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

That was in episode 6, so long ago that there's no way Zoat remembers it. Here's the relevant quote:

 

Oh yeah, that's right, Paul's ring was made by ROB, and therefore doesn't have standard Maltusian DRM.

 

Paul's first ring was made by Hinon, the comatose Controller he revived in both paragon and renegade timeliness.

 

Presumably his peak output is now higher and he can sustain it much more easily.

 

Am I confusing the timelines? I thought OL and Renegade both spawned into DC with a ring they were cursed to call "this ring".

 

And then Hinon did a 'Proprietary Unlocked' in each timeline, giving them the ability to say 'my ring'.

Edit: Remember, she made the first ring and threw it into the Bleed, on the assumption it would go to someone and she would live to see it happen.

 

Thank you, corrected.

I'm not sure that the tau have encountered them. If they have, it wouldn't take long to work out that the power ring doesn't look like jokaero technology under an electron microscope.

 

True, but that doesn't mean that he can't make other things.

And some of those aliens could have figured out how the stuff works and Sinestro acquired the information.

Kalmin's apprentice was like that.

Hmm, I guess that spending potentially years on the planet without anyone else would have eroded some of his memory concerning her.

Not to mention all of that fear fucking with his mind.

 

Well said Earth is protected by a Lantern that managed to defeat one if the most powerful and skilled Lanterns of all time, plus they potentially ran the risk of the Guardians retaliating.

Don't be so sure about that.

Supervillains like Ras and the rest of the Light are incredibly arrogant, so they may not put it together unless they see it themselves.

Plus, Ras mostly fought Batman, so he may not have focused so much on the others.

If that's true then I wonder if it could be due to potential inbreeding.

They love destroying things, so a lot of them may die and their choice of partners becomes limited.

Heck, even the right answer can screw you up.

If I remember correctly she helped Kalmin with the Qward situation, so she may be alive.

 

Sounds to me like the apprentice was trying to brute force Fear mastery / enlightenment in this guy. Probably under the assumption that you'd need to be at least Enlightened to make Yellow Lanterns / Rings.

 

...Enlightened AND possessed by Parallax?

 

"Ophidian? Yes, your cousin is here. Back me up real quick please?"

 

Or enlightened and possessed by whatever remains of these people

 

I think I remember reading in this story that Parallax likes taking hosts who don't have a ring?

 

If only Paul could recruit this guy as the first Yellow Lantern on his side.

 

Either way they aren't really a threat to Paul at the moment.

 

I actually didn't see that coming. I thought the guy might have been an experiment, to try and make a Sinestro Corps member, by that lady apprentice of Kalmin (the one that allied with Grayven in the Renegade Timeline). Can't remember her name, but maybe Sinestro had the idea of recruiting her to start his corps.

That might still be a possibility, what with Sinestro making unknown moves. But how is Parallax here? Isn't it supposed to be in the Green Central Power Battery? Or did the frequent outside visits of Ion (to connect with Guy) weakened the bindings for it to escape? And if that is Parallax, could it have been an experiement to create an adequate avatar for the embodiment, to counter the Illustres and Guy? 'Cause thst would be smart if this deliberate, but still stupid because embodiments aren't easy to control.

Then again, Sinestro does manage to effectively manage and direct Parallax in the comics at one point. Not as avatar of it, but by giving it a host and pointing it at the enemy. And fair play on that one, I say.

 

I like this better than it being Parallax. This could be the weak ancestor god Paul mentioned. That would give it a good lead-up. Or you know how Paul's soul is orange because during its development huge orange light infusion. What if the experiment that Halord here went through made him grow a second nascent soul?

 

I doubt Joey there has any part to play in it besides bait, though. But who laid the trap? Weaponer Lysis, or whoever else it was? Sinestro, playing a long game? Or some other Spectrum-adjacent foe we haven't though of?

