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

14th February 2013
13:31 GMT -5

They haven't punched through with force, I notice almost immediately. Rather, they've pushed through and the construct is… Almost treating them like they're part of it, merging with-.

My eyes widen slightly as I realise that the orange light is slowly flowing from my construct up grooves in their armour.

External Motivation = External Control

"Kadabra, grab the alien and get down the hole."

"Ah-."

Oh heck. I activate my gauntlet's crumbler function and punch the Justifier's grasping hand! Their hand jerks back, but their armour is only slightly abraded, and… It's acquired a faint orange glow.

"Kadabra. By that rationale we're all controlled by things outside of ourselves." The Justifier recovers and swings with their left hand, prompting me to open a hole in the construct and putting a kinetic barrier in place instead. "We're only a slave to what other people dangle in front of us if we choose to be. If the price is too high, it's always correct to walk away."

He blinks, shaking slightly as he comes back to his senses as I take advantage of the Justifier being off-balance to wrap tungsten chains around their extended arm.

"Yess… Yes." He flicks his wand at the alien, who floats off the ground and then shoots over to the hole. Kadabra then gets on the armour's cuirass before causing it to descend with a wand poke. He rubs his forehead with his left hand as he drops out of sight.

I create a construct plug over the hole behind them and then I give the Justifier my full attention.

"Are you still aware in there?"

External Motivation = External Control

"Yes, you said. I'm not sure why you think that changes anything for me. I mean, what's the alternative supposed to be? Purely internal motivation with no reference to the external universe? If I wanted to be a lump of rock I'd have transmuted myself into one."

The Justifier isn't pulling to try to free themselves. I think they're looking at me, but the helmet makes it a little hard to tell. They don't have super strength and they can only absorb my constructs through direct contact. Though concerning, that’s hardly my only avenue of attack.

In fact, since no new Jockeys have appeared and I've got them trapped, I should probably see about getting their helmet off. It's not… An efficient way to undermine Mannheim, because we don't have a safe space to put everyone we could free and we can't even guarantee that we can keep them free. But it looks like Apokolips has a new anti-Lantern ability and so I need to know more about it.

"I'm going to try removing your helmet now. Please, try to stay still."

Background heat and radiation are at levels my armour and environmental shield can easily deal with. I stick a construct manhole cover over the hole I dug, then drop the construct dome.

"I realise that as a Justifier you don't value your life, but please remember that as long as you're alive you have utility to Mannheim."

I transmute a solid metal clamp and attach it to their helmet before trying to find the seal, except… There doesn't seem to be one. No, there it is, but it's currently undone. I can just lift the helmet off.

I don't trust it.

I check very carefully for any sign that there's a booby trap or suicide device, but I can't… See anything.

I give myself construct armour and put a construct shield between us anyway.

"I'm going to lift your helmet off now. I realise that it's going to be a shock, but please try to stay calm."

I use the clamp to pull the helmet off over their-. His head, and-.

And my own face stares back at me.

So that's what he did with… At least one of the clones.

The clone stares at me. He's lost a little fat in his face, and his sclera are reddened by very visible veins, but otherwise… I mean, he's not me; the brains of the clones were blanks that I could load myself into, not conscious and functioning brains in suspended animation. It wouldn't be impossible to… Edit them into something functional, but that wouldn't make the resulting person think anything like me.

Though it probably means that he doesn't have an 'un-Anti-Lifed' form. So in that case I should… Kill him?

There's a flicker of orange in eyes, which… Which is awkward, because it suggests that he can have desires of his own. And if he can do that, then he.. could be his own person.

Okay. Um. There's… Actually no Anti-Life transmitter in his helmet, which means… That his brain is fully acclimatised to the Anti-Life and doesn't need constant reinforcement.

"Can you actually talk?"

He's not… Staring at me with hatred in his eyes. Or any surprise that we share a face. I think that Dr. Balewa might-.

