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

Speaking Champions-ese, Luthor got the "Can't keep from harming Superman regardless of consequences to himself" while Dox bought such a level of "Overconfident" that it paid for the whole of his intellgence.
I think he usually got out of of trouble by the skin of his teeth, but I don't remember if he in the end got murdered by the clone-son he had implanted in a subordinate without their consent, got to play host for a starro or got gibbed by Lobo. I didn't read the whole run, but I think two first things happened more or less.

 

What value is non-human?
OL is huuuuugely biased. That, or he's using space as an opportunity to indulge in his desire to... Well, not maim and kill as much as show off and grandstand. His Grayven side, if you will.

 

I think the last issue about Dox in DC comics just had him marrying Komand'r.

I'm also assuming their offscreen divorce happened and it was violent, because I doubt two extreme control freaks, who are also very power hungry, can get along for a prolonged period.

What made you think that OL is doing this because he's xenophobic, or because he's sadistic?

Nothing in any of the hundreds of previous chapters suggests that this is the case.

Yes he's fond of humans, but he does not somehow consider alien life to be lesser, given the fact that he has multiple friends who are aliens and he greatly cares for them, as well as helping multiple alien civilizations improve themselves in various ways.

He's also not even really fond of conflict or fighting, let alone sadistic.

And if he wants to show off then he can just impress people with his abilities and power, like he previously did, and not by killing a bunch of people.

The reason he's willing to kill them, even if they originally engaged in piracy to survive, is because if they have became notorious enough then they may be known to a lot of people, who will most likely want them dead for their actions.

If these people found out that Paul let these criminals go then they will most likely lose some measure of faith in him and possibly the Corps, faith that he and his Corps will need if they want cooperation from other people in their war with the Reach.

So it's either lose the faith of millions, or gain the help of a few ships.

The millions thing sounds better.

Paul didn't do things like this previously since he was just a police officer then, and policing and war are two very different things, but now he's in a war, so things change.

 

Just to point out that, thus far, a great many superhero's and civilians that OL has talked to about killing keep saying 'war is different'. OL has repeatedly said otherwise, from his point of view of the universe.

OL, since coming back from killing nabu, and killing a lot of people since, sorted out that he operates on police order, or military order. He goes into a combat situation understanding which facet he is operating in and behaves accordingly. Even when he went full lethal during the dragon event, it was as a last straw on policing when dealing with lethal force.

OL did kill before that point, with his attempt on Clayface, his shot on Raz....I think Ocean Master was likely his first 'pragmatic' Maiming (on the renegade side it was one of HIS first kills). The thing is, it was a case by case, not training and reflex. BUT. One of his first acts upon showing up was to get a back up gun. Not a taser, not a eskrima stick like robin/ nightwing. Lethal options were on his mind, and part of his (own personal) training from day one.

By the time he got to nabu, he was planning and incorporating intentionally lethal strikes at all levels of force projection, up to something WMD levels with that singularity projector construct.

When OL got to Vega, Paul was still....in the same mindset where he was with Nabu, and even with Alan's words to 'be better' he was in that kind of headspace and chose to go into a place that would very likely force him into killing more. By this time he was enlightened too, so I don't think we can really say he didn't understand his own desires at that point.

This story really IS told from inside OL's head, and we've never had him state any joy or lust for killing. He's found things vile and worthless and found the universe better without it, which WILL drive him to destroy such persons...that drive is what fuels his 'destruction pulse' constructs, and shows up fairly rarely.

In the same way that the city of Gotham beat him down with its stream of pointless violence, to the point he washed his hands of it and left it to batwoman, acting out a stream of pointless murders would, I think, have a similar impact.

He's not a psychopath that feels good about killing and since he does still value and empathize with those around him, he's not a sociopath either.

I'm reminded of a scene in the anime adaptation of Overlord. It's an isekai where a joe smoe gamer becomes his evil undead lich character in mind and body, and finds himself in a living breathing magical world. The Character finds himself detached from everything and has no problem with killing, despite how he was before. But he ends up facing Clementine. She was an actively evil person who had her own scheme, and went out of her way to murder people and enjoyed it a lot. With his detachment, our villain protagonist made the comment that he might even have done the same thing if he were in her position and the people she killed (that he had known and even liked) didn't matter to him or his goals, but....even with everything ripping his humanity away, he got revenge for them anyway, labeling himself a hypocrite.

