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

It's still in Washington.

I need something I can move in,

 

That's probably a bad idea.

Because who knows what countermeasures Truggs might have in place to counter Assimilation by now. And it's almost sure he has at least some given the way he's countered everything else Paul has tried.

 

"If you don't like the rules - change the game."

 

’met versions’

 

in

in

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Hmm. So can the Medusa Mask “do” Black Light, and is that useful for Darkseid’s research? Maybe, maybe not, however Darkseid outright thanked Grayven for his contribution with the Orange light brand… so indigo or orange could be a part of Mannheim’s research with the mask.

If the Mask was obtained by someone unaffiliated with Mannheim, they could acquire a great deal of power by blessing/doping people with strong emotions. On the other hand, could they do all of that secretly? Hrrm.

 

Spoiler: Spoilered to save space

I believe you mean "Serifan"?

Complete and utter bullshit from Paul. And no way in hell is it actually called that, unless Moonrider was being humorous.

Windows so that no one can look in the normal way, or does somebody have an ability to see through any window that exists?

There are worse fates than death, after all, freeing them from their misery was probably the best thing to do.

That's some solid advice right there, I'm really proud of how far Paul has come to be honest.

Thanks for the post.

 

So did I get this right, the Anti-Life tried to tell him his motivations entirely came from the outside, so he was entirely controlled from outside.

But his answer was, well yeah, but they also come from inside me as a reaction and there is no contradiction?

 

Yup.

But you should probably just chalk that up to Paul's SI superpower to partially ignore the negative effects of things at work.

 

It's a bit weak.

Both anti-life as a concept and how Paul "defeats" it here.

I mean, in actual, real life, as far as we know, humans don't have free will the way they commonly think they do. A lot of decision-making is actually just a post-hoc justification of a subconscious choice, for an example.

Point being, Anti-life feels like an edgy teen came up with it.

 

I mean it’s the ultimate goal of a being that I remember being summed up with roughly “Darkseid would give up his empire and all his history for a rock to beat you with, if the rock would allow him to dominate you more.”.

Of course it’s an incomplete argument.

 

Thank you, corrected.

Yes, and that as such there isn't really a 'him'. This is significant for an Orange Lantern as the SI has seen Lanterns who are obviously like that and has been like that himself when the orange light overwhelms him.

No, it's that if you want to do anything with the universe you have to be engaged with it.

 

ALE is 1984 style mindfuck "War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, and Ignorance Is Strength."

It's propaganda as a superpower.

Kirby based Darkseid on Nixon and Hitler, Godfrey is basically the embodiment of religion as Marx's "opiate of the masses."

Kirby's Darkseid knew he'd be the first one against the wall when the inevitable Lowly revolution happens.

Of course it's crap, it's supposed to be crap.

 

Can anyone remind me when Paul told Holly this? Also, I hope Paul will be there to help Holly and Karon once this is over.

In the Paragon timeline Paul told Jade this, while in the Eros timeline Paul told Selina this. Since Paul revealed this tidbit of info to Batman directly, has it aroused any suspicions about Paul getting info from parallel universes?

That should say 'lieutenants'.

It's a shame that Batman won't say that line anymore, but it's also good that he's evolving his methodology and tactics. Also, that should say 'not'.

This might cause some complications once he learns that Power Ring is already working with Sinestro.

That should say 'effective'.

 

I'm 90% sure that he's making a crack about the American English pronunciation of the word, despite the fact that, iirc, it's a word of French origin that is not supposed to be pronounced as leftenant.

 

Plus, working with the League has kind of buffed off some of his 'urban legend' nature and the sheer scariness of his theme. He's simply become too big, too public to intimidate regular people anymore. He's just a weird guy who dresses like a bat now.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

...Didn't he already hear about that, or is this more a case of 'Okay, they did what? I need to read this for myself.'

...Or at least they seem fine. For now. Still might be work getting a full once-over from the Frees after it's all wrapped up.

At least their youthful foolishness didn't damage the League's overall Narrative strength. Young people are expected to be headstrong and prone to leaping into battles...

Not like he has to worry about Lex learning his real identity. But still, being a bit free with - admittedly anonymous - personal details.

Presumably in an offscreen conversation. It's not like we see every moment of his life.

Ooh, Holly never mentioned that, I bet.

And Bats has 'Press [X] to doubt' flashing in his HUD right now.

Or he's simply choosing to file that under 'suspicious things Orange Lantern has said and done.' For later reference...

Eh? Realising you could have done the job better, Bats?

But you didn't, because you weren't here?

But each time you bled, or talked, or let people see you as something other than a bat-like monster...

I don't know. Surely there's something he's afraid of. Irrelevence, perhaps.

So you've simply become a stage hazard, rather than a deterrent.

What, he's not going the Adam West-era route, running around in broad daylight in light-grey and blue?

That was always an outdated idea anyway.

Huh. I guess he really is going a bit more noble-bright.

