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

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-09-25T06:45:24+0100

Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
17:33 GMT

I try not to let it show on my face as my ring reports that Cara Yat is indeed experiencing full kryptonian power, despite her ship only just passing through the Oort Cloud. She's frowning like she's trying to work out why I'm here. Her ship's meeting room looks… Old? Faded? I can see dust in a few places, but in a sealed environment like a starship there's only so much dust too pile up. They might not have even thrown dust sheets on things before mothballing it as 'forbidden technology'.

I mean, Daxamites did show they could reproduce yellow sun radiation under combat conditions (a 'solar flare' device, I believe?) That or even a tiny amount of solar wind through the ship's hull is enough to charge them up...

Mrs. Yat's eyes widen slightly. "It was you. You're the one who abducted my son."

I smile faintly. I'm going to try and avoid openly provoking her, because I know that Diana's either going to watch this later or is watching it right now, but keeping my face completely blank would probably be worse. Likewise, even though I could cause her significant discomfort by generating ultra high or ultra low frequency sound because she can hear that and doesn't know how to ignore it yet, I don't.

That much being known to Daxam because of her husband's involvement with said 'abduction'. And yes, OL, pissing off the super-strong, very upset woman isn't going to do you any favours.

"Nearly. How is your husband and his execution squad? I didn't intend to do any permanent damage, but since you're here I should probably ask."

"They have recovered." She turns to Arisia. "Why hasn't he been arrested?"

Yes, that would be an interesting complication. Arresting the Illustres of a moderately-friendly Lantern Corps.

"Well, that's-. That's because we only just found out that he-." Her eyes flick in my direction. "He's been accused of kidnapping."

"Do you think I'm hiding my son?"

I would hope that Daxamite law at least includes the same sort of 'Innocent until proven guilty' clause that most Earth law provides.

"To be clear: no. I know precisely where Lantern Yat-"

"Lantern!?"

Yes, Sodam's not sitting around doing nothing. I wonder if that's what Cara was assuming...

"-is at the moment. This issue is the implication that I forced him to leave. I didn't. I gave him the option to leave and he took it. And he's been free to return ever since."

Her face hardens. "He's a child. Even if I believed you -which I don't- that doesn't justify what you did!"

...And threatening to kill a friend of his was justified? The likely memory-editing he would have been given afterwards if he'd stayed?

I nod, clenching my left fist and bringing it to my mouth. "Illustres to Wonder Woman. Could we please borrow your lasso? I feel it would speed things up."

"What lasso?"

Ah, right. Daxam isn't exactly in the habit of bothering to learn about alien things. Certainly not Earth Bullshit™.

I lower my fist, laying my hand flat on the table. "Wonder Woman's lasso compels honesty in those touching it. You and I don't trust each other and have no reason to believe that the other is being honest. Having the lasso would bypass trust issues. I feel our conversation will be more productive if we can't lie and know that the other can't either."

And if she doesn't believe it at first, they can demonstrate by having her answer a few innocuous 'blatant lies'-type questions.

She frowns the frown of someone who has yet to encounter 'Earth nonsense', and finds herself looking to Arisia for confirmation.

Arisia nods. "It really works. But I don't think that assuming that the other person is lying is going to.. help."

Definitely putting the discussion on the wrong foot from the start.

I just shrug, watching to see if Mrs. Yat is going to comment.

"Why isn't my son here?"

"Because I thought that giving him a few hours to calm down would be a good idea."

And sadly, I don't think he's overly excitedly happy to see her.

She snorts, scowling. "I don't believe for a moment than Sodam is afraid of me."

"No, that wasn't what I meant. Afraid of being taken away from the life he's made which he really likes. You being here in particular didn't appear to be a factor. Did you husband relay to you how our encounter went?"

Or was it skewed much more in the line of 'damn aliens ganged up on us and hauled our boy off!'

"Yes."

I turn to Arisia. "Would you like to see my recording? I feel that you may find it informative."

It has the advantage of being fairly accurate. I would assume Ring recordings aren't impossible to edit, but doing so would leave traces another Ring could identify.

"I…" Her eyes move from me to Mrs. Yat. "I think we're skipping a few stages. Cara, what do you want to get out of this meeting?"

"My son, on this ship, returning to Daxam."

May as well wish for Daxam's sun to be yellow. It's about as likely.

"O-kay. And… Just 'for instance'… What if he doesn't want to go back?"

