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

Renegade-Paul (Grayven) would eventually admire Blue Paul, if he examined the latter’s circumstances and successes. Blue Paul… would probably detest what Grayven did with Lynne, Sunset, and Misa in Africa. On the surface their actions (villains running amok on Earth -14)would look similar, but… the Damocles sword over Blue’s head was NOT over Grayen’s crew. So it was needlessly… inefficient, risky.

Blue would probably like current Grayven, enough to work with him. Hooray elements of harmony.

 

I really don't see why he hasn't switched sides yet.

The Old Management is gone, his rehabilitation efforts don't seem to go anywhere and hsi "friends" are supposed to be used as decoys

Just go to the Underground and mob the rest of the Syndicate up

 

Not really.

Blue rings can be charged by the hopes of the people around them, not by the ring wielder.

That's not quite so easy.

At this point he's come to like or at least sympathize with his 'friends'.

He may feel like he can do more good working with them by establishing a less evil version of the Syndicate.

In real life people that have joined criminal groups under threats of violence may continue to be in those groups even if they get a chance to get out.

They do this for various reasons, such as liking the power they now have, having a massive fear of retribution, or they may feel they do not deserve any better since they've done horrible things while in the group, so now they continue being in those groups as something like their own personal hell on Earth.

It's unfortunate but true that these things happen.

People are not inherently rational or logical beings.

They'll do all sorts of stupid things for all sorts of weird, stupid or illogical reasons.

 

Ah, some time with our dear Baul. When last we saw him, he'd just brokered a peace deal between the Injustice Society's leadership and the new president, Alexander Luthor, yes? Or rather, our OL did, wearing his face while Baul was on his honeymoon in spaaaaace... Still, I trust that people having been playing nice.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Yes, you have a lot to thank OL for next time you see him...

Indeed. I bet you're even getting a trickle of local charge these days. Assuming you didn't snag a Lantern out there.

Nice to see Capo Scott - 'Power Ring Yellow' these days - keeping himself busy. Remind me, who is the Director again, and which hero is he a counterpart of?

Ah, our poor kid Flash counterpart. Still using that knock-off super-speed formula, I expect...

I like that he maintains the fiction that he isn't in charge, so as to avoid being the target of reprisals... Very clever...

Later, Kid.

Later! Man, Baul must have the patience of a saint to not toss him out a window or something...

At least the addict is smart enough to clam up when he should...

Probably a bit young for a full beard, and his hair would need to grow a bit to get any kind of disguise going there. At least he learnt to cut out the sigil spam.

So he sounds less like a Brooklyn thug and more of a proper gangster? I suppose that makes Capo Scott consider him a little more fondly...

Now, I wonder what he was doing that could take a minute or two to finish up? Or should I say 'who'?

Heh. I get the feeling of an old speakeasy bar from the twenties here, even if it's a more modern setup. It just feels... Right.

Definitely got some power to burn these days.

But people thinking he's getting drunk probably helps put them at ease around him, I bet. One more bit of sneakiness.

A handy bit of ring-work, or just something he found out there in the world? I'm sure there's all manner of non-alcoholic variants of popular drinks...
Edit: Okay, there definitely is in our world. I wonder how true that is in Earth -14...

Good to see they're still friends here, even after everything that's happened. And the remarkable age difference.

The first time being in the presence of Ultraman, just after Ultraboy's existence was revealed. Yes, I can imagine those were happier times for him. Especially since Ultraman was a lot more accepting than his heroic counterpart was.

Maintaining the appearance of gentility and class in the Society. Despite many of them being thugs, lunatics and worse.

...That could be taken so many ways. Not many of them good... Understandable, though, since the Society's juniors are at a significant power disadvantage with the New Leadership...

I suspect a lot of Ultraboy's plans were 'go find someone to beat on till they did what he told them to'...

I would suspect so. Given how good a fight they were...

So, they're playing bait and stalking horses for would-be heroes. Bit of a drop in status.

Still, I suppose it makes sense. I'm sure Ultraboy and his teammates have lots of pent-up feelings to work out through percussive therapy...

And no doubt this US has plenty of those. I'm sure he'll be spoiled for choice.

Baul always has ideas. But before, he was stuck under the thumb of the Society...

Heh. Turning the Young Offenders into a truly global force, perhaps.

Well, no-one said becoming the next Ultraman would be easy.

Effectively turning it into their own little fiefdom of crime...

Indeed... Especially in this world, which lives by the creed Cui Bono - 'Who Profits?'

Who are likely all dead or imprisoned, given Slade's enthusiastic approach to cleaning up the country...

What would be the worst hellhole in this world? The shittiest part that no-one would care if you conquered? Don't tell me, even here, I'm sure it would be Santa Prisca.

Well, now that Baul's got a more stable situation, he's starting to feel that uplifting urge that all empowered Pauls seem to get sooner or later, eh? I wish him luck, because he's going to need it, in this world of short-sighted thugs, greedy madmen and twisted psychopaths...

