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

[Mr Zoat]

'me'

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Thank you, corrected.

Wait, is this the real Starbreaker, or does this copy just think/act as if it is the real one?

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Grayven doesn't know for certain, but believes it to have been a fake.

For a sufficiently wide definition of killed. All Grayven did was talk to him. Artemis is one one who struck the actual blow.

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It was a team thing.

 

[Ciber]

Is the sword of the fallen causing all these fake constructs to reincarnate as humans?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Is the sword of the fallen causing all these fake constructs to reincarnate as humans?

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Grayven doesn't know, but assumes not.

 

[NightmareWarden]

If this is an angel, I wonder if its powers can destabilize the Sword of the Fallen. Angels apparently destroyed Paragon-OL's blade after his death.

If the Angel has been here for billions of years, then he might not recognize the Second of the Fallen and Third as demons, merely "creations of the Lord" based on their magical presences.

I wonder if this world is associated with a particular afterlife? Or if something like the New Cronus arc is happening, but it was aborted before it could flourish? Aimless energy remains, for the angel to stew in.

 

[Attention Counting]

If the Angel has been here for billions of years, then he might not recognize the Second of the Fallen and Third as demons, merely "creations of the Lord" based on their magical presences.

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Wouldn't an Angel notice the Second's and the Third's demonic nature though? They're still demons, just ones directly created by God.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Wouldn't an Angel notice the Second's and the Third's demonic nature though? They're still demons, just ones directly created by God.

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Depends how strongly the sword-energies are disrupting them. The normal rules for demons don't really apply to them right now.

I'm assuming demons have a scent which is recognized, rather than a mental flag of "demonic entity, flagged as anti-God's-Plan, Ex-TER-Min-ATE!" So the angel would need to have been informed that demons exist and are bad. If demons were first widely identified after it was exiled, then it'd be ignorant.

 

[Steelplaza]

If the Angel has been here for billions of years

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I sincerely doubt that long. Whatever is going on almost certainly arrived in the strike on the surface that left the impact crater, and that wasn't billions of years ago. What Hinon said:

And there's some evidence of an orbital strike, or… Significant planetary impact, in the recent past.

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Now that's "recent past" by Hinon's standards, of course, but even for her that probably means thousands or tens of thousands of years, not millions much less billions.

 

[Attention Counting]

Depends how strongly the sword-energies are disrupting them. The normal rules for demons don't really apply to them right now.

I'm assuming demons have a scent which is recognized, rather than a mental flag of "demonic entity, flagged as anti-God's-Plan, Ex-TER-Min-ATE!"

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Why would the "sword-energies" be separate from the demonic nature and origin of the sword? What special energy does the sword emanate that would distract from the sword's demonic energy? I don't remember anything like that.

I'm assuming demons have a scent which is recognized, rather than a mental flag of "demonic entity, flagged as anti-God's-Plan, Ex-TER-Min-ATE!" So the angel would need to have been informed that demons exist and are bad. If demons were first widely identified after it was exiled, then it'd be ignorant.

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As far as I remember it, Demons existed either before matter was created or shortly (comparatively) after so I find it unlikely that there any Angels don't know about Demons. Also, we have seen Angels in this story have an instinct in being able to identify all things demonic and "wrong" so even hypothetical ignorance can't shield them from seeing it being antithetical to themself.

Also, it's not impossible that Hinon managed to not notice an Angel who would presumably been there since the Big Bang (or a similar early time as they would have not known what Demons are in your hypothesis) but I do find it similarly unlikely.

 

[Darko]

This might not be an Angel, bit it could be a Source-powered entity.

There were those angel-looking aliens that left a powerful device that Actually Grayven wanted.

 

[Mr Zoat]

This might not be an Angel, bit it could be a Source-powered entity.

There were those angel-looking aliens that left a powerful device that Actually Grayven wanted.

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In an earlier outline, it was.

 

[Prince Charon]

It was a team thing.

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Ah, and because of how Grayven has developed his God-Name/metaphysique/whatever, that matters narratively more for him than it would for a New God who isn't a team player?

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th August 2013
12:46 GMT -7

And in the centre of the crater is…

Not a lot. Iname is twitching, jerking from place to place as if what's here will have changed since the last time she looked. Persuader's kicking at the ground, oddly-shaped stones-.
Magistrate's Judgement
Ah. That's not a stone.

Iname looks around. "Master, there's nothing-."