She shakes her head. "Irrelevant. Our civilisation exists to keep us safe from the corruption of the rest of the universe. He's a child. It's best for him, it's best for all of us."

And there's some of that cultural bias on full display.

"And… Um, for how long?"

"What?"

"I know kryptonian men could go through their rite of passage-."

How distinctly 'Science Guild'-ish. Would a Military Guild version involve overcoming Savagery through Discipline?

Not that either was really a thing when that was written, I bet.

"We abandoned that tradition. It was an insult to the idea of the virtue of physical labour. Of dealing with people directly rather than with machines and telescreens. He would be recognised as an adult when he can do the work of an adult."

"Ah. Well, you'll be pleased to know that the surviving kryptonians have abandoned that part of their culture as well."

Mostly in favour of human cultural equivalents. And Sodam can easily do adult work if he wanted to, killing involved or not. That they aren't making him do it is a sign in the Corps' favour.

"I don't care about them at all."

"I just thought that you might be concerned about how Lantern Yat was being raised and wanted to put your mind at ease."

Oh, she has concerns all right. But it probably runs more...

"You have no right-" Her hands clamp down on her side of the table and squeeze the metal between them. "-to raise my son at all!"

"Good news, then: I'm not. Lantern Coutara is. And her daughter, Lantern Taranna. According to his teachers he's doing well in school, despite the primitive standard of his education before he escaped Daxam. I understand if you-"

...As I expected, she's probably pissed about them introducing him to 'foreign' concepts like, say, personal freedoms. And cooperation with other species.

Crunch!

"-would-."

The table has been broken in half where Mrs. Yat hit it. She's.. not attacking me, though. Instead she's sort of blinking in confusion at the table and her own right hand.

Probably surprised herself with that. She's certainly not trained in the safe use of her Yellow-sun-enhanced abilities.

"Yes, that takes a little getting used to, doesn't it? Would you.. like me to put it back together?"

She hesitates for a moment, then gives me a small and awkward nod. A wave of orange and the table is back in one piece.

See, Aliens are quite helpful if you don't act like a total fanatic about it.

"We do have a kryptonian on Earth who only arrived a month ago. If you want help growing accustomed to your strength-."

She overcomes her surprise, face hardening. "I won't be here for long enough for it to be worthwhile."

Ah, see, that is a hasty assumption.

"No? Because that's actually a solution. I don't have any objection to you talking to Lantern Yat, and I admit that we haven't had him doing 'adult work', so he's still a child by that definition. There's no force that could force him to go back to Daxam so that's not happening, but you're free to stick around if you want to involve yourself in his life."

It would mean him not being involved in Daxamite life, though, which is probably unacceptable.

"Absolutely not."

"Would you accept him basing himself on Daxam while commuting? Until he becomes a full adult at least."

Oh, yes, I can see that working well. First night he goes to sleep, they'll have his Ring off and him mind-wiped...

"Only if you removed his ring."

"He can hardly commute with no ring."

And to paraphrase, 'You'll have his Ring when you pry it from his cold-dead hand'.

"Um." Arisia leans forward. "I think… I should see what happened when you recruited him?"

"Certainly." I connect my ring to the holoprojector. "I hope that you find it illuminating."

God, that was a while back, wasn't it?

Somehow, I doubt Cara will accept the recording as legitimate. Especially if it counters her husband's story. Still, better that it be shared, especially as it shows the Daxamites' xenophobic behaviour. Demonstrating that they wouldn't be likely to treat Sodam kindly if he returned would definitely be a good angle for his defence.

GigaVanguard · 2025-09-25T06:47:35+0100

Z000 said:
7/8 years ago

AHHHHHH

turn to dust

And that's closer to the end of the SV period than the beginning, I think. Zoat got kicked off SB for… I think it was an argument about Star Wars somewhere around 2014? May not have that right

Vaermina · 2025-09-25T06:51:44+0100

Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
17:33 GMT

You know... Technically speaking giving a child an Orange Lantern ring is both brainwashing and abusing them because of the corruptive effects of the Orange Light.

Agumentic · 2025-09-25T07:27:19+0100

GigaVanguard said:
And that's closer to the end of the SV period than the beginning, I think. Zoat got kicked off SB for… I think it was an argument about Star Wars somewhere around 2014? May not have that right

Force Awakens spoilers or "spoilers" in the very last days of 2015.