 

He's Niles Caulder, the Chief.

That's also technically how Paragon's world is like.

Full of short-sighted thugs, greedy madmen and twisted psychopaths.

 

Yeah, it's an entire multi-million dollar industry. It's really easy to find non-alcoholic versions of various drinks if you actually go looking for them.

 

Anyone kind enough to translate the English english parts into regular english ?

 

When and why did Blue become a Made Man of Power Ring? Shouldn't he be a Made Man of Zatara, what with being married into the family and all? Or even a Made Man of Ultraboy, said capo having inherited him from the previous capo and become (partially) independent at this point?

 

When this Paul came to Earth -14 he stopped some criminals from committing a crime and then went to Alan Scott's house for the Lantern.

However he found out he's in the Mirror Universe and that version of Alan cut off his thumbs.

After reattaching them he somehow ended up near Ultraman, and the criminals he previously stopped were working for him, but he managed to appease him by giving him gold.

After that Ultraman made him a Made Man of him.

Then he got put in charge of the Young Offenders.

Now I think he's part of the New Management, or is at least much higher up in the organization.

That would explain why he's not subordinate to Zatara or Ultraboy.

 

Oof.

Shots fired

 

I like the idea that they're going to take over a country, supervillain style. Rule everythign with an iron fist, extort money out of the people, kill dissenters... but the people they're going to replace are already doing all of those things, plus kidnapping their kids to turn into child-soldiers or child-sex-slaves so the general populous will look at them and go "Yeah, this is an improvement. I can live with this." and more-or-less regard them as a positive force.

Jon clearly already knows that Blue would prefer for them to go legit, but Blue is smart enough not to suggest that. Not yet.
Instead he's going to suggest pragmatic and practical villainy.

 

fire -> first

 

Thank you, corrected.

Niles Caulder.

No, that's the most stable and socially unified democracy in South America.

'Power Ring' in this context is Alan 'Capo' Scott.

 

Can't believe I didn't think of this before.

 

Time to Conquer New Zealand I guees.

 

Given that it's a reverse universe, Andorra would probablly be a better bet.

 

….what is Mirror Somalia like?

 

Wakanda i guess.

 

I want to read more about Blue, is easy to cheer for the underdog.

 

My first thought was Khandaq, but if Zoat is mirroring countries, then Markovia probably needs "liberation."

 

Actually, if you look down at cinematic Wakanda, you can see their slums. And unlike normal slums, those aren't inhabited by recent immigrants from other nations or the countryside. Because Wakanda doesn't have immigration and everyone outside the city is part of the security services. Those are long term city-dwellers, their plight ignored by the absolute dictator who controls all of their nation's resources.

Not to worry. Noted acrobat Marquis Metronome is on the case and will soon depose the child-tyrant.

 

Where did you see slums? (Been a while since I saw the movie, so I might have missed something.)

 

Urgh. The world building in the MCU is so garbage. They say both in and out of the movie that they are the most advanced civilization. But for some reason they decided to have dirt roads and straw roofs.

The heart of the matter is when they designed Wakanda they wanted an advanced civilization with an African aesthetic. But what they made was just a shity third world African village with skyscrapers.

 

As long as they rule with a lighter hand, are less greedy and follow their own clearly set out rules most of the time? They'd be the most popular rulers those places have seen in a long time.

 

I think at this point, Baul is too radicalized to do anything. He has spent long enough rationalizing his behavior. Not to mention his primary social network is the Young Offenders. He doesnt really have anywhere else to go.

So he seems to have settled on trying to mold the Young Offenders into something better. Find some place and make it theirs. And they dont want to their stuff to be a trashpile. They want it to be nice.

The Syndicate operates on the idea of protecting their people. So how do you turn their successors into heroes? Expand who "their" people are. With some profit of course. No reason it needs to be free or altruistic. As long as it is a net positive.

 

By this point, I suspect he’s got a raging case of Stockholm's-
i strongly suspect Ultraboy will still kill him if he did something to piss him off enoug…

 

I don't remember what video it was where I saw it, but I think it was this.

Interesting video here.

I suspect it's because they didn't develop the technology themselves. Think about it. Vibranium is really hard to work with. How the heck would a primitive tribe learn how to do that? I'll give them the heart-shaped herb because that's naturally occurring, but they wouldn't have the tools to make things with it. And why are there no other asteroids with vibranium in it around?

I think it wasn't an asteroid. I think it was a space ship, and I think that's where they got the tools from.

 

It wasn't me. I would have done it better.

 

I mean, this feels like the kind of thing that shouldn’t fly and he should realize this, why would they let their primary suspect investigate? He just admitted that they can’t verify anything he doesn’t want them to, and if he *was* involved, he would be best suited to scrubbing any evidence, only a fool would let him anywhere near the investigation while he’s under suspicion.