OL is willing and able to keep killing for his goals, and still has his own morality,his own emotions. He can be driven likely to kill out of an emotional response as well as a logical one, since he's still engaged with the rest of the emotional spectrum, rage and fear are still things he can feel and act on. But the deaths he sees in war with the reach, he sees as work....a price to be paid to get the job done.

 

Shouldn't the planet be exploding about now?

Given we know for a fact from the show that that's one of the first things they put in when taking over a place?

 

'is practical'

maybe 'cities' or 'of a city'

'hits'

 

'make out'

 

Dude. We barely know each other.

 

I wonder if he'll ever succeed in assimilating a scarab.

 

Huh, a surprising show of reserve. I guess she didn't try to make a fight of it. Which may or may not point to her being free of Reach conditioning...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

So he wants to make a good impression on his fellow captains in hopes of getting the nod to carry on. About what I'd expect of someone smart enough to depose their commander before said commander got them killed.

At which point she gets demoted to, at most, a lieutenant? I doubt they'd let her be in charge again, she might feel rather vindictive.

Well, that we've seen. Of course, if the captain would like the guy back afterwards, I'm sure OL could make any permanent changes the commodore would like.

I doubt there are any independent specialists who are experts in Orange Light exposure... Yet. Still, Nice of him to offer.

Don't want to pop up too close to the fleet, I'm sure they're feeling a little trigger-happy right now. Running wild in enemy territory, limited knowledge of any Reach forces nearby... I bet the gunnery crews are feeling really tense.

You say that like you expected it to be difficult? After all, this is the Illustres we're talking about. If he couldn't handle a mere mercenary fleet, he shouldn't be the Illustres to begin with.

Interesting. The planet has an ability to produce some kind of medicine or drug that the Reach thinks they might find useful... But cannot reproduce themselves. That's very interesting...

Heh, nothing less than the best for the local Reach leader.

I wonder how loudly the planet's native leadership is screaming at them? And yes, probably a good idea not to rely on the Greedport in territory that might have counter-measures in place...

Quite loudly, it seems. And no doubt the Assimilator is burning records as we speak... Or the electronic equivalent.

"Oh, we're so very small and insignificant, surely you don't want to hurt us..." Honestly, to any other invading force that would probably be an invitation to run rampant...

So, cities of gleaming spires. Do the natives wear togas? I wonde rif they planned the cities that way, or it just develpoed. Be interesting to get a look at the locals...

So, take them alive if possible. No problems if they happen to end up dead. But alive is always more useful, so we know which OL will endeavour to achieve.

I see they're smart enough to protect their people. Evidently not unfamiliar with assaults from off-world...

I see they're already trying to capture the local Reach boss. Hopefully no injuries. On the Darkstars' side anyway.

And I see the Scarab warrior is resisting. Quite vigorously, it appears.

Pack tactics and encirclement. Looks like OL is getting a front-row seat for an experienced team's methods for taking down a Scarab.

OL, let them work, they clearly know what they're doing. They don't need comments from the peanut gallery.

Nice combo. And I see the Darkstars have much the same opinion about OL's commentary that I do.

Doing more damage than their regeneration can patch up at once. A sensible tactic. The trick is keeping up the damage without getting shredded. Which is why Darkstars tend to expect casualties when fighting Scarabs...

And a kill-shot. Probably not guaranteed to be fatal, but close enough for government work... After all, now that the warrior's down, they can finish him off.

And there we go. Now, on to the real target.

Oooh, a fireworks display too? Quite a fun day.

And hopefully not committing suicide as they speak.

And on we go. Good to see the Darkstars making use of all their toys to take down the enemy. Now, to see just what the Reach wanted this world as unmodified as possible to acquire...

 

A couple years back Zoat said no under the consideration that would make Paul too broken.

Don't know if that still holds now though.

 

Or the one that took her place just knocked her out.

Unless some people left the Corps, but kept the knowledge of Orange exposure with them.

You really love Murphy, don't you?

If it's drugs and they haven't modified the population, then I'm betting they are somehow harvesting the chemicals from them, but can't modify them because they risk losing the thing they want.

 

Indeed. This struck me as odd coming from Dox. It's unlike him to ask unnecessary questions.

 

The already mystically damaged Blue Beetle Scarab is just sitting in Kord's possession on Earth.