I silence her by raising my right hand. Then I bend down next to one of the larger 'stones' displaced by Persuader's boot, pick it up and brush it off…

"Master, is that metal?"
Lawful Investigation
"Scan."

"Well spotted, Lantern Grayven. Metal composition matches alloy used in the hull armour of Knights of Passage capital ships. It's impossible to determine exactly what ship this came from, and advanced armour is highly resistant to corrosion."

Iname looks around. "A spaceship crashed here? Is that what killed everything?"

I shake my head. "Not unless they've started building super dreadnaughts." Or death stars. "But it is a little odd that they haven't recovered it."

And now that I look across the landscape, other erosion-resistant shapes start to stand out. Given how long ago it would have had to have been, and how extensive the damage appears to have been, I can't even tell how… Many ships there were.

Hah.

"New question, girls. We're at the bottom of a crater and it only stops raining when the opposition act against us. Where's all the water? This should be a sea."

"Um." Iname looks around with new eyes, but doesn't appear to have any idea.

"Err, evaporated?"

I shake my head, though it's nice that sending Persuader back to high school has produced a positive result. "No. Not enough sunlight or heat. Sinestro, what's happening beneath us?"
Lawful Investigation
"Your surmise is correct, Lantern Grayven. There is a large hollow beneath us, apparently held in place by a combination of rock and wreckage. The surrounding rock has enough fractures to allow a truly vast quantity of water to be stored there."

"Master? You said that the Knights fought your grandfather?"

"Yeah. I don't remember anything about them fighting in this system, but there was a lot of fighting going on all over the galaxy."

I consider Sinestro for a moment. Cutting our way down makes a degree of sense, but if our best way to remain empowered is to use our New God powers then it's probably best to use compatible technology.

Mother Box?
Direct the War
Ping.

BOOM!

Iname's through before I can say anything, while Persuader hangs back for a moment. "Is that safe?"

I step through, and she can come through or not. Dark down here, and there's a constant noise of water dripping down rock and running down the metal wreckage in rivulets. Where I'm standing isn't underwater, but by the echo…

Iname tosses a couple of glow sticks around, but that's not really doing much to light the place up. Really, all it's doing in emphasising the darkness.

"…thing!" Persuader comes through behind me, looking around. "Oh, hey, we didn't die."

"Did you bring any sort of lights?"

"My phone's got a light."

"Perhaps not."
I Am Above This
Ring, fabricate light globes.

By your command.

Ah, much better. Yes, this actually looks like… Like someone took the wreckage and deliberately shaped it. Or at least boarded the ships while they were still functional and smashed holes in convenient locations. Right, unless I'm very much misremembering, we're in a Deterrence class battleship… Or bits of it, at least. What I can see looks a little too even to be the result of a fortuitous crash.

Stranger and stranger.

"Iname?"

She appears in front of me. "Master?"

"Found anything?"

"Yyyyes, Master, but… You should take a look."

I nod. "Lead the way."

Whoever built this place at least wedged everything in solidly. Flying here would be awkward so I settle for picking my way across the wreckage carefully, gripping the solid-looking places above me with my hands, and gingerly testing the resilience of the floor beneath me. It doesn't even creak, and I'm not sure if that's the results of centuries of sediment and settling or the work of whoever built it.

Iname just dances across like it's Baby's First Parkour Course. An advantage she has from weighing about a hundredth of what I do.

"Here, Master." She stands on… I think that's an observation platform which an officer would use to oversee the Knights' marines. Someone's ripped it out and torn off one of the walls-.

"I.. see." And I carefully don't get closer to the Apokoliptian Transferral Node. Big model, far larger than anything I've used anywhere except the Absolute Dominion. Looks like it should be able to handle bigger applications of spiritual power than I'm capable of exerting-.

And there's another one over there.

"Well spotted, don't touch them with your hand or your soul."

"No, Master."

Persuader approaches from behind me. "How about my axe?"

"Not at this stage."

"So is there, like, a New God down here?"

"No, we'd all have felt that. My best guess is that there's someone trapped down here… And whoever put them here did something to prevent them ever leaving."

"A good guy, or a bad guy?"

"Apokolips and New Genesis use the same sort of technology, so it could go either way. And don't assume that the prisoner isn't bad just because they fought Apokolips. We don't like people diluting our trademarks."

Iname nods. "Should I look for them?"

"No. We don't know what whoever put that there did to this place. I've been assuming that they were interfering with our arcane abilities, but if someone really strong put that there, it might be them instead."