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Feh. There should be classes for that sort of thing: Obfuscated Body Language 101, or something. 'How to make people recognise your non-verbal communications, even in face-obscuring masks or all-concealing armour.'

That is a subtle reminder that OL has kind of gone native, you know. He didn't used to be this gullible... Although, their first meeting did involve her tricking him into kissing her while she wore mind-altering lipstick.

I mean, someone looking at you through Empathic Vision would see almost all orange...

It just takes a matter of framing the fear in a 'I'm afraid of not having this thing' way.

So... Dead or inconvenienced. Didn't Lysius end up running things after Varnathon got iced by Kalmin? So long ago...

Even if they didn't know they were dealing with the Qwardians, I suspect.

And OL's heavy armour is just a little bit imposing.

...Which may not be a good thing. Still, if it is the usual 'heroes are villainous and vice-versa'... How many heroes of Earth have FTL capabilities, discounting Lanterns?

Vindictiveness can be a powerful emotional vector, even marinated in fear as Joey is.

The joy of incomplete information. So many mind-games about 'whodunnit'...

I mean, it's not he's committed any crimes they would feel a need to prosecute.

Probably 'What a couple of gullible, bleeding-hearted maroons.'

Probably a typical Crime Syndicate Earth. Hopefully without an omnicidal Owlman.

As long as you don't accidentally something vital.

Certainly, being able to see a human face might help him accept any offer.

Heck, OL's been doing things with his corner of the Spectrum Sinestro is probably very interested in replicating for Fear.

Still a bit worried about that, OL?

I suspect Sinestro dismissed them as non-threats for the most part, outside of the particularly powerful.

True. Just look at how OL's been spreading Earth-originated tech. And how popular it's been.

Welp, fingers crossed for luck...

...Huh. I wonder... What if he wasn't looking at your face, OL...

Let's not mention the fact that you've been working with said Weaponer, of course.

Bah. I have no doubt the first few shots Kalmin fired were placed for maximising terror. Enough casualties to draw attention, but not enough to reduce the net effect.

Precision. Scientific experimentation. Casual disregard for life. Take your pick?

...I wonder how that book would have gone on a inverted-morality Earth? So few writers give any thought to things like popular culture with a cultural variance like that.

Just as their wants were, I suppose.

It's, like, they're all part of some cosmic spectrum, man...

...Fuck all kinds of duck...

...Crap. It's a good chance this is a merging with the local Parallax. Which makes me wonder if he did use a Power Ring before, but lost it, and went looking for another route to regaining that power... Argh, this feels like OL and Jade walked in on someone else's origin story. But unlike other times, this one ended with the main character of the tale getting even more powerful than canon.

 

People don't grow second souls in Zoat's cosmology, if they aren't New Gods or something, their soul structures just have so much space and excess is wasted. New God souls grow bigger as they absorb more energy, hence older New Gods being more powerful in this story.

As Alan demonstrates infusing the soul with a specific kind of energy can result in someone becoming an elemental.

Perhaps that was the goal, turning Harold into their own pet Terror-Thing?

But considering the whole sigils thing, I believe even if that was the goal, the guess that Harold is playing Parallax host seems likely to be true.

 

No, no, clearly this is Anti-Parallax, Superhero Extraordinaire! Striking fear into the hearts of villains everywhere!

 

Opps your right my mistake. Also, the eye thing makes sense. I'll be a little disappointed if it is obvious and turns out to be Parallax. I know this s wrong because it wouldn't make sense, but I never imagined the anti-matter verses having their own Elementals.

 

Making my bet now.

Author Ex Machina, LePaul magically talks down Parallax.

 

’my light’

 

don' t -> don't

 

...I'm sorry did he just pep talk someone into fear based enlightenment by accident?

 

Thank you, corrected.

Not exactly. He was already 99% of the way there as a result of the local Weaponer's project.

 

Is that better or worse than doing it on purpose, the first time?

 

And we've found a replacement for Sinestro! Score!