NightmareWarden · 2025-09-25T07:32:13+0100

Mr Zoat said:
I look around for Lantern Taranna, and… She and Kara are painting each other's nails next door, while Bleez is trying to find a film she likes. Ah, how wholesome.

Kara definitely isn't looking for a boyfriend or husband right now. But she could still give Taranna some advice, and experience some giddiness second-hand. And provide a helpful ear if Taranna's wary of the guy Paragon-Paul is gonna introduce.

Was the prophecy we're talking about in the Book of Oa? I'm not asking if the conversation was read from the book, just if it is in the book, and has likely influenced how the Guardians have watched Paul over the years.

Additionally, I wonder if the Guardian that Highfather is going to restore is going to wind up bridging the Green and Orange, after some time to recover. Basically provide a link between the factions that allows the prophecy to happen, or begin to happen, in some convoluted fashion. It is ALSO possible that Destiny of the Endless has some connection to the Book of Oa, and the prophecy written there has changed since Destiny visited and received files from Paul. That'd be a fun consequence of Paul meeting another of the Endless.

xSieg · 2025-09-25T07:38:11+0100

Mr Zoat said:
There's no force that could force him to go back to Daxam so that's not happening, but you're free to stick around if you want to involve yourself in his life.

It's over. Paul's already treating her like a Supergirl to collect on his planet just because her name's Cara and she's a kryptonian.

Not that I'd mind! Psycho racist not-Cara would make a fine addition to his collection.

BR549 · 2025-09-25T07:53:31+0100

Steelplaza said:
Hilarious thoughts:

1. The SI has two of those four working for him.

I mean, he also has at least one Weaponer on quasi-friendly-by-Weaponer-standards ("I will destroy you second to last, just before myself") with him, too!

GigaVanguard said:
And that's closer to the end of the SV period than the beginning, I think. Zoat got kicked off SB for… I think it was an argument about Star Wars somewhere around 2014? May not have that right

Agumentic said:
Force Awakens spoilers or "spoilers" in the very last days of 2015.

Specifically observing, as I recall, that the Millenium Falcon was in the movie.

The Falcon that was, y'know, on the movie poster.

Nervaqus987 · 2025-09-25T08:28:28+0100

BR549 said:
I mean, he also has at least one Weaponer on quasi-friendly-by-Weaponer-standards ("I will destroy you second to last, just before myself") with him, too!

That would be part of the two he has.

OL has (a) Weaponer and Ranx in his corps, plus Sodam Yat who is by prophecy supposed to be the ultimate Green Lantern.*

The Empire of Tears was destroyed and the ones left are the Five Inversions, aka Atrocitus and his homies currently imprisoned on Ysmult until he taps the Red Light and beats rest to death. The Children of the White Lobe meanwhile haven't gotten a whole lot of mention in the comics or this fic.

The Lobespawn are occasionally described as "mutants" and are a fanatical religious organization perfectly happy to use terrorism to get what they want and to die to see it through. They've got "psychokinetic" abilities strong enough to fight and kill Green Lanterns and there's one or two mentions that their powers are Will based.

*Sodam in comics is a Daxamite, a Green Lantern, and a host of Ion.

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-25T08:37:25+0100

BR549 said:
Specifically observing, as I recall, that the Millenium Falcon was in the movie.

The Falcon that was, y'know, on the movie poster.

No, it wasn't that. It was that there were rebels in the film.

boo600 · 2025-09-25T09:10:35+0100

Well. At the very least, Mrs. Yat doesn't seem to believe her son would be terrified of her - not that delusional abusers aren't a thing, but it means less planned malice and a bit of distance for me. More importantly, Arisia is - for whatever reason - much less interested in making assumptions. (Perhaps she feels out of her depth, and thus feels obligated to actually find out what's going on? As opposed to 'fuck, Paul's causing us trouble again, let's get him!')

BR549 · 2025-09-25T10:03:06+0100

boo600 said:
More importantly, Arisia is - for whatever reason - much less interested in making assumptions. (Perhaps she feels out of her depth, and thus feels obligated to actually find out what's going on? As opposed to 'fuck, Paul's causing us trouble again, let's get him!')

To be fair, when it comes to Things Not Involving The Personal Space Of Hal Jordan, Arisia is a very good Lantern.

