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

Well, time to get the Big Guns. Merge with the Ophidian and temporarely mindfuck the Earth by their desires. So long as he can influence the desires of people not to kill each other, and fight the Anti-Life, he can gain time for others to find a solution. It is radical, but its either that, the spear of Longinus, or try to contact the Life Entity and that would be like lighting a neon sign on the dark for anyone who has knowledge of what the Life Entity is.
I wouldn't want to expose Ophidian to a more complete Anti-Life E.quation, besides...Darkseid's supposed to be Grayven's Final Boss ain't he? He shouldn't be going down like a chump to Paul, especially when if this is a plan that he's put some of his own personal attention to, this almost definitely has to have at least 3 parts of the Equation with it, if not a nearly complete Equation.
 
I've always said that Darksied is a representation of badly written shitty premise power fantasy Self Inserts, and this just proves it: he's using a Normality Field!

Well not originally.

Originally he was a lying little shit based on Nixon and Hitler. A schemer, a liar, a propagandist.

Nigh omnipotent forces of nature don't need the likes of Godfrey to lie on TV to trick the gullible masses.

Nigh omnipotent forces of nature don't need the likes of Amazing Grace to start fake rebellions to put down so as to trick the lowly masses into thinking rebellion is hopeless, because against actual nigh omnipotent forces of nature rebellion would actually be hopeless.

Nigh omnipotent forces of nature don't need to spend their time looking for yet another power up because they don't need power ups.

Kirby's Darkseid knew he'd be the first against the wall in the glorious lowly revolution if the masses stopped believing his horse manure.

But DC comics was too chickenshit to stop using Darkseid ad nauseum, so hence the fanboy hype about how awesome and terrible he is, and just forget all those humiliating defeats, those didn't count.
 
Well not originally.

Originally he was a lying little shit based on Nixon and Hitler. A schemer, a liar, a propagandist.

Nigh omnipotent forces of nature don't need the likes of Godfrey to lie on TV to trick the gullible masses.

Nigh omnipotent forces of nature don't need the likes of Amazing Grace to start fake rebellions to put down so as to trick the lowly masses into thinking rebellion is hopeless, because against actual nigh omnipotent forces of nature rebellion would actually be hopeless.

Nigh omnipotent forces of nature don't need to spend their time looking for yet another power up because they don't need power ups.

Kirby's Darkseid knew he'd be the first against the wall in the glorious lowly revolution if the masses stopped believing his horse manure.

But DC comics was too chickenshit to stop using Darkseid ad nauseum, so hence the fanboy hype about how awesome and terrible he is, and just forget all those humiliating defeats, those didn't count.

Kirby's Darkseid was basically a paper tiger and could only have power over others if they actually feared him.

If they didn't fear him then he goes from being top dog to being someone's little bitch.
 
I'll be honest, this whole arc doesn't really sit right with me. It feels too soon on the heels of the last big planetary threat and very out of nowhere. I get that that's kinda the point considering how blindsided everyone in universe is by it but I don't know it just feels unsatisfying to me and like yet another big problem that's popped up before the last one has really sunk in
 
I'll be honest, this whole arc doesn't really sit right with me. It feels too soon on the heels of the last big planetary threat and very out of nowhere. I get that that's kinda the point considering how blindsided everyone in universe is by it but I don't know it just feels unsatisfying to me and like yet another big problem that's popped up before the last one has really sunk in
That's sort of what happens when a persons overconfidence has them ignoring potential problems till the very last minute.
 
Huh.

Did Quinn use the Alliance teleporters at some point? Thinking about it, Father Bruno has been working on this for a looong while, if he was the one to try and infect Order John
 
Pete Tong (part 16)
31st December 2012
14:14 GMT -5


"Ah..?"

I try to sound patient, but honestly.

"Look, kid, if you wanna have a secret identity, you have to take into account that anyone trying to work out who you are is going to have facial recognition software."

"I'm-. Wearing a mask."

He's wearing a domino 'I couldn't be bothered to get an actual mask' mask, and it does nothing to disguise his skin, his jaw line, his hair or his irises. I could probably take a picture of him with my phone's camera and have his Social Security number inside a minute, if it wasn't for the fact that the only reason I'm hassling him is because I just spotted Shelly Gaynor in what is clearly bondage gear and a whip and I'm trying to work out whether I should pretend I haven't recognised her or not.