It's not like he's going to do it right now. Surely he could bear it just for the few minutes needed?

...Goddammit, OL... Just ask Batman if he could manage to channel fear for a bit.

Ah well, back to the plot.

After all, it's not like you want Mannheim to smash them.

I can tell he's not entirely comfortable with the idea, but can see the point of it...

Hmm... Who's he likely to run into in Philadelphia, I wonder?

Although Tuppence is a rather tall and well-built young lady. Bit of an amazon, if you will... So she might still attract attention.

Assuming there's not a leak in their ranks...

Chances all will go well? Not great. But that seems to be standard drill for OL's missions. The real question becomes what will he face in Philadelphia, and how well can he deal with it? Especially given that there's no guarantee that the Mask is still in town. Still, at least he's not getting bogged down in too many sidequests now.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

I always enjoy his interactions with the terror twins.

 

Who is the Illustres talking to? Because that sure isn't Batman. That's an impostor, infiltrator, whatever you want to name it, best I could call it is a Skrull if we were in Marvel. I seriously don't understand where this "character progression" is coming from; I thought Batman already understood that his presence in Gotham had changed the criminal landscape, that supervillains were a different breed altogether, or that his demeanor and competence had already become part of the 'myth' that is Batman.

What exactly is his idea for change? To be nice and friendly? Brave and the Bold style? Batman during the day?

 

Ah, Batman anticipated what the "seven ring colors" would mean for him. He's a genius after all, even when he is overworked.

So the board is being set for this arc. A portion of team YJ, with or without Justice League support, could pop in during a fight. They are capable of working, but could easily fall to Mannheim personally. If Tuppence is an avenue go hurt Paul, then Tommy is going to be targeted; be certainly doesn't have a superhero bodyguard in his line of work.

Additionally, Mr Atom is likely to put some of the pieces together from Paul's upcoming reports.

What else... The Lincoln Memorial's locked portal to the heartland. The missing angels and Themyscirans. Negative Lex and his assignment to whip up anti-anti-life attitude adjusters for the big Mannheim fight. Scott Free.

 

is currently in a

 

Batman Inc time...

Start the Franchise, spread do gooders using his teaching methods maybe?

Running around as a shadow in the night doesn't work long term, as OL and Bats point out, you reach a point where they just aren't afraid anymore.

So if you can't beat the hordes of criminals with shadows anymore, so you have to back it up with hard work.

An earlier talk OL and Batman had was about him aiding more with Bruce Wayne's resources. Use his money to make the City less of a cesspool means less conventional criminal types due to economics being less harsh. Spend the money to get the cops (now that they're not sold out to the mob) resourced enough to handle not just their normal work load, but the generally low level villains he deals with. Someone like say...Firefly, is completely within the realm of conventional tech and training to deal with. And for those more difficult baddies, you solve with something like The Team. They've reaching several squads worth to divide missions to, and were still growing now that everyone is on call with this emergency, shouldn't be too hard to get a group to keep an eye on the city that keeps spitting out loonies. They could watch over the city like .... birds of prey.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Too late, he's already made an assumption and decided on an alternate plan that makes almost no sense given all he actually needs is someone capable of blasting out Yellow Light.

Personally I would have just gone down to Mexico and picked up a random guy who plays a Lucha Libre villain.

Or maybe gone down to Hollywood and asked Wes Craven to do it.

Either is better then a random super villain from the evil universe of uncertain loyalties.

 

The Joker, when done right, is certainly afraid of something.

He's afraid of not being funny.

The Joker's whole point (and the thing a lot of modern interpretations miss) is that while his routine is the absolute blackest of black humor, it's still humor. And his audience laughs with him, not just out of 'it's the Joker' fear, but because he tells good jokes. You'll feel horrible for laughing afterwards, of course, but you still laughed.

So when Jack Napier isn't able to be funny - he's literally a comedian without a punchline. Which (yes, bearing in mind that Joker-16 bragged in universe about having a multiple-choice past) was what he was before he fell into the vat of chemicals that fateful night. So he's terrified of winding up back there - and when you can leverage that like Terry McGinnis did...

 

Also the Snake Cult had their prophecy about the world being at it's worst and then beginning on a glorious recovery led by the Snake chosen so... seems fitting they can get involved here as well.

 

You could just ask him to use it one last time.

Call it one final hurrah before he retires.

Giving a yellow ring to a guy of extremely questionable morality and ethics, who will also be able to perfectly use it, is a very, very bad idea.

Like Rogal Dorn said, it might be the worst idea.

 

Lex already knows their identities after the New Year mind control.

The world is going to need a lot if cheering up.

Well Paul told him his skills as an administrator may be more useful, and the world is going to need to be pulled back together.

I clicked the show ignored content on the screen and saw Vaermina's post to this comment.

I hate to do this. Despise it really, but I agree with them.

Crane is honestly the better option.

Still a horrible one, but at least Paul knows him and his personality profile.

He's know Power Ring for less than an hour.

Better the devil you know.