don't think Paul has interacted ON SCREEN with him much, but he joined the Arrow Clan and its at least a youth team affiliate.

    Speaking of the youth team, what is the current membership of the Team? It's been a long while since you gave us an update and Paul doesn't interact with them so they don't show up anymore.

    The fact that the membership is different between Renegade and Paragon just makes the mess even more complicated.

    Also you never gave us an update about which characters died during the Sheda harvesting.
     
  18. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    It will be interesting to see what Earth looks like after. If I'm being optimistic then the heroes will have figured things out and Earth won't be anti-lifed anymore.

    For the Hawks, I figure it will be 'lowlies' -> Hawks -> Black Adam and family in terms of established hierarchy.
     
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  19. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

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    Which is only appropriate: The Young Gods of the Fifth World will bring ruin to The New Gods of the Fourth World, just as The New Gods of the Fourth World brought ruin to The Old Gods of the Third World.
     
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  20. FuzzyZergling

    FuzzyZergling Getting out there.

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    I wonder; would being a nihilist prior to exposure make you more able to function while anti-lifed, or less?
     
  21. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    And Paul ran away, leaving the most important planet in the universe to it's fate.
     
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  22. Rebu

    Rebu hey, little Anna, you're the one

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    It's all very...Greco-Roman.
     
  23. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    The traditional set up is that the next generation arises after the previous dies on their own.

    The Third World blew up, the Fourth World of Apokalips and New Genesis formed from the fragments, and the New Gods evolved from the organic soup that was left of the Old Gods.

    And the new Forever People, the Super Young Team of Japan, became the new Forever People with Death of the New Gods, in which the Source had them killed.

    There was a post flashpoint story in which Darkseid highlandered the Old Gods, so DC has had a Greek cycle sort of thing for them too.
     
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  24. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    The SI doesn't know.
    A few minor characters the SI interacted with in Brazil. A couple of the people in the Rocket Red armour. I don't think any significant characters died.
     
  25. Perchance

    Perchance Getting out there.

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    I'm sure it's not but the lingering corpse of the Mother Star looking back at earth feels like a Chekhovs Gun to me. Maybe as an amplifier for Scott's New God of Freedom abilities? Or atleast someone's. Something like "Let No Chains Stand Before My Gaze" or something like that.

    It would be one way to A.) Do a mass weakening of the ALE on earth for a cpunter attack/reset of the thaumosphere and B.) Set up later problems by inadvertently weakening the seals/chains/bindings/traps/etc. of the many many nasty things presently bound up hither and thither all over the planet.

    Which does admittedly sound like an extremely convoluted plan to out the life entity from its hidey hole.

    Sidebar but exactly how long does the planet have before the antilife contagion stops being an infection and starts being an integrated structure of the thaumosphere? Normally I'd guess it wouldn't but since it's effecting everything and everyone barr a few areas, and iirc the thaumosphere is shaped by human beliefs and expectations then wouldn't it eventually become self sustaining? In a vein similar to what Tangseid did to Wonder Woman.
     
  26. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

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    Less, but it's not what you think.
    A nihilist would still have been compelled to observe social norms and succumb to the drives of hunger and poverty as greater forces than his own personal philosophy.
    Now? A nihilist would be totally unaffected mentally... in any way. With Anti-Life Justifying Their Thoughts/Philosophy, a Nihilist would experience no misery, no peace, only a permanent zen state of Flow without performing any Function.
    Truly the "no thoughts, head empty" meme made manifest.

    ...Someone should go check that mausoleum of self-mummified Buddhist monks, the Anti-Life might have woken then up thinking it was the Destined Time.
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2022
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  27. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    dependent
     
  28. Mastigos2

    Mastigos2 Versed in the lewd.

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    Ummm ... Paul already discussed this with her. Back in the "where is Constantine?" Arc. And Pamela kind of wasn't interested?

    There was a whole digression about how Poison Ivy wasn't picking men as victims due to being a lesbian but more just regarded any lust from "Meat" as disgusting.

    Also, whatever happened to the whole "about to grow a tree from the a seed stolen from the Garden of Eden" plotline that was supposed to make all plants on the planet demonbane? Because I thought that checkov's gun was about to fire there.
     
  29. Threadmarks: Meanwhile on Earth 534834 (part 2)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Earth 534834

    8th February 1992
    02:34 GMT +3


    "You know… Ororo, I've been meaning to bring this up for a while."

    Ororo's keeping an eye on the floodlight-lit playing field below us where the remains of the Genosha 'Self-Defence Force' are kneeling with their hands behind their backs. We're both more than a little concerned that the resistance fighters and mutant civilians policing our temporary holding area might take the opportunity to just kill them all. Not quite sure what we're going to do with them. They're the locals, after all.

    "You are free to speak."

    "Team balance. I realise that Charles took whatever mutants he could get when he started the X-Men, and that it was mostly to train them in using their abilities safely and usefully rather than crafting the best possible field team, but… It seems to me that we've got quite a lot of D-. People who can shoot things or smash them, but not a lot of people who can absorb damage or heal."

    "I do not know of any mutants who have powers that allow them to heal others."

    I frown. "Huh. Really?"

    "If such powers were commonplace, mutants would be more widely accepted. People fear fighters more than physicians."

    I nod. "So there aren't any, or we just haven't heard of them?"

    "Mutant powers emerge without rhyme or reason. Though there is no reason to believe that healing powers cannot exist, if there were mutants with the power to heal, we would have no easy way to hear of them."

