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

28th September 2013
13:17 GMT -5
Tim Hunter


I should probably have asked Zatanna or Orange Lantern before I did this. I'm used to Molly jumping in when things like this happen, so I have to go along with her. But Hiro didn't look up from his Etch A Sketch, and neither of the actual superheroes noticed when I put on this dream cloak…
Dangit, Tim. You do not Robin it up on your first formal case. Seriously, even Robin understood when to quietly go solo and when to let people know he was going. This is going to end up loud, isn't it?

Molly's going to tell me off tomorrow.
And that'll probably sting more than anything his mentors could say, isn't it?

But I don't look like me… I mean, this me doesn't look like me. Me-1 and Me-2 can merge when I get back, I've done this before, but the important thing is that I don't look or sound like myself. I can't do American accents, and I don't even know what sort of accent the people in this part of America have.
To be fair, it's Florida. Talk like your mouth is full of mush and you'd probably fit right in.

"…know the difference between right and wrong, why do you need someone to tell you what it is?"

"Ah… 'cause… Sometimes, I'm selfish and don't care about other people?"
Huh, at least that person's self-aware about humans being selfish little apes.

Lonnie Machin is setting in a circle of other kids, and… He looks a lot more interested in it than they do. But I can't see anything forcing them to stay, so maybe I caught him at a bad time?

"That's… Not really what I meant, but alright. What else?"
Huh, makes sense he'd start on 'red-pilling' young folks. Given his typical view of adults...

"Because what I-. I think one thing's right and someone else thinks something else is right? So if there's… Y'know, someone telling us both, then that's… Settled."

"Settled by who?"
Ah, yes. Lonnie's issues with authority. Even worse than fanon Taylor Hebert's.

"My Mom, usually."

I walk closer. There are other caravan children over to my right having a kickabout, but Lonnie's group don't seem all that interested in joining them.
Hmm... Probably some pickup hand-egg. Probably too much to hope they'd be enjoying the proper game. 😏

"And what makes you listen to her?"

"Because I want dinner."
And that's a good reason to follow authority: The threat of punishment.

Lonnie looks up at me for a moment as I get closer, but I shouldn't look out of place. On the other hand, if this is supposed to be invite-only, then he might just tell me to get lost without realising that there's anything odd about me. If he does, then I'll just go and watch the football while I keep an ear pointed this way.
Ah, it is football. Well, at least he won't be bored if he blows it.

"Hey." Lonnie nods at me. "Are you joining up?"

I keep walking closer. "I guess? If you don't mind?"
More the merrier, it seems. Probably rare that he has an audience for his philosophy.

"Of course not. I wish more people would come." He waves his right hand at a slightly emptier patch of grass. "Take a seat, and join in when you feel like."

"Thanks. Ah, I'm Gary."
Good to see most have the sense not to pay attention to his grousing.

I enter the circle and sit down, a little further away than the others. They look me over, but if this works like the caravan parks in England then they're probably used to people coming and going. I don't feel any suspicion or hostility.

"What are we talking about?"
Eh, some trailer parks, maybe. Or they think he's a local kid slumming it.

Lonnie… He doesn't look entirely happy. "When the Anti-Life broadcast happened-" A couple of the other kids twitch or cringe. "-it made us all feel differently about things. Ourselves, the people around us, our civilization and the whole world. And the Life broadcast did the same. I don't think that trying to forget about it is a good idea."
He does have a point, but some of the ways he's going about his business isn't great...

Several other kids nod.

"So we're talking about it?"

"So we're talking about the things it made us believe. Whether they're true or not. And how we should think or feel about things."
No doubt with something of a 'decide for yourselves, don't just follow the herd' angle, eh?

One of the other boys nods. "It was-. I don't wanna care about this kinda thing? But if some supervillain can just make us, then we can't just pretend things are fine, y'know?"

I nod. "Yeah."
Admittedly, most mind-control supervillains can't affect that many people at once.

At the start, London wasn't hit too badly. Map sent our broadcaster… Somewhere, along with their teleportation machine. But that just meant that they had to send Justifiers from somewhere else. We still weren't affected as badly as some people, but we got occupied by Mannheim's soldiers instead. They never found Map, but they never stopped looking, and that made using magic risky.
Probably worse overall, with literal storm-trooper squads wandering the streets.

One of the other kids brightens up. "Hey, maybe you can answer better than me. Why do you do what your mom tells you?"

That's-. I know he doesn't know, and since that was mostly how the Anti-Life tried to get at me… I'm used to the.. feeling-.
Ouch. One of the drawbacks of a heroic destiny. Parents tend to get in the way of adventure.

"Ah, I don't. My mom died in a car crash."

"Oh. Sorry."
At least Lonnie has the compassion to realise he goofed that one.

I don't feel like saying 'it wasn't you' any more. Or 'it wasn't your fault'. Not 'why, was it you?', either. I actually said that once, and my teacher panicked. I never thought the crash was my fault, but Dad did. I think he still does, a bit. But I'm used to the feeling, and making me feel bad wasn't this guy's fault.
A very mature reaction. But I guess he gets that so much it's really just annoying.

"It's fine."

Because it's about as fine as it's going to get.
Better than hexing someone out of frustration, even if that would be briefly entertaining.

"Er…"

"But if you're asking why I do what my Dad tells me, it's because I don't want to make his life any harder."
Boy, big show of compassion from everyone today.

Lonnie nods. "Does that apply to other things?"

"How do you mean?"

"Do you do what you're told because you don't want to make life hard for other people?"
Ah, see, now that is an insidious question. And it is kind of how kids are handled. 'Don't make a fuss', 'stop being troublesome'...

"Depends. I probably would if they looked like they were having a hard time, too. For a bit."

"For a bit?"

"Well… Yeah. If they always acted like everything was the worst thing ever then I'd probably stop trying eventually."
Sometimes you need to give someone a kick in the pants, after all. There's mopey and then there's 'why should I bother trying, shit rolls downhill and I'm at the bottom...'

"What if it was something that you didn't want to do?"

"Like, cleaning my room, or like telling the Justifiers where someone they were looking for is?"
Because one is not like the other.

"Both. Whatever you think is important."

"Cleaning my room's not that hard." And Dad didn't tell me to do it. I kept doing it because Mum used to do it and I wanted it to keep being like she left it. "And the Justifiers… Maybe. Depends."
Heh. I bet he's really making himself really interesting to Lonnie.

"On what?"

I shrug, playing with a buttercup with my right hand. "Who they were threatening. If I could get away or not. If the person they were asking about could get away or not."
And especially if it were someone you knew, or even cared about?

"How about the law?"

I frown. "Uh. No?"
Ah, really endearing himself on that anarchistic angle.

"How about what the President would do?"

One of the other kids smirks. "Do we still have one?"
Technically yes, but with rather limited power over the country at this point.

"Ah." So, the Prime Minster? Or the Queen? That would be a pretty strange thing to worry about. "No?"

"The police?"
Man, navigating the conversation like he's got a playguide.

"No."

"Would you listen to your dad?"
See, now that's someone he'd listen to.

"Yes."

Lonnie smiles, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small crystal. "Catch."
Ooh, careful, Tim! Hopefully this magical duplicate can't affect the main if it gets mind-controlled.

So Lonnie is trying to recruit young folks by way of insightful debates and firebrand preaching. And it looks like he's been getting converts. Which makes me wonder if he does this everywhere the Illuminati have hidden and how many people he's persuaded to sign on, so to speak...
 

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