Persuader looks up. "And all the dead people?"

"No, that took active control. Whoever did that is on site." I stare at the supersized Transferral Node. "And what I'm really worried about-."

Iname's eyes widen. "Your grandfather."

"Yeah. Because I've never heard of someone on the Source Wall being aware of anything, but if I was trying to build a machine that could make that happen… It would involve things like that. Proceed carefully."

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

20th August 2013
12:46 GMT -7

And in the centre of the crater is…

Not a lot. Iname is twitching, jerking from place to place as if what's here will have change since the last time she looked. Persuader's kicking at the ground, oddly-shaped stones-.
Magistrate's Judgement
Ah. That's not a stone.

Click to shrink...

Not the same kind of material as the rest of the crater, eh? So if it's not stone, it's probably metal. Something had to make this crater, I suppose, and a spaceship crashing at speed would do the trick...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Iname looks around. "Master, there's nothing-."

I silence her by raising my right hand. Then I bend down next to one of the larger 'stones' displaced by Persuader's boot, pick it up and brush it off…

Click to shrink...

Sometimes, ladies, it pays to observe, not just look around.

"Master, is that metal?"
Lawful Investigation
"Scan."

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Reinforcing Ringnestro just as he did the Orange Ring, I see.

"Well spotted, Lantern Grayven. Metal composition matches alloy used in the hull armour of Knights of Passage capital ships. It's impossible to determine exactly what ship this came from, and advanced armour is highly resistant to corrosion."

Iname looks around. "A spaceship crashed here? Is that what killed everything?"

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Maybe if it came in at near-lightspeed? Though the faster the impact, the less likely there's be any intact pieces.

I shake my head. "Not unless they've started building super dreadnaughts." Or death stars. "But it is a little odd that they haven't recovered it."

And now that I look across the landscape, other erosion-resist shapes start to stand out. Given how long ago it would have had to have been, and how extensive the damage appears to have been, I can't even tell how… Many ships there were.

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So this is something more like an antlion's pit. Attracting ships in only to pull them out of the sky... Or controlling the crew into crashing.

Hah.

"New question, girls. We're at the bottom of a crater and it only stops raining when the opposition act against us. Where's all the water? This should be a sea."

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That's a good question, Renegade. Well spotted.

"Um." Iname looks around with new eyes, but doesn't appear to have any idea.

"Err, evaporated?"

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Ah well, can't expect everything from them. They're still young.

I shake my head, though it's nice that sending Persuader back to high school has produced a positive result. "No. Not enough sunlight or heat. Sinestro, what's happening beneath us?"
Lawful Investigation
"Your surmise is correct, Lantern Grayven. There is a large hollow beneath us, apparently held in place by a combination of rock and wreckage. The surrounding rock has enough fractures to allow a truly vast quantity of water to be stored there."

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A vast cave, flooded? Oh, that's never a good sign.

"Master? You said that the Knights fought your grandfather?"

"Yeah. I don't remember anything about them fighting in this system, but there was a lot of fighting going on all over the galaxy."

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Maybe a battle that never went recorded? Or some coincidental fighting.

I consider Sinestro for a moment. Cutting our way down makes a degree of sense, but if our best way to remain empowered is to use our New God powers then it's probably best to use compatible technology.

Mother Box?
Direct the War
Ping.

Click to shrink...

"Seismic scans complete. I can put you on the edge of the vessel's structure." Presumably there's quite a lot of rock between them and the epicenter...

BOOM!

Iname's through before I can say anything, while Persuader hangs back for a moment. "Is that safe?"

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That's going to get her into trouble at some point. Hopefully she learns before it costs her dearly.

I step through, and she can come through or not. Dark down here, and there's a constant noise of water dripping down rock and running down the metal wreckage in rivulets. Where I'm standing isn't under water, but by the echo…

Iname tosses a couple of glow sticks around, but that's not really doing much to light the place up. Really, all it's doing in emphasising the darkness.

Click to shrink...

I'm guessing there are millions of micro-fissures, acting like drains to let the water in through sandy soil...

"…thing!" Persuader comes through behind me, looking around. "Oh, hey, we didn't die."

"Did you bring any sort of lights?"

"My phone's got a light."

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I don't think a single LED is going to cut it here. Especially since those are battery-hogs and I don't think you're gonna find somewhere to charge it out here.

