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

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-04-20T06:52:32+0100

Mr Zoat said:
September 1st, 2013
14:56 UK Time

Why did Artemis just stab the wall with an arrow?

"Artemis, why'd you do that?"

Interesting. Visual marks to trace their physical progress, like a trail of chalk marks? Might work better if there were some distinction between marks, though. Or maybe she's trying to tab the spell...

She shrugs and walks a little further down the corridor. "Because I was paying attention? Spell eaters don't work on everything, but so long as I-" She stabs the wall again. "-keep stabbing at the same interval, my anti-magic arrow will mess up the spell even if I don't know it's there."

Assuming the spell would collapse the way you think it would, like seeing the wall slide apart to reveal an entire hallway or something.

"That… Makes sense. Except that if it's a glamour, we'll both walk past it and not even realise that you've taken more steps than normal, because glamours mess with all your perceptions."

"Oh." She looks disappointed. "You sure?"

Maybe a step counter on their wrist computers that counts as they go? So if it suddenly jumps up a random number of paces, they'll know they found a blind spot.

"I mean…" I shrug. "If it's just an illusion then your idea would work fine. Or if the guy's actually using optical camouflage-"

She snorts.

Still playing a bit of the arbitrary sceptic, eh, Wally? Or just joking, given he's a practising alchemist...

"-then you'd poke a hole in it, but fairy-stuff's supposed to be popular with the street magicians who don't just use demons."

"And what if it's a demon?"

And any half-way decent concealment effect would have distributed its wardings so that a single hit wouldn't collapse the whole thing.

"If it was demon magic..? Demon magic doesn't just make you think something's true when it isn't, it messes with everything. If there was something like that on a hotel there'd be records of the guests and staff going crazy. And there isn't, I checked."

She lowers her arrow. "So what do we do?"

Unless the concealment effect extended to unusual occurrences too. But that might be a bit too much for a street wizard.

"Well, I already checked the plans and nothing stood out to me."

"But it wouldn't."

Unless you did it in a way the spell wasn't designed to affect due to oversight. Comparative analysis of each floor with an eye towards inconsistencies, for instance.

"Right. Buuuut, this guy's supposed to be pretty weak. Right?"

"If you've done something clever-"

Most likely it's just a simple 'you see nothing' effect that affects the general area.

"Ah, yeah."

She puts her hands on her hips. "-then just tell me what it is."

best not to mess with her too much, Wally, or you might find yourself short one girlfriend,

I pull two vials out of my potion pouch. I mean, it's more of a bandoleer, but that's three syllables. "See, normal wizards could just brute force something like this if they were powerful enough, so I was wondering… Can I make anyone that powerful?"

"You've got a potion that makes people wizards?"

Not in the sense she's thinking, I suspect. If such a thing existed, people would already have discovered it.

"No, but it kind of makes the magic around you treat you as if you are."

"And it's safe?"

So, more of a buff to magical resistance, eh?

"Thanks for having confidence in me, babe."

"Is it-?"

"I already tested it!"

She knows you, Wally.

"On humans?"

"Yes. And… Okay, according to Zatanna it only made me about twenty percent harder to affect, but she's a lot more powerful than most street magicians."

Not the best test, then. Sadly, I doubt they wanted to try it against Constantine, who's a lot craftier, and less likely to be hindered by increased resistance. He's also technically still in therapy anyway.

"Uh." She takes the vial I offer her, staring at the dull green contents. "What does it taste like?"

I wince a little. It's a pain, but that's alchemy. You can't just stick it in a clay tablet and then coat it in sugar, it messes everything up. "Maybe just… Swallow it fast."

...Except that's more or less what the patch-makers did. Unless the tablet making process has its own mystical qualities that disrupt the alchemy. Plus most tablets are a pain to swallow dry...

Cap off, bottom up-. Ouh, yeah, that's it. It's not bad exactly, because… The human sense of taste and smell are there to tell you what's good to eat and what isn't, so it doesn't really react to things that aren't food. You just get left with an impression that you just put something in your body that really wasn't meant to be there.