"Boo!"

Hu-?

The light and the pressure's back, but my construct armour can take it. My clone's head on the other hand can't, and it's… He's… Ash. His armour-. What little I can see of it, appears to be surviving intact. So… What was the point? He can't have been trying to make me feel guilty. It might work on some superheroes, but I originally created the clone to body jack.

I shake my head and walk towards the hole. I should fill that in after I drop down, because-.

Charging. Charging. Ch-cha-ch-cha-chaaaaaa…

What? What just-?

There's a… Dark patch in my construct armour. And it's… Expanding, spreading out-.

I try dismissing that part of the construct, and it doesn't happen.

Um.

Move to the plug, activate crumbler gauntlet. Okay, if I get out of-. This armour should be able to take exposure to the aftermath of a low grade nuclear-

"Knock knock!"

E-h!

Ah…

The dark patch is spreading, and I-. My other clones are Anti-Lifed, so that's a no, even if it could have worked. My armour might be able to take nuclear detonations, but not at this close a range. Leaving the area risks the other three and our prisoner.

I don't know what that is. I'd guess something… Anti-Life orientated. Clone-me gets infected and then transfers it into me the same way I would have transferred myself into it. But I've been exposed to the Anti-Life before and while it was unpleasant it didn't have much of a lasting effect. Then again, Mannheim wouldn't do this unless he thought it could work.

I create a new bubble shield and-. It's got the same dull orange permeating it. Push it out, dismiss the cap, step in and start filling it in as I drop. Kadabra and Mahkent can deal with-.

External Motivation = External Control

Ah…

 

14th February 2013
17:37 GMT -2

Our pathway through the Venturian streets curves upwards towards the third story of the palace and away from the main thoroughfare of which it is a part. Or rather was. Luna strides forwards with a degree of confidence that I find… Interesting, while I trail on behind.

The citizenry around us…

Venturia isn't the sort of place to segregate on the grounds of form. The ruling family are pureblood because their ancestors could afford that version of the spells, but it's been a very long time since they made a distinction between purebloods, gill necks and those with overt fishlike qualities. In my visits to Venturia I saw a wide variety of peoples swimming around the palace district without anyone finding it odd.

That is no longer the case.

The palace is now dry, where before Queen Clea held parts of it dry as a demonstration of power. Logically, if she were continuing the same policy now then she would keep parts of it submerged. Instead, the submerged areas are restricted to the outskirts and occasional displays of aquatic plant life in public areas.

The buildings look a little different too. Like they were built in the pre-sinking style, and are actually capable of maintaining their structure while out of the water. Windows and doors made of wood and metal have made a reappearance, entry points away from the ground floor have vanished so that there's no sign they were ever there.

Looks a little like Themyscira, to be honest. Aside from the occasional displays of overt magic. And the existence of men.

"Honeybun, are you sure they can't see us?"

"Neigh, they can see us most readily." She raises her right hand in casual greeting to a palace servant as they clean the interior of a window we pass, and the servant nods deferentially back. "But they can only comprehend us in terms of the dream in which they are trapped. Were We in Equestria, We would rouse them to full consciousness that we might discuss what had happened to them, but here that would be contrary to our purpose."

"And Ahri'ahn isn't going to notice this?"

"We are doing what We can to prevent our presence here from disrupting the dream, though your presence is far more perceptible than Our own. There is little that We may do to prevent him noticing us should he turn his attention this way due to some unrelated matter, though We suspect that he will focus his gaze on Poseidonis during this time."

"Is there anything I can do to make it easier for you?"

"Neigh, there is not. Your nature as a New God means that you hold fast where others bend. Your passing leaves a wake. That is why we should avoid proximity to others."

"And you can wake Clea up?"

Luna nods as we approach the target balcony. "Verily. That is the greater risk. If Ahri'ahn has realised that she is your ally, he may monitor her more closely. We will attempt to unpick his magecraft, but in such matters there are no guarantees."