    "Well, I'm going to count that as evidence in my favour." She gives me a dubious look. "Oh, come on, what's more evolutionarily useful: the ability for a member of a species that already has guns to fire low-grade explosives from their hands, or the ability to heal rapidly?"

    "Evolution is seldom so simple. And the absence of an obvious precursor ability does not 'prove' the involvement of alien biologists."

    I grin. "So are you taking the bet? It's just you and Henry who are holding out."

    She'd clearly like to be able to say 'yes', but she masters herself. "No, though I will be happy to review any evidence you find. Should you actually find any."

    "And I'll be happy to present it to you. How about tanks?"

    "Tanks?"

    "People who can take hits. A taser doesn't do much to me, but they hit Anne-Marie hard enough to stun her."

    Of course, I only had to hold them off for the few moments it took her to activate the Impact Beam Ring, and then we were both immune to just about every weapon they had. The robots and power armour slowed us down a little, but Anne-Marie and I both have far more resilience than they could cope with. Well, when her ring's active in her case. It took a lot of electricity to down her, but she's actually quite a lot less tough than she is strong, something I hadn't really… Picked up on before.

    "There are several such people in Cerebro's database, but most of them have made choices that would make joining the X-Men difficult."

    Henry is a bit tougher than a normal human, but not by all that much and he's in gaol at the moment in any case. Logan heals faster, but he's not actually all that much harder to hurt than a normal human. And he made it very clear when I asked that while he's more used to being hurt than most people, it still hurts him just as much as anyone else. Apparently he gave up wearing body armour because it wasn't effective enough to make up for the pain of pulling partially-melted steel plates off his skin. Which is pretty fair.

    "The easiest thing would be for people to find us, but that draws attention to the school, which… Has its own problems."

    She nods solemnly.

    "…mutant citizens of Gehosha will not tolerate…"

    I wince as a man I recognise as the leader of a resistance group called 'The Acolytes' starts grandstanding for the benefit of the other mutant tourists. Apparently, the Acolytes are big fans of Magneto, which is a little odd because as far as I know he's never met them and he's always on the lookout for new mutant henchmen. Not sure how much of that attachment is a reaction to the radical anti-mutant practices of the Gehosha government, being drawn to his mutant-supremacist teaching as a result. Or I suppose they could be natural mutant-supremacists. As Sir Terry Pratchett wrote, 'Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority, it doesn't mean that they're not a nasty, small-minded little jerk.'

    I turn to Ororo. "Do you want to get that, or shall I?"

    "I think that it may do him some good to interact with humans-"

    There's a tiny hesitation which lasts nearly long enough to make me raise my eyebrows.

    "-who are not mutants."

    I smile and nod in gratitude, because it took a while for the X-Men to understand the point I was making there, and her acceptance of my terminology is a minor victory for both science and integration.

    I give her a jaunty salute and then fly over to where Mr. Cortez is holding court. Surprising that a man of his mindset hasn't picked a 'mutant name', but I haven't had enough exposure to the mutant subculture to really be sure what that signifies.

    A couple of his friends spot me as I get closer, but he himself doesn't react to me until I drop into his line of sight.

    "Mister Cortez?" I smile warmly. "Is there a problem?"

    "Not any longer." He looks.. genuinely pleased to see me, though living out in the Genoshan wilds hasn't exactly lent itself to regular washing. "Now we are free of our oppressors!"

    The Genoshan government database says that he's Spanish, so I'm not all that sure how they were oppressing him from here. I don't want to… Imply anything, but for an island off the coast of Africa the Acolytes…

    I'd be surprised if they were local, let's put it like that.

    "Do any of you-"

    He's turned back to the crowd. "We will establish Genosha as a home for all mutantkind!"

    "-have any government experience, because-"

    "Free from all who would enslave us!"

    "-running a country is actually quite hard-."

    "Free from all humans who hate and fear their us as their superiors!"

    "Mister Cortez, I'm human."

    That brings him up short. He turns on the spot. "What?"

    I hold up my left hand, showing my glowing ring. "No x-gene, I'm afraid. Just an alien ring." I shrug. "I just really don't like slavery, and my.. girlfriend does have an x-gene. So if you could tone down the racism a bit, that would be splendid. Also, if you keep trying to incite a crowd to murder our prisoners, I'm not going to be very impressed. Look." I move my eyes from him to the now slightly less riled up crowd of holidaying mutants. "You've all had a very hard time. Why don't you head over to the hotels and get some rest in an actual bed. Then we can all get together and decide what to do with this lot tom-. Later today, when we're all thinking a bit more clearly?"

    Mr. Cortez grimaces, then marches off, his Acolytes following behind him. One of them, a red haired woman, glances back for a moment before writing me off. With them gone, the rest of the crowd decide to-.

    Somewhere near the back of the crowd I spot a hulking great man I recognise as the time traveller Cable. We make momentary eye contact and then he's gone, vanishing into the darkness. I could go after him, but… That sounds like a bad idea.

    Alright, demagogue sent away, crowd dispersed, prisoners not going anywhere. Now all that's left-.

    "So sugah." Anne-Marie drifts down to stand beside me. She's thrown a blouse and sarong on, but those really do more to emphasise the thing they're concealing than to actually conceal it. "What was that about a ring?"
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  30. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
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    Thank you, corrected.
    They're growing, but they don't interact with the Green particularly well so they're just seedlings.
     
    Relyt33, Bramble Thorn, Ardy and 6 others like this.
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