Something which can vary from person to person, too. Taste is a subjective thing, after all.

Artemis makes a face, then puts the stopper back on and hands me back the vial. "Does it do anything to how fast you go?"

"No, that's not based on raw magical strength or anything. Maybe if I was using chi-based speed or something…"

I wouldn't be surprised to find there are speedsters who work that way.

"So is it going to do anything to how strong I am?"

Uh.

The perils of mixing exotic effects, eh?

"It shouldn't, the Danner Formula alters your body tissue, it doesn't have-"

She's scowling. "You didn't test it."

Little hard to test it, really, even using rats,

"-an on-going effect." I raise my hands slightly. "But if you feel anything weird happening, tell me, because I've got another potion that should stop it."

"Did you test that?"

Well, let's hope it doesn't do anything weird like turn her hair neon-green or something.

"Yes."

I look around the corridor. Nothing looks different, but I won't know-.

Also, depending on how large the building is, you may not be anywhere near the suspected room.

"So what now?"

"Okay, so we might be able to see though it right away, or it might kind of shimmer..?" I look towards the stairs. "If I run through the place-."

And risk having it burn out of your system faster, depending on how it lasts.

"Where's the penthouse?"

"Ah." I look at my arm computer. "The largest rooms I can see are… Top two floors?"

You figure the guy would go for the top shelf?

"No one's gunna do all this for a box room." She thinks for a moment. "And Paul said it's all about presentation, right? He's not gunna take anything but the best."

"Okay." I nod. "Makes sense." And then I grin-

Well, you wanna get up there quick, right?

"Wait."

-and pick her up in a bridal carry and run down the corridor, into the stairwell, up the stairs and up to the second-to-top floor.

She pushes me back as she gets back on her feet. "Ass."

Consider it payback for the ride earlier.

"Okay. Look for-."

Artemis walks… Down the corridor. "Does this place have a history of fire alarms going off?"

Ah, she's following all the angles, eh?

"I have no idea. Do you want me to ask?"

"Just thinking he might use the fire exit to go in and out, but-" She shakes her head. "-that wouldn't fit. Elevator this way?"

Why take the stairs when you can ride, after all?

"Yeah? You don't think doing this right next to the elevator might be a little difficult?"

"If he were smart he'd hide out in a janitor's closet and make everyone forget about it. He's gunna be living here like he's meant to live here, like being able to do a little magic makes him the greatest thing since sliced bread. I though he might use the fire escape, but that's too much effort."

All those stairs up and down... Yeah, i doubt anyone would want to travel them too often.

"Makes sense." I nod as we round the corner. "Okay, there's the elevator, and-."

Artemis walks along the corridor, left hand trailing along the opposite wall. I dash past her, reaching the other end of the corridor before turning around and walking back-.

Ah, clever. If he's that lazy, he may have chosen to just fool the eyes.

She stops, smiling. "There's something under my hand, but I can't see it."

I look-. "Yeah, the wallpaper looks wrong. Like the pattern's turned clockwise ten degrees."

Likely the effect of the concealment effect struggling to affect him.

"You wanna try vibrating through it?"

I take out the skeleton keycard the receptionist gave us. "He won't have rewired it. So the panel should be…" I swipe the keycard against nothing, and there's a faint click. "Here." I grip the handle I can't see and push the door open, stepping through the wall…

Because technology doesn't care about optical tricks.

"Huh."

Artemis steps through after him, then stops just behind me. "Weird poster. You take his workshop, I'll check in here."

Well, that's immediately sus...

So, they've found the guy's old lab, and presumably the birthplace of the mood patches. I have the feeling that poster's gonna be significant, but with the magical resistance buff, it might prove less effective than expected against them. If the place is being monitored, they've got to be sweating, between OL closing in and these two following the trails.

BR549 · 2026-04-20T07:04:17+0100

...see, it probably isn't because Zoat just said last month he hasn't played the games, but I see 'Wizard' and 'weird poster' and the first place my mind goes is the painting you can trap Delilah in at the end of Dishonored 2.

