1. Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
    Dismiss Notice
  4. If you wish to change your username, please ask via conversation to tehelgee instead of asking via my profile. I'd like to not clutter it up with such requests.
    Dismiss Notice
  5. Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
    Dismiss Notice
  6. A note about the current Ukraine situation: Discussion of it is still prohibited as per Rule 8
    Dismiss Notice
  7. The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.
    Dismiss Notice
  8. The testbed for the QQ XF2 transition is now publicly available. Please see more information here.
    Dismiss Notice

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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

Loading...
  1. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,868
    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.
     
  2. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,136
    Likes Received:
    320,310
    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.
     
    Prince Charon, Windona and Jaron like this.
  3. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    4,181
    Probably a colon instead of a semicolon, or maybe a comma, or you could keep the semicolon and make it "she's trying to".
     
  4. jonasquinn

    jonasquinn I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2016
    Messages:
    983
    Likes Received:
    2,827
    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
     
    Prince Charon and Wetbananas like this.
  5. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,522
    Likes Received:
    20,876
    That's sort of what happens when a persons overconfidence has them ignoring potential problems till the very last minute.
     
  6. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2018
    Messages:
    284
    Likes Received:
    1,400
    Hey guys

    Where's John Constantine?

    How's this affecting him, considering the mechanisms of his recent fusion?
     
  7. Prince Charon

    Prince Charon Just zis guy, you know?

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2014
    Messages:
    9,741
    Likes Received:
    38,265
    These are quite probably very important questions.
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  8. xSieg

    xSieg Making the rounds.

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2015
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    115
    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
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  9. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,700
    Likes Received:
    729,293
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  10. Threadmarks: Pete Tong (part 16)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,700
    Likes Received:
    729,293
    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."
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2022
  11. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2019
    Messages:
    2,861
    Likes Received:
    17,211
    What exactly was Lois doing when the attack happened? Also, there is no threadmark.
     
    kagekami42, Cuchulin, Relyt33 and 5 others like this.
  12. KyleDaScourge

    KyleDaScourge Getting sticky.

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2013
    Messages:
    85
    Likes Received:
    371
    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.
     
  13. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,868
    At an Alliance of the Just gathering.

    Maybe covering that grand debut of the teleportation system for a story.
     
  14. Duke Long

    Duke Long Glomerulus

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2022
    Messages:
    562
    Likes Received:
    1,991
    Maybe I’m missing something, but I think this should be in first person.
    This too. Also, I think there’s a missing full stop between ‘me’ and ‘Now’.
     
  15. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,136
    Likes Received:
    320,310
    And now you actually have super strength, so you can deal with them yourself.

    Huh, nice, she can see what's happening.
     
  16. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    854
    Likes Received:
    5,941
    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.
     
  17. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,150
    Likes Received:
    33,442
    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.

    "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.

    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

    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'.

    Wow, getting lots of mileage our of all the jokes with this scene, Mr Zoat. I'm loving it. :D

    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 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...

    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.

    Damn, Lois the veteran cape-ally. Instantly recognising that she would never normally think something like that and immediately going into combat mode.

    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...

    Anti-Life trying to find a hook and dig in, and she keeps shrugging it off. Lois is hardcore.

    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.

    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.

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

    And the next thing Shelly knows, she's in the next room. And didn't use the door.

    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.

    The stacked-up guards? That's got to be creepy, especially if they haven't moved.

    Yeah, super-creepy. Not quite three million voices, but it's gonna end up there before long.

    Both? Both. Both is good! Get on the phone, OL!

    Sadly, sometimes more dakka is not the solution. Yes, I can hear the orks yelling 'Heresy!' now.

    Ooh, a perfect superhero landing. Well, the 'super-strong flyer who don't give a shit about gravity' variant, anyway.

    Well, Zauriel's gone bye-bye. What have you got, Scot?

    'Welp, that's not good.' Indeed, Mother Box, indeed...

    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...
     
  18. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Messages:
    1,093
    Likes Received:
    5,098
    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…
     
  19. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,700
    Likes Received:
    729,293
    She was at the Alliance's general meet-up.
    Site ate it. Again.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  20. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,868
    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.
     
  21. WereDragon

    WereDragon Bookwyrm

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2020
    Messages:
    309
    Likes Received:
    1,504
    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.
     
  22. BR549

    BR549 This is filth! FILTH!!

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2017
    Messages:
    638
    Likes Received:
    4,561
    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.

    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.
     
  23. Bud-E

    Bud-E Stand up so I can push you down!

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2020
    Messages:
    879
    Likes Received:
    4,051
    Add a little Desire and Life and you've got the Life-Equation.
     
  24. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,136
    Likes Received:
    320,310
    I'm guessing he's either trying to reassure himself, is calling out to God or his angelic brothers for help, or it's some kind of thing that can actually empower him and help him fight off the effects.
     
  25. Sojiko

    Sojiko Getting sticky.

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2020
    Messages:
    87
    Likes Received:
    385
    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?
    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.

    "affecting"

    The site hungers.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2022
  26. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,700
    Likes Received:
    729,293
    IMGBB went down for a little while today.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  27. Ardy

    Ardy I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2017
    Messages:
    641
    Likes Received:
    3,472
    Basically repeated sentence, I think only the second one was intended.
     
  28. Doccer

    Doccer I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2019
    Messages:
    877
    Likes Received:
    2,252
    Mr Zoat
    I looked Shelly Gaynor up. What is Nth Metal Addiction? Never heard of addiction to that stuff.
     
  29. HearthBorn

    HearthBorn Know what you're doing yet?

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2014
    Messages:
    141
    Likes Received:
    124
    Was this a mental glitch, indicating the moment the anti-life hit, or a duplicate line (mostly)?
     
  30. rdfox

    rdfox Know what you're doing yet?

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    167
    Likes Received:
    916
    Dammit. Now I'm pondering Lois taking Darkseid to Dick Kick City, and getting that famous reaction face of when Ultraman kneed Superman in the balls in that one Batman/Superman Annual...

    Pretty sure it's Lois correcting herself after remembering that her initial reaction was... rather less positive than that.
     
Loading...