WereDragon · 2025-09-25T10:50:52+0100

boo600 said:
Well. At the very least, Mrs. Yat doesn't seem to believe her son would be terrified of her - not that delusional abusers aren't a thing, but it means less planned malice and a bit of distance for me. More importantly, Arisia is - for whatever reason - much less interested in making assumptions. (Perhaps she feels out of her depth, and thus feels obligated to actually find out what's going on? As opposed to 'fuck, Paul's causing us trouble again, let's get him!')

To Clark and Diana Paul is 'the kid we used to mentor'.
To Arisia Paul is 'a mystic super-lantern and high ranking leader of a galactic paramilitary'.

She is also fully aware that her opinion on this matter has little to no bearing on what Paul will do. She is there as a glorified witness, not to enforce a ruling as Mrs. Yat believes.

BartlettMagic · 2025-09-25T11:52:28+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Certainly." I connect my ring to the holoprojector. "I hope that you find it illuminating."

thank you for this reference. it warms the cockles of my heart to see Ranx so happy.

xSieg said:
It's over. Paul's already treating her like a Supergirl to collect on his planet just because her name's Cara and she's a kryptonian.

Not that I'd mind! Psycho racist not-Cara would make a fine addition to his collection.

oof i didn't even think of it that way but now... that doesn't work for me, brother

Chaoswind · 2025-09-25T11:57:16+0100

I wonder if Lantern Jordan is doing some arithmetic in his head in regards to the current situation and the prophecy of the destruction of the green lantern corps.

Jordan: So lantern Sodam Yat gets dragged back home to live as an Amish and his Will grows from the experience and he eventually gets a green ring from his sector, he becomes the greatest green lantern, but we somehow end in a war that ends up with us being hunted down... Or Sodam stays as an orange lantern then a future corps collaboration ends up with him dual wielding orange and green hence he becomes the greatest green lantern that ultimately falls to our enemies?

Jordan already knows dual wielding power rings is possible and he has the reports of Paul using other colors.

Darko · 2025-09-25T12:58:20+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Absolutely not."
"Would you accept him basing himself on Daxam while commuting? Until he becomes a full adult at least."

Add a space between the two.

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-25T13:11:06+0100

Darko said:
Add a space between the two.

Thank you, corrected.

Steelplaza · 2025-09-25T13:11:58+0100

How old is Sodam, anyway? I read the link to his first appearance, and even there when OL asks him old he is he just says "old enough". There have been a lot of references to Sodam as a child and a youth, etc., but it's unclear to me if he's 10, 12, 14 or what. Even in just an approximate sense.

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-25T13:16:20+0100

Steelplaza said:
How old is Sodam, anyway? I read the link to his first appearance, and even there when OL asks him old he is he just says "old enough". There have been a lot of references to Sodam as a child and a youth, etc., but it's unclear to me if he's 10, 12, 14 or what. Even in just an approximate sense.

Yes, one of those.

I'd assume that he's about 14 now, but that's not a hard number.

CrazyNoVa · 2025-09-25T13:31:19+0100

Vaermina said:
You know... Technically speaking giving a child an Orange Lantern ring is both brainwashing and abusing them because of the corruptive effects of the Orange Light.

Not in this universe, it isn't. The recruits who actually go crazy are vastly in the minority, and even if they recover from that, their rings are taken away permanently.

Also, no offense, but you're a little late on complaining about child abuse, considering that this is an SI story about a show essentially featuring children doing black ops work and being sent by adults to fight superpowered psychopaths and terrorists.

Chaoswind said:
I wonder if Lantern Jordan is doing some arithmetic in his head in regards to the current situation and the prophecy of the destruction of the green lantern corps.

Jordan: So lantern Sodam Yat gets dragged back home to live as an Amish and his Will grows from the experience and he eventually gets a green ring from his sector, he becomes the greatest green lantern, but we somehow end in a war that ends up with us being hunted down... Or Sodam stays as an orange lantern then a future corps collaboration ends up with him dual wielding orange and green hence he becomes the greatest green lantern that ultimately falls to our enemies?

Jordan already knows dual wielding power rings is possible and he has the reports of Paul using other colors.

Do you think Hal learned from Paul and used his ring to upgrade his own brain to turn himself into some kind of genius chessmaster mastermind?

Because not gonna lie, Magnificent Bastard Hal Jordan would be unexpectedly awesome.

Someguy Somewhere · 2025-09-25T13:43:37+0100

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

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