Ngamer11 · 2026-04-20T07:23:32+0100

@Mr Zoat, I tried to look up the evil version of the Union Jack that you used in the episode where the Renegade and Knight ended up in Morgan le Fay's realm to see if it was a poster and found that the link doesn't work anymore.

Mr Zoat said:
"That's a Black Jack. Why, did you run into one?"

Mr Zoat · 2026-04-20T08:27:51+0100

Signaller said:
There's got to be a better way to do that. Anti-magic aerosol spray, or a pencil or piece or chalk you can drag along the wall, or something?

For an aerosol you'd need to spray a substance that was innately disruptive to magic. If you're dealing with a fae glamour that's... Probably iron filings? But there's no general purpose anti-magic substance that they coud use.
Chalk is worthless because it's not a simply visual illusion. As Wallace points out, even if the line was broken the spell would prevent them realising it.

Leviadow · 2026-04-20T08:49:03+0100

Best fic

Ngamer11 · 2026-04-20T08:52:22+0100

Found another broken link.

Mr Zoat said:
A man dressed like some sort of Elizabethan dandy is fending off a knife-wielding partygoer, moving around his foe's wild slashes with surprising grace. Seeing an opening, he dances left as his attacker overextends and fires two jabs into the man's face. Normally that would be disorientating. Unfortunately, the man's too drugged up to really feel it and manages a stab into the fop's stomach.

mastermenthe · 2026-04-20T08:56:34+0100

Signaller said:
There's got to be a better way to do that. Anti-magic aerosol spray, or a pencil or piece or chalk you can drag along the wall, or something?

conceptually charged graffiti spraypaint. vandalism against the surface being sprayed would then act as vandalism againsg the wards as they spray along the corridoors.

m_d · 2026-04-20T09:14:39+0100

BR549 said:
...see, it probably isn't because Zoat just said last month he hasn't played the games, but I see 'Wizard' and 'weird poster' and the first place my mind goes is the painting you can trap Delilah in at the end of Dishonored 2.

I mean, the concept of a picture, painting, mirror, other flat object, as a portal into another place that you can get stuck in is far from unique, so I wouldn't count the general idea out just yet.

Duke Long · 2026-04-20T09:23:59+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"No, that's not based on raw magical strength or anything. Maybe if I was using chi-base speed or something…"

'chi-based'? Confused me for a moment but I suppose he's referring to using 'chi' for speed. Not sure we've ever seen that. Maybe it's how that superfunctionary who has superhuman clones does it? The one that recites a mantra Shazam-style.

Mr Zoat said:
"-an going effect." I raise my hands slightly. "But if you feel anything weird happening, tell me, because I've got another potion that should stop it."

'ongoing'

Mr Zoat said:
"Okay, so we might be able to see though it right away, or it might kind of shimmer..?" I look towards the stairs. "If I run through the place-."

'through'

Mr Zoat said:
"If he were smart he'd hide out in a janitor's closet and make everyone forget about it. He's gunna be living here like he's meant to live here, like being able to do a little magic makes him the greatest thing since sliced bread. I though he might use the fire escape, but that's too much effort."

'thought'

Mr Zoat said:
Artemis steps through after him, then stops just behind me. "Weird poster. You take his workshop, I'll check in here."

'me'? Inconsistent with the first person narration.

These anti-magic techniques are very fun to read, I bet that Oh El's solution to this would be much more straightforward and less interesting.

Mr Zoat · 2026-04-20T10:05:04+0100

Duke Long said:
'chi-based'? Confused me for a moment but I suppose he's referring to using 'chi' for speed.

In theory, sufficient spiritual presence can warp the world in small ways. Magic focused inwards rather than outwards. Wallace knows that it's theoretically possible, but he's not aware of anyone who can actually do it and wouldn't know where to start himself.

'ongoing'
'through'
'thought'
'me'? Inconsistent with the first person narration.

Thank you, corrected.

NightmareWarden · 2026-04-20T10:28:50+0100

chxenocide2 said:
Why is that ominous a.f.?

