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

17th February 2013
20:43 GMT

Eyesredchargingrailguncrumb-!

"No." Mannheim is still illuminated by an inner white glow as he raises his hands. "No one else."

A white wave passes through Finality Man, turning grey into gold and blue so that it more closely resembles Prince Drax's armour. Its golden eyes flare for a moment, then-

BOOM!

-it opens a boom tube beneath its own feet and falls into it.

"And now…" Mannheim turns towards the former Alliance Headquarters. "That thing. I-."

The blaster bolt hits him in the chest and knocks him to the ground.

Damn it! I dash over to him, creating a construct shield-

"I honestly believed that this would work."

A weird… Relief Mannheim walks towards us, shimmering black, blaster in his right hand.

"And yet you cut off my origin from my present. That's an interesting avenue of attack. Not one I would have considered."

"Father."

"A pale imitation, due to be reunited with my true self momentarily."

Graviton deflator, railgun with everything-. No. Message everyone. White light blast in two, one-.

"YAAAGH!"

Orion flies across the ground and slams into him! It takes… Shadow Mannheim off his feet but he turns with the impact, getting his right hand up to turn Orion's head aside before he can vomit blood all over him.

"Such beautiful, savage rage." Shadow Mannheim gets his feet under him and then backhands Orion into a nearby building. "Become the beast."

I fire, hitting him with mage slayer and crumbler rounds while Nommo ministers to real Mannheim. Batman is keeping his attention on our surroundings as the Justifiers are probably still coming. Carol looks like she's barely standing while Malvolio has scrambled to catch everyone that he dropped from his prison construct before they can hit the ground. Alan honestly looks a little behind events.

My railgun rounds hit home, but all it does is make his image… Glitch a little.

"An interesting -if futile- effort."

They're not hitting the far side of him so they're not just passing through. We've shut him off from his original body and the magic he stole, but he's still got an Anti-Lifed planet to power him. Ah.

Orion staggers out of the building, his horns glowing red horns and growing larger. And I can feel-.

Ah, shi-.

His right fist slams into my construct armour, completely destroying it through a combination of raw physical power and the corrosive power of the red light.

Message to Dr. Mist. Use the Mask. Turn down his anger.

I duck back and pwguer!

Ah, he hit me in the chest hard enough to break my shields and crater my cuirass. Left ribs… Broken, I think.

"Bringing my son was foolish."

New Gods can grow back arms.

I trigger my crumbler gauntlets and punch as his right arm, trying to-.

His flaring environmental shield disintegrates the gauntlet and I snatch what's left back before I lose the hand as well.

"Calm."

"G-hyeh?"

Orion's confused snort I.. probably a sign that Nommo's managed something-.

I turn my head in his direction to see the Medusa Mask melt, running down his face and dripping onto the floor. Alan's taken over ministering to Mannheim, who's showing a few signs of life.

"Orion, you need to focus. You hate your father more than anything. You're this close to actually wounding him!"

"I…" The horns fade, whatever Shadow Mannheim did to him needing him being maniacally angry to work.

Great. Back off and heal myself-.

Lantern Stewart creates a bubble shield around Shadow Mannheim. Shadow Mannheim looks up at him in disbelief, then casually slams it aside as he walks out. Ghia'ta covers him in glowing crystals, but they melt immediately.

"Love? Really? Unreliable at the best of times."

"Blue-."

"No."

Mannheim pulls himself up onto all fours, then points at his negative doppelgänger. A ripple of white light passes through him, making him wince.

"I offered you a place of rare honour. You should have remained my servant."

"I shouldn'a ever bought what you were sellin'. Get the Hell outta here."

Another wave of white and Shadow Mannheim visibly fades a little before regaining his strength.

"The network-!"

"Yeah." Mannheim looks around. "Give me a boost?"

"Show me your ultimate folly. This… 'Life force' that resists me."

I can still feel the link between the seven of us and Mannheim, and it's simplicity itself to let the orange light flow, and it looks like the others feel the same. Mannheim glows brilliantly-

"Mm."

There's a shimmering… Something just behind him. It's distorting-.

Graviton deflator fire.

There's a small burst of energy as I destabilise… Whatever that was. Shadow Mannheim actually starts.

Hah. No escape for you. No taking what you learned back to actual Darkseid.

Mannheim looks upwards, white light flowing off him and into the former Alliance of the Just headquarters in an approximation of my original plan. The glowing orange lines fade, replaced with brilliant white as the vital force of life itself shines out of the building. A moment passes and I feel it pass through me on its way out across the network. Scans show the remaining Justifiers who had been fighting other Justice League forces either dropping to the ground or staggering and looking around in stupefied bewilderment.

"Another time, then."

Shadow Mannheim fades out of existence as his bond with the network is destroyed. Nothing left to sustain him.

And then I look out across the wrecked city, and-.

"Lantern."

Orion walks towards me, pulling the ring off his finger. I'm pleased to see that his face is back to normal, but that just lets me see how unhappy with me he is.

"I would have words with you."