"It barely covers your nose."

This guy, though, he's just wearing skin tight spandex and a domino mask. Color co-ordination's okay, his logo looks like a sound wave, and that's probably his name. Fourteen years ago I did Superman's first interview and that.. felt like a big deal. Not a lot of superheroes in Metropolis in '98, and he'd just caught a plane. Now I'm at a party with a bunch of guys in costume and I don't have the slightest idea if any of them can do anything, much less if they have already done anything worth calling them 'heroes' over.

"Superman doesn't wear a mask."

Which was a refuge in audacity. After he told me, I said that if the reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. After he told me, and after I calmed down, I said that if reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. I actually watched him go from 'Clark' mode to 'Superman' mode right in front of me and I could barely believe it. But I obviously couldn't tell this guy that, or someone clever enough to get around Clark's acting ability but not clever enough to know when to shut up might start work it out and start blabbing.

"If someone found out Superman's secret identity -if he even has one- then what exactly are they going to do about it? He doesn't get less indestructible when he's off the clock."

"They-. Okay, but they could go after his family?"

"Superboy and the Supergirls are as tough as he is, and someone throws me off a building about once a month. I've gotten used to it. Whereas if someone found out his secret identity they could, what, pick a fight with the rest of his family of superstrong aliens?"



"So you think I should get a bigger mask?"

"And something tougher than spandex to wear. Unless you're bullet-proof. Are you bullet-proof?"

"Ah…"

"Have you ever been shot?"

He's slightly slumped, like the overgrown child I suspect that he is. "No."

My own bullet wounds healed up a long time ago, and I'm not showing this guy the scars. Because he's an ignorant fool in a room full of ignorant fools and most of them are going to die doing something-.

G-uh! Telepathic attack! No one obvious around, because I'm in a room full of people in costumes, and about half of them look like they're about to start crawling the walls. Mass attack. Not many telepaths who can do that-.

"Ms. Lane."

Shelly isn't crawling the walls. She had been acting a little awkward, going out in public dressed like a professional mistress, but now she actually looks like a professional mistress. She's confident and commanding in a way that I'm not right now, and I don't know if she has actual superpowers or if that 'turning her body into a living weapon' thing was just for the blurb. Jimmy's got his watch for calling Clark but he's hiding under the table right now. I could call him, but I'm not more important than everyone else who's being affected.

And I should try and get the story because observing more important people is all that I can do

That… Wasn't one of my thoughts. I'm not self-conscious about the fact that Clark's stronger than me. I used to be self-conscious about the fact that he competed with me for stories, and…

And I just thought that him doing that and having superpowers too invalidates me, and I don't believe that.

"You will come with me."

"I'm seeing someone."

And if he lied to me about being human of all things, he's obviously lying about other things too. He-.

He's the worst liar I know. He gets awkward when he sees me put recycling in the general waste because he doesn't like it but doesn't like calling me out.

He lies to the entire world every day.

Who's doing this! When-!

The lash at Shelly's waist becomes a noose around my neck.

"You will come with me. Now."

31st December 2012
14:20 GMT -5


What?

Alert! Major mental alternations detected. Worldwide effect.

The people who were lying on the floor are still there, staring up at me.

"You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master."

I mentally grit my teeth and look inside them, seeing-. It's creeping back. It's not fully integrated, but-.

They're not part of a group mind. They've been told something repeatedly and now that they're feeling the same way they're parroting it. Like members of a Christian church praying the same way when under stress.

Contact the League or go back down?

"Orange Lantern to Batman, situation FUBAR. Busy."

I take a moment to augment my armour with hardpoint-mounted railguns loaded with a mixture of rounds… Won't be able to reload, but if you need more than a hundred rounds then two hundred probably won't be enough either. Done?

Task complete.

And I drop, the floors shooting past and my kinetic barrier flaring as I hit the floor, guns searching for-.

"He is not here." Dr. Balewa looks haggard, drained of vitality. Mr. Free is-. Appears alright, pressing his Mother Box into the machine. Zauriel on the other hand is on his knees, hands clasped in prayer. "I do not know if he ever was. Are you infected?"

"I don't think so."

"Ping."

My environmental shield flickers back into life, and I head over to Mr. Sage's body.