Could have a live connection to somewhere else, like Hell. Not a portal, just a magic camera for a security room/scrying hub. Too bad Artemis didn't stab it. Maybe she'll do so next update?

Benvolio · 2026-04-20T10:38:46+0100

I was thinking it was the magic posters from Starman

Dur'id the Druid · 2026-04-20T12:29:31+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Weird poster.

It is Anarchy, isn't it?

Huttj509 · 2026-04-20T13:03:23+0100

I like how both of them are trying to be clever in their own ways.

Mr Zoat · 2026-04-20T13:04:36+0100

Benvolio said:
I was thinking it was the magic posters from Starman

In universe, that was 20ish years ago.

PDV · 2026-04-20T16:18:32+0100

chxenocide2 said:
Why is that ominous a.f.?

Dorian Gray situation, you think?

Mr Zoat said:
In theory, sufficient spiritual presence can warp the world in small ways.

He was (also) noting a typo, it says "chi-base"

Mr Zoat · 2026-04-20T19:21:43+0100

Ngamer11 said:
@Mr Zoat, I tried to look up the evil version of the Union Jack that you used in the episode where the Renegade and Knight ended up in Morgan le Fay's realm to see if it was a poster and found that the link doesn't work anymore.

Ngamer11 said:
Found another broken link.

Thank you, corrected.

Duke Long said:
'chi-based'?

PDV said:
He was (also) noting a typo, it says "chi-base"

Ah, thank you.

Vaermina · 2026-04-20T19:23:11+0100

Mr Zoat said:
No, no, it wouldn't work for how we're using it. We've been moving the portals around, and it's not practical to lay tracks like that. But once things go back to normal, then… Maybe?

Stick portals on a turn table, problem solved.

Mr Zoat · 2026-04-21T07:08:34+0100

1st September 2013
14:58 GMT

"…whatever they're doing, I just move stuff for them."

I look out of the side window of his lorry towards the aging industrial unit, the sort of light industrial rental property designed to house a number of small businesses. From the signs on the walls and on the entrance to the courtyard car park I'd have assumed that it still did, but… Apparently not.

Infrared scans can't tell whether there's anyone inside or not, and empathic vision isn't doing much better.

"Thank you, Mister Oyebe. Assuming that you're telling the truth, you've been most helpful."

"So, can I go?"

I glance back at him. "Mister Oyebe."

"So, no."

"No, but I will let the judge know that you cooperated with my enquiries. If I may ask, why 'fear'?"

"Works better than coffee for keeping me awake. Keeps me alert." He flops back into his seat. "I can't believe that piece of shit tried to kill me."

"You're surprised that a drug dealer tried to kill you before you could talk to the authorities?"

"Yeah-. Yeah, I guess I am."

I raise my left eyebrow. "W-why?"

"'cause… We weren't hurting nobody. Weren't competing with nobody. Fuck, this stuff isn't even illegal."

"Not specifically, no."

"Huh?"

"While it's true that narcotics have to be specifically prohibited in law in order to be illegal, there are a number of other lesser offences which a person who does so may be charged with. Poisoning, for example. Illegal monitoring, if the spell components track the user."

"I am not a wizard!"

"And? Are you not familiar with British joint enterprise laws? If nothing else, you should realise that involvement in a group willing to kill you was unwi-"

The skylight of one of the buildings opens up, and someone-. Bruno Mannheim pulls himself out, pausing to kick someone's hand off him-.

"-se-. Excuse me."

I transition into the space next to him as he pulls out his telephone and starts hammering the buttons.

"Problem?"

He jerks his head around, then pointedly steps away from the skylight. "Shit that was fast. I didn' think I even pressed the buttons!"

"You didn't. More than one way to skin a cat."

A pale skinned blonde man pulls himself out of the skylight, sees me and then freezes.

"F-uck."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm taken. I would strongly recommend-"

"Yeah-yeah." He pulls himself onto the roof, and then turns around with his hands behind his back. "I'm not a fucking idiot, mate."