 

Yes, but he doesn't know about it and Ted also has no idea what it is.

 

areas of a city
Or
areas of the city

 

Yes. It is = it's

Thank you, corrected.

 

He...should know about it. Not only would he have picked it up on a ring scan, but he also knows that Ted is Blue Beetle number 2.

 

The scarab has protections against rings, and Ted relied on his own inventions in the comics, not the scarab.

Also because Ted has been dealing with more tech lately, he's put the scarab in some other place and may have forgotten about it.

If Paul knew about it then he would have handed it over to the Controllers instead of just letting it stay on Earth.

 

If it was possible, it would probably have to be Khaji Dha. Unless there were other off mode scarabs. Not saying it will happen, just that this is one scarab he probably could, considering it is unlikely to have the suicide programming.

(EDIT) I got ghosted.

 

Chances are obtaining and recreating their own version of Reach-tech like the beetles is, using Paul's earliest mention of X-Com as an example, something only possible when player/OLC/Darkstars have both the knowledge and resources available to do so. Plus while Paul has knowledge of DC comics in general the being who transported him to Earth-16 had his knowledge of Young Justice removed, which may include the beetle in Ted's possession which lets Jaime become the third Blue Beetle.

Not to mention while Paul's enlightenment and connection to the Orange Light let's him do all sorts of esoteric techniques, which can be stopped with magic or an advance user of another light, he relies on the AI of his ring to deal with the technical parts of using highly advance technology. So it's not hard to disbelieve the fact that obtaining a beetle mid-combat or post combat is practically impossible, especially if the Reach decides to rework their anti-lantern tech to deal with orange light users instead of green, or increase their research in other forms of power to enhance their warriors.

 

Extra space in "shears".

Is it a projectile that hums, or did you mean to write "sound"?

Extra space before the closing quote.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Rings...maybe. But OL has done multiple Ophidian level scans (I can't remember how to spell the Q word. Wave form....Q?) at this point.

Not to mention, own inventions or not, Ted was the BLUE BEETLE. I highly doubt OL has forgotten. As a matter of fact, I could have sworn that OL has already thought about it, but didn't want to broach the subject with Ted just yet as he didn't have a good way to explain how he knew (I may be misremembering)

No, I'm sure Ted knows exactly where it is. Which is were it has been, and was going to be, when the event that lead Jaime into becoming Blue Beetle III was butterflied away. Bummer that....I liked Jaime.

Big X to doubt here. If OL knew about it, and hasn't forgotten with all his other goings on, I imagine he'd try to figure out a way to make it no longer Reach loyal, and give it to someone. If not try to figure out, gathering another brain trust, ways to make more of them. Thus bypassing his powered armor experiments, and giving Mankind yet another tool to be spread around uplift style.

The Controllers can make power rings. They don't need scarabs...which are slightly less advanced attempts at power rings anyway.

Plus, while originally presented as a form of alien technology from the Reach, Khaji Da has since also been said by Doctor Fate to be a mystical artifact. He further elaborate the idea of it being alien technology having been a false lie conjured by sorcerers to hide it's true nature.

So who knows at this point?

 

And yet Paul hasn't done anything about the scarab currently on Earth, or has even figured out there is one in the Earth.

I also think that when he was performing those Ophidian scans he was looking for specific things, and he didn't exactly focus on the scarab.

And Paul may know about Ted but he may not know anything about Jaime and how he became the Blue Beetle.

Ted may still know about it, but he just doesn't care about it now since he has so many things going on.

And I think Zoat once mentioned that he moved it to some other place because he was getting so many pieces of advanced tech and needed space.

He still doesn't know about it and if he knew about it he would most likely give it to the Controllers, the guys that know more about these things than anyone except the Reach.

The Controllers need anti Reach weaponry, and they can probably get those by studying scarabs so they can develop something that disables them.

The scarab in YJ was presented as a technological item rather than a magical one.

The only magic in it was the one that disabled it.

Though given Zoat's propensity for turning scientific things in comics into magic, it may happen.

 

I can't wait to see that smug scum's reaction when Paul saves all of the eggs. That should make the locals more agreeable to helping LEGION and reveal what it is the Reach find so fascinating about their species/planet.

 

'reduced'

'a 'perfect''

 

I'd rather Paul fails actually to demonstrate that the Reach can be a actually credible opponent, getting tired of his smarter than thou air...can't wait for the next grayven part.