 

17th February 2013
20:47 GMT

I look around, trying to spot Batman. He's checking fallen Justifiers, marking them on the League's tactical network based on their location and degree of injury. At the edge of the city I can see Superman carrying a zeta terminal towards us, with Red Tornado tagging along to power it. Once that's in place, we can start moving people and relief supplies.

No Anti-Life nagging at the edges of my consciousness. And if it was unpleasant for me, I dread to imagine what it was like for most people.

I return my attention to Orion.

"How are you?"

I think he's.. frowning.

"I am trying, very hard, not to be angry."

I gingerly reach out with my right hand. "That might be easier if you hand that ring over. Red rings are even worse for being infectious than orange rings."

"I chose this. You told me as much as you knew. You did not lie to me once. That is why I am not tearing your head from your shoulders."

"I'm sorry. I.. think that Darkseid-Mannheim shadow-thing did something to drive you berserk at the end, but I didn't see-."

"He cowed my nature with his own. He could do that because I had abandoned my Source-mandated purpose to become a mindless berserker for you."

"I asked, but I wasn't just asking for me. Without you, everyone on Earth-."

"I know that. But you do not-." He takes a deep breath in and then lets it out slowly. "You do not understand what turning myself into what he wants me to be cost me."

"Clearly you feel bad about it. Do you want to explain it to me? Make me feel the same thing? I certainly knew that something like that was possible."

He looks away for a moment.

"What did you see, when the white light passed through us all?"

I shake my head. "Right at the end there? Nothing much. I wasn't interacting with the network." I shrug. "I don't enjoy talking people into doing things, but… I'm ruthless when I think I need to be. I felt the… Doctor Mist's compassion, and the unifying wonder of the… Essence of life itself… And getting you for red-."

"You'd do it again."

"Yes. It's not that I don't feel bad, it's that I don't think me feeling bad matters much compared to…"

I look over to where Alan is checking over the fallen. I'm pleased to see that he's got a healing ray, and that he's remembered that it's still worth checking them over before shooting them with it.

"Compared to freeing a world from the Anti-Life."

"What is your.. 'nature', anyway? If it's some sort of New God thing-."

"I am the essence of the heroic warrior. I keep faith, I fight evil, I-." He looks away for a moment, and I see the Forever People cautiously approaching. "I am not what my Father would have me be. What happened here, what happened to me, is so repugnant to me that I say this to you."

He tosses the red ring to my feet.

"If I ever see you again after this day, I will kill you. Vykin, we are leaving."

Vykin nods, and-

BOOM!

-a portal opens, the six of them walking through.

Yeah. I get it. All that time fighting to keep control while feeling that angry, and then I have him run rampant in full rage mode so he can get a feel for it.

I reach down and pick up the ring, careful not to touch the inner surface. I'll put it in an equipment pouch for now, and… Maltus later?

"Orange Lantern to-."

No.

"Orange Lantern to Mister Atom. Global status summary."

"Based on observed organic behavior, your efforts to remove the Anti-Life have been successful. Based on observed organic behavior, that didn't fix things. Have you considered mass cybernetic implantation? They appear to make humans far more rational."

"I use an empathic weapon. Rationality would be detrimental to my effectiveness."

"Do you require a comfort break?"

"What?"

"You have stopped working. There is a great deal of work to do in order to restore Earth. Do you require assistance defecating?"

"No, I just needed your confirmation that it had actually worked before I started tidying up here. I assume that you have an outlined reconstruction plan?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"I understand your frustration. Imagine mine. I can not define the problem sufficiently well to solve it. The records required to restore Earth civilisation to its pre-Sheeda state do not exist, and a significant number of the people required are dead. Many models could be used as useful target points, but the most successful economies on Earth have benefited from micro-scale freedom to address demands not readily apparent from the centre. Planning everything myself may be… Actively detrimental."

"Okay, well, we can eliminate the Anti-Life based technology, then… Have a meeting between Justice League leaders and any surviving heads of governments? President Adams should probably… Be the one to check up on America."

"He is already en route."

"Right. I'll get on with things here. Contact me if you specifically need me. Orange Lantern Out."

I walk over to where Batman is disarming the Justifiers and removing their helmets. I'm not sure what's going through their heads, but from the way they're shrinking back from him I don't think he's getting a positive response.

"Batman." He doesn't look around, but he draws himself up slightly. "I should probably…"

"Undo the damage you inflicted on my brain."

"Yes. Look, I can understand that as you are now you might not want me to. There was a parallel version of me who did something similar. But I really think-."

He pulls the ring off his finger and slides it into his utility belt.

"Oh. "

"I don't want to keep thinking like this. Is your scan of my brain up to date?"

"Of course, yes."

"Then get on with it."

I raise my left hand and play the orange light over his head. It… There hadn't really been any progression, but I can see how it's affecting the patterns of activation in his brain. Remove the toxins, correct the connections…

Done.

"Okay, done. How do you feel?"

He doesn't say anything for a moment, eyes not really focusing on anything.

Then he turns away and strides towards where Superman has set up the zeta tube.