"Congratulations." I form manacles around his wrists and ankles before giving Mr. Mannheim my attention. "Situation?"

"This is where they're mak'n the stuff, but it's more than that. One of the ingredients, they're suck'n it out of a guy. Got a bunch o' toobs in'm."

"Oh dear. That won't do. Did you recognise him?" He shakes his head. "You were spotted?"

"Yeah." He shrugs awkwardly. "It's not a big place. Not a lotta room for hid'n."

"Not to worry. Any guns?"

He shakes his head. "I did'n see none."

"Right." I place my right hand on his left should, fly us both up until the fuzziness is no longer blocking my view of him, and then transition us to his lorry. "Thank you for your assistance. If you wish, you may remain employed with Cadbury Logistics, or you may return to your previous work with my thanks."

"Gotta finish up my shift. I'll let yah know."

I nod, then transition back into the air above the drug manufacturing centre, and then fly down.

"I though you left."

I shrug. "Just needed to drop my friend off in case some of your colleagues are less enlightened than you are. Please do not attempt to leave."

He glances down at his anklets. "…yeah, I wasn't gunna."

"Good man!"

I float down the hole in the roof and-

"Gary?"

"Gentlemen."

-wreath the colleagues of 'Gary' in chains, causing them to collapse to the floor.

"You're under arrest and you're fired, do not resist."

It's never entirely wise to blunder around somewhere a wizard has had time to prepare, so I release my thrall constructs and send them down the corridor ahead of me. Naturally the building doesn't have an intercom system, so I can't just announce that I want them to surrender. Oh, I'm sure that they'll work it out. But just in case I release three hydra heads and send them to patrol the perimeter.

Useful things, soul bound slaves.

Okay, scans are being disrupted… How about sonics? Ah, good, I can see where someone's added in denser material than a… Cloth printing business would need-. They also wouldn't need a reinforced door with a broken lock. I pull it open.

"Did you find-?" The woman in the lab coat on the other side blinks at me. I give her a little wave. "Ah, fuck."

"Is there something about me which suggests that I cheat on my girlfriend?"

"… What?"

"Hands behind your back, and the only reason I'm not binding your legs is because I want you to take me to whoever-."

"Yep! Yep." She puts her hands behind her back and I cuff them. "No problem. This way."

"Thank you. You know, you don't get this level of politeness from American drug dealers."

"Ah, you're welcome?"

"You see? Just-."

I see the clean room in the next room, partitioned off my plastic drapes. And I see the man strapped to a bench within, shuddering against his bonds, eyes unfocused.

"Roger Hayden. I wondered where you'd gotten to."

Z000 · 2026-04-21T07:13:31+0100

why does every time some one swear fuck Paul just fire back that he in a relationship, won't fuck them and not cheating

like Paul either taking a piss or he have stop understanding how much people swore

Bigking321 · 2026-04-21T07:14:20+0100

The Medusa Mask guy?

Wow when was the last time we saw him?

I recall a attack... on Themyscira I think? From a long time ago.

Edit:

No wait... I think that was the guy with no face that wears a mask?

Edit 2: Johnny Sorrow. That's who I'm thinking of.

RichardWhereat · 2026-04-21T07:32:30+0100

Z000 said:
why does every time some one swear fuck Paul just fire back that he in a relationship, won't fuck them and not cheating

like Paul either taking a piss or he have stop understanding how much people swore

He's English. Its always taking the piss.

RichardWhereat · 2026-04-21T07:34:03+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Roger Hayden. I wondered where you'd gotten to."

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Roger_Hayden_(Prime_Earth)

Silverias · 2026-04-21T07:43:00+0100

Well, this just became remarkably more illegal.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-04-21T07:54:14+0100

Mr Zoat said:
1st September 2013
14:58 GMT

"…whatever they're doing, I just move stuff for them."

I look out of the side window of his lorry towards the aging industrial unit, the sort of light industrial rental property designed to house a number of small businesses. From the signs on the walls and on the entrance to the courtyard car park I'd have assumed that it still did, but… Apparently not.