"Can we get them out?"

"No." Mr. Free shakes his head. "Their souls are in the machine. There's no way to get them out while Mannheim's still alive. How does it-?"

"According to my ring, it's affecting the whole world. If there's nothing we can do here, then we need to link up with the League."
 
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What exactly was Lois doing when the attack happened?

It seems like she was interviewing the Seven Soldiers of Victory? Who may or may not be a new superhero team. Shelly Gaynor comes up on google as being a member, and they have some others with... dubious costume choices anyway.

That they're a team, and I think they've been mentioned before in the context of "Sheeda travelled back in time to kill them" are all I know about them, and I'm pretty sure they missed the Sheeda thing in this timeline.
 
Which was a refuge in audacity. After he told her, she'd said that if the reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. After he told her, and after she's calmed down, he'd said that if reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. She actually watched him go from 'Clark' mode to 'Superman' mode right in front of her and she could barely believe it. But she obviously couldn't tell this guy that, or someone clever enough to get around Clark's acting ability but not clever enough to know when to shut up might start work it out and start blabbing.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I think this should be in first person.
The lash at Shelly's waist becomes a noose around Lois's neck.

"You will come with me Now."
This too. Also, I think there's a missing full stop between 'me' and 'Now'.
 
is, and someone throws me off a building about once a month

And now you actually have super strength, so you can deal with them yourself.

My own bullet wounds healed up a long time ago, and I'm not showing this guy the scars. Because he's an ignorant fool in a room full of ignorant fools and most of them are going to die doing something-.

G-uh! Telepathic attack

Huh, nice, she can see what's happening.
 
I'm impressed with Lois, she was fighting against that Anti-Life infection, not completely effectively but pretty well nonetheless.

Now, I don't know who this Shelly is and what powers she may have, but I don't know if she could take Dannered Lois. However, the whole place is getting Anti-Lifed and is full of superheroes, so best idea would be to GTFO.
 
31st December 2012
14:14 GMT -5


"Ah..?"

I try to sound patient, but honestly.

"Look, kid, if you wanna have a secret identity, you have to take into account that anyone trying to work out who you are is going to have facial recognition software."
Ah, yes. Back in the Thirties, it's unlikely anyone you didn't interact with every day would recognise you out of 'uniform'. But these days, when every phone has built-in face-recognition software and up to a dozen cameras front and back, keeping a low profile is far, far harder.

"I'm-. Wearing a mask."

He's wearing a domino 'I couldn't be bothered to get an actual mask' mask, and it does nothing to disguise his skin, his jaw line, his hair or his irises. I could probably take a picture of him with my phone's camera and have his Social Security number inside a minute, if it wasn't for the fact that the only reason I'm hassling him is because I just spotted Shelly Gaynor in what is clearly bondage gear and a whip and I'm trying to work out whether I should pretend I haven't recognised her or not.
"You think I wouldn't recognise you if I can't see your cheekbones?" Yeah, there's a reason the domino mask is a discredited trope, and only a thin nod to the genre in some universes, like Worm.

"It barely covers your nose."

This guy, though, he's just wearing skin tight spandex and a domino mask. Color co-ordination's okay, his logo looks like a sound wave, and that's probably his name. Fourteen years ago I did Superman's first interview and that.. felt like a big deal. Not a lot of superheroes in Metropolis in '98, and he'd just caught a plane. Now I'm at a party with a bunch of guys in costume and I don't have the slightest idea if any of them can do anything, much less if they have already done anything worth calling them 'heroes' over.
Ah, we're seeing Lois? Well, if it isn't out that she's powered, I suspect some Justified folks are about to be in for a surprise. :D

"Superman doesn't wear a mask."

Which was a refuge in audacity. After he told her, she'd said that if the reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. After he told her, and after she's calmed down, he'd said that if reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. She actually watched him go from 'Clark' mode to 'Superman' mode right in front of her and she could barely believe it. But she obviously couldn't tell this guy that, or someone clever enough to get around Clark's acting ability but not clever enough to know when to shut up might start work it out and start blabbing.
Something which doesn't get nearly enough play in cinema. I think Christopher Reeves managed it best, right down to almost seeming to swell up when he 'unmasked'.

"If someone found out Superman's secret identity -if he even has one- then what exactly are they going to do about it? He doesn't get less indestructible when he's off the clock."