"Perhaps not."
I Am Above This
Ring, fabricate light globes.

By your command.

Click to shrink...

I suppose that's one way to work around the whole issue. Though them having light also means they'll be advertising their presence to anything around here.

Ah, much better. Yes, this actually looks like… Like someone took the wreckage and deliberately shaped it. Or at least boarded the ships while they were still functional and smashed holes in convenient locations. Right, unless I'm very much misremembering, we're in a Deterrence class battleship… Or bits of it, at least. What I can see looks a little too even to be the result of a fortuitous crash.

Click to shrink...

So it set down with some measure of control, possibly blasting its way into the surface and... Somehow pulled the ground over it like a blanket.

Stranger and stranger.

"Iname?"

She appears in front of me. "Master?"

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Already scouting about, I expect. Risky, given they don't know what could be around here. At least she'd more than likely not be ambushed, given she'd be faster than almost anything.

"Found anything?"

"Yyyyes, Master, but… You should take a look."

I nod. "Lead the way."

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If she's nervous about it, then it must be something troublesome indeed.

Whoever built this place at least wedged everything in solidly. Flying here would be awkward so I settle for picking my way across the wreckage carefully, gripping the solid-looking places above me with my hands, and gingerly testing the resilience of the floor beneath me. It doesn't even creak, and I'm not sure if that's the results of centuries of sediment and settling or the work of whoever built it.

Click to shrink...

Hopefully the designers foresaw the risk of a crash-landing in a full-gravity environment and designed for it. Some fictional starships really do not look like they'd do well touching down on a planet's surface, externally or internally. Not all such ships are designed to withstand their own weight...

Iname just dances across like it's Baby's First Parkour Course. An advantage she has from weighing about a hundredth of what I do.

"Here, Master." She stands on… I think that's an observation platform which an officer would use to oversee the Knight's marines. Someone's ripped it out and torn off one of the walls-.

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Wonder if it was done with bare hands or tools? Either would leave clear marks.

"I.. see." And I carefully don't get closer to the Apokoliptian Transferral Node. Big model, far larger than anything I've used anywhere except the Absolute Dominion. Looks like it should be able to handle bigger applications of spiritual power than I'm capable of exerting-.

Click to shrink...

Okay, I doubt that's standard equipment in any sort of ship fighting against an Apokaliptian fleet. Might be an after-market modification to allow Narrative combat, or someone jammed it in after the crash...

And there's another one over there.

"Well spotted, don't touch them with your hand or your soul."

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Somehow, I don't think he wants to try channelling power through them anytime.

"No, Master."

Persuader approaches from behind me. "How about my axe?"

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So glad Artemis isn't here or she'd probably need to make a joke about 'her bow.'

"Not at this stage."

"So is there, like, a New God down here?"

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Good question. There's been no Godspeech from anything except them, hasn't there. And if whatever was creating illusions was capable of Narrative combat, it's have been doing it to them by now.

"No, we'd all have felt that. My best guess is that there's someone trapped down here… And whoever put them here did something to prevent them ever leaving."

"A good guy, or a bad guy?"

Click to shrink...

Consider what you've seen so far, and ask that again.

"Apokolips and New Genesis use the same sort of technology, so it could go either way. And don't assume that the prisoner isn't bad just because they fought Apokolips. We don't like people diluting our trademarks."

Iname nods. "Should I look for them?"

Click to shrink...

And run into something gribbly down here?

"No. We don't know what whoever put that there did to this place. I've been assuming that they were interfering with our arcane abilities, but if someone really strong put that there, it might be them instead."

Persuader looks up. "And all the dead people?"

Click to shrink...

So it may be that the nullifying effect is part of the prison, not an act by the prisoner...

"No, that took active control. Whoever did that is on site." I stare at the supersized Transferral Node. "And what I'm really worried about-."

Iname's eyes widen. "Your grandfather."

"Yeah. Because I've never heard of someone on the Source Wall being aware of anything, but if I was trying to build a machine that could make that happen… It would involve things like that. Proceed carefully."

Click to shrink...

Especially if Yuga Khan was a New God of Fear. He did also have illusion powers...

And now we've gone from open fighting on a near-featureless plain to dungeon-crawling through a spaceship. Getting Doom³ vibes now. Or 'Event Horizon'. At least the Renegade doesn't have to decide between light or gun. Really getting the feeling they inadvertently stepped into someone else's prison by mistake... And they may have to break it to leave.