The railing bends aside as we step onto the balcony, and the pathway which brought us here… Sort of fades into the… Wall? The ground below us? Like it was made of things from its environment and sort of..? Stopped being twisted out of place.
Reality is R-.
Luna gasps, her head jerking around to glare at me. "Stop that at once! We could feel you trying to layer the rules of the waking world 'pon the sleeping one! Our foes will feel that at once!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just… I find this profoundly unsettling, you know?"

She smiles. "We do. And We are pleased that you are able to admit a failing to Us. It is… Gratifying, to aid you and in some small part pay back the aid you have given Us."

"It's nice to see you in your element like this."

"It is nice for Our element to be rel-e-vant…" Her expression changes to one of mild guilt. "Ah."

"Ah?"

"We may have… Changed your clothing… Somewhat."

I look down and… Now we match. I'm too broad for the look to really work; I look like a bodybuilder at a renaissance faire, but… I'll live with it. Particularly given how in-tune she would have to be with my God-Name to do something like that without me feeling it. If it weren't for Father, I'd propose at once because there just isn't a greater level of trust or intimacy.

"Nice. Now let's get in there and find Clea."

Luna leads the way once more, looking neither left nor right as she unerringly homes in on wherever Clea is. I don't know how it works exactly, but journeys in dreams-.

A golden barrier flares into being just as she steps out into an intersection, blocking my path.

"Your power and skill recommend you, magician."

Voice is coming from the… Left. They can't see me from where they are. I might be able to force the barrier, but that would definitely draw attention to me.

"I could scarcely feel your presence at all. I did not think that anyone in Atlantis studied Dream magic, but it seems that your family had its secrets."

Wait. Wait. I recognise that voice. I stabbed him in the face.

"We are Princess Luna. To whom do we speak, who is clearly not submerged in this baleful delirium?"

"I am Nabu of Cilia, Magi of Order."

Darn it! I knew he was going to reincarnate, I just thought he'd have the sense to keep his head down! The barrier… I don't know, it's glowing. The sword should have removed all of his accumulated power, but… Yes, okay, there wasn't anything stopping him building back up again. Klarion didn't, but he never really struck me as a strategic planner.

"And for what reason would one who prizes order above all merge the material world with the world of dreams?"

A… Passageway which wasn't there before has suddenly always been there to my right. I nod and follow it.

"I used the flaws of each to bring order to the other. Humans are messy in the contact of their affairs, but they are creatures of pattern. This in turn creates structure within the realm of Dream."

I can still hear them perfectly well, a grate in the upper part of the wall which used to exist for the purpose of allowing water pressure to equalise serving to allow me to eavesdrop.

"And your magic compels them to walk evermore within such patterns."

"Just so. They are still themselves, and can still make choices in their lives. But-."

"Those choices are bound by your power and art. And that of Ahri'ahn."

The passage turns off, and I quietly step out behind Nabu. I'm not sure if his original form was human-seeming or if he's had so many hosts in the intervening period that he now identified with that form more than any other, but there he is. Light Atlantean robes, shoulder length white hair and beard and that's about all I can tell from the back. There's a golden shield keeping Luna where she is but nothing at all between me and him.

"He is proud and arrogant, but he is powerful and highly skilled. Still, I am puzzled as to how he did not detect a dream magician as skilled as you. He should have done, and your wards are clearly only as good as they are due to your access to dreamstuff. Are you a child of Morpheus?"

"We are charged with ensuring that what you have done here doth not come to pass amongst Our own people." She raises her right hand, dark blue wisps effusing towards the golden barrier between them. "And We shall stop you here."

I draw the Sword of the Fallen.

"That is unlikely. I am here in the dream role of court magician. There is no story here that will allow you to best me in a contest of magics."

I step up to him, put the sword to his throat and resting my left hand on his shoulder. "But I think perhaps that one who has killed you before may be excluded."