"They-. Okay, but they could go after his family?"
Wow, getting lots of mileage our of all the jokes with this scene, Mr Zoat. I'm loving it. :D

"Superboy and the Supergirls are as tough as he is, and someone throws me off a building about once a month. I've gotten used to it. Whereas if someone found out his secret identity they could, what, pick a fight with the rest of his family of superstrong aliens?"

At least these days, if she has time to deactivate the power dampener she wears (assuming she still bothers now that she's used to being Dannered) she can survive the fall with a three-point landing. The sidewalk might come off a little worse, though. :p

"So you think I should get a bigger mask?"

"And something tougher than spandex to wear. Unless you're bullet-proof. Are you bullet-proof?"
So many rookies forget to check that detail. Then again, how likely is someone who isn't law enforcement, a hardened criminal or a soldier likely to get shot? Kind of had to explain if you turn out not to be upon testing it...

"Ah…"

"Have you ever been shot?"

He's slightly slumped, like the overgrown child I suspect that he is. "No."
Eh, at least he's trying to get out and do good. And it's easier to do so these days, what with the Alliance... :oops: Oh, right.

My own bullet wounds healed up a long time ago, and I'm not showing this guy the scars. Because he's an ignorant fool in a room full of ignorant fools and most of them are going to die doing something-.

G-uh! Telepathic attack! No one obvious around, because I'm in a room full of people in costumes, and about half of them look like they're about to start crawling the walls. Mass attack. Not many telepaths who can do that-.
Damn, Lois the veteran cape-ally. Instantly recognising that she would never normally think something like that and immediately going into combat mode.

"Ms. Lane."

Shelly isn't crawling the walls. She had been acting a little awkward, going out in public dressed like a professional mistress, but now she actually looks like a professional mistress. She's confident and commanding in a way that I'm not right now, and I don't know if she has actual superpowers or if that 'turning her body into a living weapon' thing was just for the blurb. Jimmy's got his watch for calling Clark but he's hiding under the table right now. I could call him, but I'm not more important than everyone else who's being effected.
Hey, if you've got the body to work it, show it off. Let's just hope she's bullet-resistant, or all that skin is gonna be a lot less attractive after a while...

And I should try and get the story because observing more important people is all that I can do

That… Wasn't one of my thoughts. I'm not self-conscious about the fact that Clark's stronger than me. I used to be self-conscious about the fact that he competed with me for stories, and…
Anti-Life trying to find a hook and dig in, and she keeps shrugging it off. Lois is hardcore.

And I just thought that him doing that and having superpowers too invalidates me, and I don't believe that.

"You will come with me."

"I'm seeing someone."
Not quite what she meant, but the reaction might have put her off-balance a second. :( Sadly, in a Justified state, I doubt she has the sense of shame to affect.

And if he lied to me about being human of all things, he's obviously lying about other things too. He-.

He's the worst liar I know. He gets awkward when he sees me put recycling in the general waste because he doesn't like it but doesn't like calling me out.
But you still feel a little ashamed of doing it anyway, don't you? Goes to show how he's affected you, just as you've affected him.

He lies to the entire world every day.

Who's doing this! When-!
Ooh, I bet someone's likely to get a high heel planted right up somewhere sensitive, at this rate.

The lash at Shelly's waist becomes a noose around Lois's neck.

"You will come with me Now."
And the next thing Shelly knows, she's in the next room. And didn't use the door.

31st December 2012
14:20 GMT -5


What?
Ah, back to OL. Interesting, seeing his parts mixed with views of the impact upon characters we know. Lends a greater sense of immediacy to matters.

Alert! Major mental alternations detected. Worldwide effect.

The people who were lying on the floor are still there, staring up at me.
The stacked-up guards? That's got to be creepy, especially if they haven't moved.

"You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master." / "You cannot escape the master."

I mentally grit my teeth and look inside them, seeing-. It's creeping back. It's not fully integrated, but-.
Yeah, super-creepy. Not quite three million voices, but it's gonna end up there before long.

They're not part of a group mind. They've been told something repeatedly and now that they're feeling the same way they're parroting it. Like members of a Christian church praying the same way when under stress.

Contact the League or go back down?
Both? Both. Both is good! Get on the phone, OL!