 

[Darko]

here will have change since the last

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"changed"

 

[Mr Zoat]

"changed"

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[BartlettMagic]

And now that I look across the landscape, other erosion-resist shapes

Click to shrink...

erosion-resistant

 

[Duke Long]

I step through, and she can come through or not. Dark down here, and there's a constant noise of water dripping down rock and running down the metal wreckage in rivulets. Where I'm standing isn't under water, but by the echo…

Click to shrink...

'underwater'?

"Here, Master." She stands on… I think that's an observation platform which an officer would use to oversee the Knight's marines. Someone's ripped it out and torn off one of the walls-.

Click to shrink...

'Knights''?

 

[Mr Zoat]

erosion-resistant

Click to shrink...

'underwater'?
'Knights''?

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[timeForced]

Graven being forced to work with Darkseid to put down Yuga Khan would be pretty funny.

 

[Zig]

So guessing they are on Velos but aren't actually dealing Yuga Khan. He already came and went, and what's left behind is just something that can happen when you murder an entire thaumatically active world.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th August 2013
12:51 GMT -7

Twenty four of the things, arranged in a rough globe. Why? Don't know, though I'm getting uncomfortable Salvation Run flashbacks. Apokolips does have worlds like that… Or just nominates some luckless planetoid at random, but I don't remember this one being on any lists, and I've got Original Grayven's memories. But if this is a New God then they should be stronger in here, and we haven't been attacked since we got down here.

I'm coming up blank, but there's really only one place to look. It looks like someone tore out the ship's bridge while leaving the exterior armour and bulkheads intact. With the Transferral Node around here, the armour could be reinforced all the way up to neutronium toughness.

Fortunately…

"Persuader, if you please."

She swings her axe downwards. I Cut Things

Four swings later, I gently shove the bulkhead and watch as it collapses inwards.

Ah. Someone was making a point.

Apokolips doesn't have a tradition of crucifixion per se, but there are only so many ways to bind someone upright. Clamps around the torso, neck and arms have kept the skeletal remains upright… Remain upright, and from the metal insignia resting on the bones or laying on the floor I assume that these were senior officers.

"Haaaaaaa…"

I step fully into the room, ready to lend assistance-.

Or-. Not.

The figure bound at the command station is barely alive. Adipose tissue is a distant memory, muscle tissue isn't much better, his eyes are sunken… I can't see any injuries, but… He's krendek. Socially responsible bunch. A lot of them join the Knights of Passage even though they're not fanatical about the religious aspect. But their skin is usually blue. His is white, and there's the ragged remains of a green cloak over his shoulders-.

No way. No fucking way.

Lantern Grayven, explain.

The near-corpse's eyes focus on me, blearily at first and then something snaps them into focus, glowing white holes-.

I swallow-.

I need a second attempt to fucking swallow.

"Who am I talking to?"

"Apokoliptian."

"Master?" I glance back and see that the girls have followed me in. "What's wrong?"

"It ah… Looks like I underestimated my grandfather."

"Justice... Will come to you. And all like you. I will deliver it… However long it takes."

"Are you keeping that poor bastard alive? By the Source, have some mercy-."

Right. He literally can't.

Persuader walks over with the atomic axe raised. "Boss, I can just kill-."

"Nononononono!"

"Him…" She stops, sounding confused. "No? Okay? You're paying me, I guess." She looks at the host body. "This guy fought your granddad?"

"We fought the fleets of Yuga Khan. Sinners and false deities slain without the weakness of doubt."

I look around. Yes, this is about what I'd expect as the fate of anyone who managed to achieve anything against grandfather.

"He did this to you?" He just glowers. "But why didn't he kill you?"

"God set me on this path. I cannot be stopped."

"Clearly, you can. I've heard about your rampages. What you hit us with just now is a fraction of what you used to be able to do."

I take a closer look at the machinery as Iname leans closer to him, head jerking between him and me. "Master, who is this?"

"I don't know who the host is. But the passenger is the Spectre."

"Who?"

"Damn." I look at her with a faintly impressed smile. "Cold."

"Master?"

"The Wrath of God. Source-God. The same place we get our powers from."

There's a click-.

"Persuader!"

She tries to look innocent, but the way her backing away from the control panel matched the timing of the sound makes it fairly unconvincing. "I didn't touch it!"

An image appears in the space before the Spectre's host. AUTOCRACY

"Master?"