Nice of Oyebe to drive him to the spot. I mean, OL could have easily gotten there himself anyway, but this at least shows how they ship their final product, which is helpful for the criminal cases. I'm guessing Anti-Life put most of their neighbours out of business...

Infrared scans can't tell whether there's anyone inside or not, and empathic vision isn't doing much better.

"Thank you, Mister Oyebe. Assuming that you're telling the truth, you've been most helpful."

The place seems well protected, by the looks of it. As much as a concrete box unit can be with magic, anyway.

"So, can I go?"

I glance back at him. "Mister Oyebe."

Yeah, as if that would work. At the very least, OL would have taken back his dimensional scrambler.

"So, no."

"No, but I will let the judge know that you cooperated with my enquiries. If I may ask, why 'fear'?"

Fear is a good motivator. Adrenaline can sharpen the senses and heighten instincts.

"Works better than coffee for keeping me awake. Keeps me alert." He flops back into his seat. "I can't believe that piece of shit tried to kill me."

"You're surprised that a drug dealer tried to kill you before you could talk to the authorities?"

The big worry is how, more than why. Oh, we know the general outline of it: send dimensional energies through the sympathetic connection to trigger overdoses and seizures, but what kind exactly? Are they drawing on a particular sub-dimension, and does that dimension know about it?

"Yeah-. Yeah, I guess I am."

I raise my left eyebrow. "W-why?"

"'cause… We weren't hurting nobody. Weren't competing with nobody. Fuck, this stuff isn't even illegal."

Not yet. After this, I suspect there will be decisions made about it.

"Not specifically, no."

"Huh?"

"While it's true that narcotics have to be specifically prohibited in law in order to be illegal, there are a number of other lesser offences which a person who does so may be charged with. Poisoning, for example. Illegal monitoring, if the spell components track the user."

Oh, and the attempted murders. Heck, possibly actual murders if anyone else looked into it before OL did.

"I am not a wizard!"

"And? Are you not familiar with British joint enterprise laws? If nothing else, you should realise that involvement in a group willing to kill you was unwi-"

At the bare minimum, you've got multiple 'accessory to' charges on you, including smuggling and distributing narcotics.

The skylight of one of the buildings opens up, and someone-. Bruno Mannheim pulls himself out, pausing to kick someone's hand off him-.

"-se-. Excuse me."

Unexpected. Presumably he did a little investigating of his own and got caught. Surprised they didn't slap a patch on him to give them a 'tag' to follow and target. Unless they haven't made the decision to kill him before finding out important details like 'who he's working for'.

I transition into the space next to him as he pulls out his telephone and starts hammering the buttons.

"Problem?"

He jerks his head around, then pointedly steps away from the skylight. "Shit that was fast. I didn' think I even pressed the buttons!"

No, no, this was coincidental.

"You didn't. More than one way to skin a cat."

A pale skinned blonde man pulls himself out of the skylight, sees me and then freezes.

Now, what's the English vernacular? Ah right. 'You're nicked, mate.'

"F-uck."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm taken. I would strongly recommend-"

Resisting a Lantern would be like throwing your gun at Superman after emptying the magazine into him... Spite and frustration.

"Yeah-yeah." He pulls himself onto the roof, and then turns around with his hands behind his back. "I'm not a fucking idiot, mate."

"Congratulations." I form manacles around his wrists and ankles before giving Mr. Mannheim my attention. "Situation?"

It's almost refreshing when they don't fight, isn't it? Got to love when they can do the numbers and save themselves the embarrassment.

"This is where they're mak'n the stuff, but it's more than that. One of the ingredients, they're suck'n it out of a guy. Got a bunch o' toobs in'm."

"Oh dear. That won't do. Did you recognise him?" He shakes his head. "You were spotted?"

Well, I guess that's the source of the emotional components. But who? Not many people with emotion-based abilities except... Ah.

"Yeah." He shrugs awkwardly. "It's not a big place. Not a lotta room for hid'n."

"Not to worry. Any guns?"

He shakes his head. "I did'n see none."