"Orange Lantern to Batman, situation FUBAR. Busy."

I take a moment to augment my armour with hardpoint-mounted railguns loaded with a mixture of rounds… Won't be able to reload, but if you need more than a hundred rounds then two hundred probably won't be enough either. Done?
Sadly, sometimes more dakka is not the solution. Yes, I can hear the orks yelling 'Heresy!' now.

Task complete.

And I drop, the floors shooting past and my kinetic barrier flaring as I hit the floor, guns searching for-.
Ooh, a perfect superhero landing. Well, the 'super-strong flyer who don't give a shit about gravity' variant, anyway.

"He is not here." Dr. Balewa looks haggard, drained of vitality. Mr. Free is-. Appears alright, pressing his Mother Box into the machine. Zauriel on the other hand is on his knees, hands clasped in prayer. "I do not know if he ever was. Are you infected?"

"I don't think so."
Well, Zauriel's gone bye-bye. What have you got, Scot?

"Ping."

My environmental shield flickers back into life, and I head over to Mr. Sage's body.
'Welp, that's not good.' Indeed, Mother Box, indeed...

"Can we get them out?"

"No." Mr. Free shakes his head. "Their souls are in the machine. There's no way to get them out while Mannheim's still alive. How does it-?"

"According to my ring, it's effecting the whole world. If there's nothing we can do here, then we need to link up with the League."
Well, now they know whose ass they need to kick to wrap this up. Time to go do it.

Let's hope the League can focus on dealing with the threat, given that their loved ones are going to be in danger from all this. Whether they've been Justified or are being threatened by those who are, anyway. I have the feeling this is just the beginning of the escalation, though. The bad guy's got thousands, if not millions, of people falling under his control every moment, and every one of them will fight to stop the heroes... And one of the hard parts will be finding Bruno in order to deal with him...
 
I'm impressed with Lois, she was fighting against that Anti-Life infection, not completely effectively but pretty well nonetheless.

Now, I don't know who this Shelly is and what powers she may have, but I don't know if she could take Dannered Lois. However, the whole place is getting Anti-Lifed and is full of superheroes, so best idea would be to GTFO.

The Whip. Granddaughter of the original Whip.

Her power is that she has a whip and isn't afraid to use it.

So unless there have been some shenanigans like say Lashina is possessing her she shouldn't be much of a threat to a Dannered Lois.
 
31st December 2012
14:14 GMT -5
Makes sense that Lane can resist the effect, at least to a degree. She has a lot of experience dealing with exotic stuff.

Somewhat odd that Paul isn't suggesting they destroy the machine in hopes that doing so will stop the global effect even if it kills the three individuals wired into it.
 
I wonder if the whip girl was a disguised Lashina, the Fury. She seems unhindered by Anti-Life. Her presence would have contributed to Barda's capture, but surely Mister Miracle would notice her nature…

Shelly Gaynor, aka...wait for it...Whip.

(Well, she's certainly committed to her theme, at least.)

Canonically she appeared in precisely one issue, Seven Soldiers of Victory #0, as part of the designated "these guys are gonna die to show how bad the new villians are" original Seven Soldiers team.

Somewhat odd that Paul isn't suggesting they destroy the machine in hopes that doing so will stop the global effect even if it kills the three individuals wired into it.

Paul's genre-savvy enough to know they might need the machine and its (immediate) victims to reverse the effect, and if not that that Brunoseid might be counting on them to destroy it.

Me, I'm expecting Scot the Reluctant to have to plug himself into it and broadcast a little Freedom globally.
 
Paul's genre-savvy enough to know they might need the machine and its (immediate) victims to reverse the effect, and if not that that Brunoseid might be counting on them to destroy it.

Me, I'm expecting Scot the Reluctant to have to plug himself into it and broadcast a little Freedom globally.
Add a little Desire and Life and you've got the Life-Equation.
 
"You will come with me."

"I'm seeing someone."
That gave me chills. So badass. I am really impressed by how well she's resisting the influence.


That link doesn't work for me. Should it show something like this?
'turning her body into a living weapon' thing was just for the blurb.
The link doesn't work either for me (502 Bad Gateway error).
EDIT: nevermind, it works now. Somehow. Only some of the time, but I'll take it.

it's effecting the whole world.
"affecting"

The site hungers.
 
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