It's not him. I know it's not him, but whatever he did to make this place work, to imprison the Spectre, has just enough of him about it that it's like I'm getting my soul sucked out through my skin. Because ultimately I consider that my power is bequeathed by those around me. He considers all power to come from him, granted by him and rescinded the moment that he wills it. And the Source backs him, made him like that. He's what Father struggles to convince everyone that he is, and just doing that has made Father so powerful-.

But it's not actually him. I push upright, noting as I do so that Iname is hovering next to me in case I need a hand. I smile her a quick smile before turning my attention to Grandfather's image. "Why don't you come here and say that?"

He doesn't respond, because… It's a recording. Alright-.

"Apokoliptian. If you are seeing this, then my investigations of the Source Wall have gone awry, and yet you have the strength to persevere against all that this spectre can do to you. For that at least you have my consideration. Slay it, and I shall reward you in person."

I wait until a fraction of a second after the image closes down, and then:

"NOBODY KILL THE SPECTRE!" BY MY COMMAND!

"No, Master!" / "Okay, boss..?"

Okay.

I make eye contact with the Wrath of God once more, but it doesn't look like he's got anything that he wants to say to me.

Okay.

So Yuga Khan fought the Spectre, won, and set him up as a test slash escape hatch from the Source Wall..? Or at least intended to. I can see the logic, and he infamously had the power to take power from others into himself.

"So I can't kill you. And leaving you here is a risk, too. So what am I to do with you?"

 

[Bigking321]

Wow.

Unexpected.

Sounds like we found a new ally against dear old dad.

 

[Ngamer11]

Wow.

Unexpected.

Sounds like we found a new ally against dear old dad.

Click to shrink...

Unlikely. He probably considers all Apokoliptians sinners to be punished, the Renegade included.

 

[thebishop8]

So it is the Spectre. I wonder what made Zoat decide to use him after all? His other comments made it clear that he wanted someone powerful to be an enemy on this planet, and I guess like this he can't be involved in other parts of the story.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

20th August 2013
12:51 GMT -7

Twenty four of the things, arranged in a rough globe. Why? Don't know, though I'm getting uncomfortable Salvation Run flashbacks. Apokolips does have worlds like that… Or just nominates some luckless planetoid at random, but I don't remember this one being on any lists, and I've got Original Grayven's memories. But if this is a New God then they should be stronger in here, and we haven't been attacked since we got down here.

Click to shrink...

I can't imagine that plotline ended without casualties, especially with some of the psychos involved. Though it was probably a good way to trim the fat before a universal reboot. Though DC never forgets a nice, trademarkable villain concept...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

I'm coming up blank, but there's really only one place to look. It looks someone tore out the ship's bridge while leaving the exterior armour and bulkheads intact. With the Transferral Node around here, the armour could be reinforced all the way up to neutronium toughness.

Click to shrink...

And presumably it's near the centre of the vessel, of course, because the designers weren't morons.

Fortunately…

"Persuader, if you please."

She swings her axe downwards. I Cut Things

Click to shrink...

At least they don't have to worry about picking locks. the joy of an all-warrior party.

Four swings later, I gently shove the bulkhead and watch as it collapses inwards.

Ah. Someone was making a point.

Click to shrink...

No doubt some spectacular display of cruelty and malice to send a message to anyone who might come looking.

Apokolips doesn't have a tradition of crucifixion per se, but there are only so many ways to bind someone upright. Clamps around the torso, neck and arms have kept the skeletal remains upright… Remains upright, and from the metal insignia resting on the bones or laying on the floor I assume that these were senior officers.

Click to shrink...

Whether it's the typical Christian image of the '+' shaped crux or the older/simpler 'X' shape, the result is usually much the same.

"Haaaaaaa…"

<Paragon Interrupt!>

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Heh, not something we see all that often anymore. This must have been significant.

I step fully into the room, ready to lend assistance-.

Or-. Not.

Click to shrink...

A good showing of compassion entirely at odds with the typical assumption of an Apokaliptian. That might make some impact on the being at the center of this.

The figure bound at the command station is barely alive. Adipose tissue is a distant memory, muscle tissue isn't much better, his eyes are sunken… I can't see any injuries, but… He's krendek. Socially responsible bunch. A lot of them join the Knights of Passage even though they're not fanatical about the religious aspect. But their skin is usually blue. His is white, and there's the ragged remains of a green cloak over his shoulders-.

Click to shrink...