And to be fair, it is England. Much less of a gun culture, even after the Sheeda invasion and anti-Life.

"Right." I place my right hand on his left shoulder, fly us both up until the fuzziness is no longer blocking my view of him, and then transition us to his lorry. "Thank you for your assistance. If you wish, you may remain employed with Cadbury Logistics, or you may return to your previous work with my thanks."

Honestly, it probably pays better, and the work is often more fulfilling.

"Gotta finish up my shift. I'll let yah know."

I nod, then transition back into the air above the drug manufacturing centre, and then fly down.

"I though you left."

Oh, right, this guy. Hope OL at least left him in a comfortable position.

I shrug. "Just needed to drop my friend off in case some of your colleagues are less enlightened than you are. Please do not attempt to leave."

He glances down at his anklets. "…yeah, I wasn't gunna."

I see OL is thorough, if nothing else. Definitely saves the hassle of having to catch those dumb enough to run after they're cuffed.

"Good man!"

I float down the hole in the roof and-

"Gary?"

Blonde guy? Sorry, he's a little tied up right now. Also, you're nicked too.

"Gentlemen."

-wreath the colleagues of 'Gary' in chains, causing them to collapse to the floor.

"You're under arrest and you're fired, do not resist."

Just in case any of them do work for him, after all...

It's never entirely wise to blunder around somewhere a wizard has had time to prepare, so I release my thrall constructs and send them down the corridor ahead of me. Naturally the building doesn't have an intercom system, so I can't just announce that I want them to surrender. Oh, I'm sure that they'll work it out. But just in case I release three hydra heads and send them to patrol the perimeter.

Been so long I hardly remember what he has. Not that it really matters, they're largely the same basic thing: glowy orange humanoid, or glowy orange floaty thing.

Useful things, soul bound slaves.

Okay, scans are being disrupted… How about sonics? Ah, good, I can see where someone's added in denser material than a… Cloth printing business would need-. They also wouldn't need a reinforced door with a broken lock. I pull it open.

The classic scry wards, I wonder, or something a little more bespoke?

"Did you find-?" The woman in the lab coat on the other side blinks at me. I give her a little wave. "Ah, fuck."

"Is there something about me which suggests that I cheat on my girlfriend?"

OL, it's only a running gag if other people are in on the joke.

"… What?"

"Hands behind your back, and the only reason I'm not binding your legs is because I want you to take me to whoever-."

"Yep! Yep." She puts her hands behind her back and I cuff them. "No problem. This way."

Such a reasonable bunch of people! OL's having such a good night right now.

"Thank you. You know, you don't get this level of politeness from American drug dealers."

"Ah, you're welcome?"

"You see? Just-."

There's usually more futile gunplay, for a start. Even when they know they're outclassed, they just have to shoot it out.

I see the clean room in the next room, partitioned off by plastic drapes. And I see the man strapped to a bench within, shuddering against his bonds, eyes unfocused.

"Roger Hayden. I wondered where you'd gotten to."

As @RichardWhereat already linked, the Psycho Pirate. That explains the emotional modification sources. Guess some measure of the Masks' power stuck to him.

Definitely pushes the mood patches from 'dubiously legal' to 'product of torture' in terms of legality. Though I imagine the laws involving extracting 'product' from metahumans are a little... Unrealised? In most cases, metahumans can't really be milked like this. Wonder how he ended up here, though?

I mean, when did we last see him anyway?

BR549 · 2026-04-21T08:30:39+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
Wonder how he ended up here, though? I mean, when did we last see him anyway?

If I'm not mistaken? Never. He's been mentioned by his name all of once in the fic, here; apparently the fight in which Kid Flash yoinked the Medusa Mask took place off-screen.

Edit: Ah, there's also two posts where he's named as Matthew Hayden: here and here, but he doesn't actually appear in either of those as well. @Mr Zoat , these might count as errors, I think?

Neruz · 2026-04-21T08:54:57+0100

Well if they do need to 'get' the emotion from someone, the Medusa Mask would definitely help with that.

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