White skin... Green Cloak... Wait, is it seriously..?

No way. No fucking way.

Lantern Grayven, explain.

Click to shrink...

Ah, I take it that one never appeared in Earth-50, or at least in Ringnestro's presence.

The near-corpse's eyes focus on me, blearily at first and then something snaps them into focus, glowing white holes-.

I swallow-.

I need a second attempt to fucking swallow.

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That's not unreasonable, given who this appears to be. (I'll hold off on a link until it's said in chapter, mind. But we all know who it is by now.)

"Who am I talking to?"

"Apokoliptian."

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And that's more or less what that one does to those he deems worthy of their attention, yes.

"Master?" I glance back and see that the girls have followed me in. "What's wrong?"

"It ah… Looks like I underestimated my grandfather."

"Justice... Will come to you. And all like you. I will deliver it… However long it takes."

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Not just an angel of vengeance... The Angel of Vengeance. And one with a major nark on for Apokaliptians.

"Are you keeping that poor bastard alive? By the Source, have some mercy-."

Right. He literally can't.

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Yuga Khan was not known for it, no, or for any sort of positive emotion. EDIT: Oh, right. Neither does the Spectre. Hell, he's famous for it. And he loves his effed-up punishments, too...

Persuader walks over with the atomic axe raised. "Boss, I can just kill-."

"Nononononono!"

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I get the feeling that would be very bad. They have no idea what these restraints are doing, or what would happen if the being they restrain ceases to live.

"Him…" She stops, sounding confused. "No? Okay? You're paying me, I guess." She looks at the host body. "This guy fought your granddad?"

"We fought the fleets of Yuga Khan. Sinners and false deities slain without the weakness of doubt."

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I suppose a capital-A Angel would consider beings who name themselves the New Gods offensive, at the minimum.

I look around. Yes, this is about what I'd expect as the fate of anyone who managed to achieve anything against grandfather.

"He did this to you?" He just glowers. "But why didn't he kill you?"

"God set me on this path. I cannot be stopped."

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And a being like him will not change, short of the Presence itself coming down and telling him to drop the matter.

"Clearly, you can. I've heard about your rampages. What you hit us with just now is a fraction of what you used to be able to do."

I take a closer look at the machinery as Iname leans closer to him, head jerking between him and me. "Master, who is this?"

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I'm guessing the lion's share of his power is being turned into the very binding holding him there.

"I don't know who the host is. But the passenger is the Spectre."

"Who?"

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Known formerly as Aztar and formally known as the Vengeance of God. No less unreasonable than that name suggests, but usually tempered by being bound to a mortal host who acts as guide and restraint. Like what's been done here with the... Krendek?

"Damn." I look at her with a faintly impressed smile. "Cold."

"Master?"

"The Wrath of God. Source-God. The same place we get our powers from."

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Huh, that gives him just a bit more metaphysical oomph than the typical angel of the Silver City.

There's a click-.

"Persuader!"

She tries to look innocent, but the way her backing away from the control panel matched the timing of the sound makes it fairly unconvincing. "I didn't touch it!"

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Hey, don't blame her for poking around while you sweat about the spooky half-dead guy. She's clearly not very attuned to or knowledgable of the mystical.

An image appears in the space before the Spectre's host. AUTOCRACY

"Master?"

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And I bet that blast of Godpseech would have made lesser being fall to their knees without thinking about it...

It's not him. I know it's not him, but whatever he did to make this place work, to imprison the Spectre, has just enough of him about it that it's like I'm getting my soul sucked out through my skin. Because ultimately I consider that my power is bequeathed by those around me. He considers all power to come from him, granted by him and rescinded the moment that he wills it. And the Source backs him, made him like that. He's what Father struggles to convince everyone that he is, and just doing that has made Father so powerful-.

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Not surprised He's so focused on maintaining that image, if THAT is what He's trying to emulate and overcome.

But it's not actually him. I push upright, noting as I do so that Iname is hovering next to me in case I need a hand. I smile her a quick smile before turning my attention to Grandfather's image. "Why don't you come here and say that?"

He doesn't respond, because… It's a recording. Alright-.

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Albeit one with enough presence to produce Godspeech. That's worrying, if only due to the mystical principle of Sympathy. A tiny part of the thing is still a part of the whole thing...

"Apokoliptian. If you are seeing this, then my investigations of the Source Wall have gone awry, and yet you have the strength to persevere against all that this spectre can do to you. For that at least you have my consideration. Slay it, and I shall reward you in person."

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Oh, yes, I suspect that wording is very specific for a reason. What's the bet if the Spectre is killed, then the tug on his essence will give Yuga Khan a trail to follow to pull himself free of the Source Wall.

I wait until a fraction of a second after the image closes down, and then:

"NOBODY KILL THE SPECTRE!" BY MY COMMAND!

"No, Master!" / "Okay, boss..?"

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Best to make that very clear right the fuck now, yes.

Okay.

I make eye contact with the Wrath of God once more, but it doesn't look like he's got anything that he wants to say to me.

Okay.

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Or he's somewhat curious about the fact that you aren't leaping to follow 'your master's' command. It probably wouldn't alter his opinion of you in any way, but it might make him think.

So Yuga Khan fought the Spectre, won, and set him up as a test slash escape hatch from the Source Wall..? Or at least intended to. I can see the logic, and he infamously had the power to take power from others into himself.

"So I can't kill you. And leaving you here is a risk, too. So what am I to do with you?"

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Somehow, I don't think the Sword of the Fallen will be of any use here. Aztar is probably just a bit more powerful than the Second and Third of the Fallen, and thus immune to their power.

At least this explains the episode title. Terror Nova - 'New Terror'. Fitting given one of the smaller parts of its powerset is 'fear projection' and 'illusion creation'. I would suspect the Spectre has been bound here a long, long time, and if it got free, there would be a lot less 'sinners' at large in the universe all of a sudden...

 

[boo600]

…huh. Word of God was that the Spectre wouldn't show up; I'm kind of curious as to not just why he changed his mind, but how - would Paul find him here if he headed to this planet, or is this another Ambush Bug divergence?

I'd assume he just won't find him because he's not looking, and the Spectre is sealed, but… well, Misa and Sunset.

 

[m_d]

Clamps around the torso, neck and arms have kept the skeletal _remains upright… Remains upright_, and from the metal insignia resting on the bones or laying on the floor I assume that these were senior officers.

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I'm not clear on this section. Are both 'remains upright' and 'Remains upright' meant to be there? If so, I don't understand the significance of the repetition.

 

[Duke Long]

I'm coming up blank, but there's really only one place to look. It looks someone tore out the ship's bridge while leaving the exterior armour and bulkheads intact. With the Transferral Node around here, the armour could be reinforced all the way up to neutronium toughness.

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'looks like'

"I don't know who the host is. But the passenger is the Spectre."

"Who?"

"Damn." I look at her with a faintly impressed smile. "Cold."

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I don't get it. Why is it cold?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Yuga Khan was not known for it, no, or for any sort of positive emotion.

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True, but he was talking about the Spectre.

'looks like'

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Thank you, corrected.

I don't get it. Why is it cold?

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She basically said 'I don't even know who you are'.

I'm not clear on this section. Are both 'remains upright' and 'Remains upright' meant to be there? If so, I don't understand the significance of the repetition.

Click to shrink...

One refers to that fact that they're still functioning, the other refers to what's left of the bodies. But the second one shouldn't have an 's'.

 

[Nervaqus987]

Sounds like we found a new ally against dear old dad.

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Bad idea.

If he has a good host who can ride herd on him, he can be useful but otherwise.....

Well, my favorite example of Spectre's decision making abilities comes from the time the Brujeria woke up the Great Darkness.

The Spectre had the opportunity to stop that. He could have stopped that whole situation. He was in the right place at the right time to interrupt that shit on the spiritual plane. He instead let it go explicitly so he could try and destroy the Great Darkness.

He all but literally said "Nah, I'd win."

Note that, as far as everyone including him knew, the Great Darkness was God's Evil Half with all the power that implies.

And when it came down to it, the Spectre had as much of an impact on the Great Darkness as everyone else aside from Swamp Thing.* Which is to say, none at all. The only thing he did was to teach it the concept of "Revenge."

My other favorite example of what happens when the Spectre gets off his leash was when he got convinced by Eclipso to destroy magic during Infinite Crisis even destroying the Rock of Eternity before God dragged his ass back to Heaven by his metaphorical ear for a spanking.

There's a reason the Justice League keeps the Spear of Destiny on hand and it's to deal with the Spectre when he starts being a problem.



*Who was the only one who did anything of value by virtue of talking with the Great Darkness and seemingly convincing it to try and go for a Yin-Yang sort of thing with God.