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

Tbryan · 2026-09-25T06:25:52+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Paul's fine."

He can say his own name now?

Mr Zoat said:
I got from Oscar Morrow's advanced robots

Should be Thomas Oscar Morrow, or just Thomas Morrow

Vaermina · 2026-09-25T06:32:02+0100

Darko said:
Except it also includes advanced tech.

That's nice, but we're strictly talking about canon.

Darko said:
So given the fact that we've seen power rings be able to scan, copy and manipulate such tech, then Minbari tech shouldn't give him much trouble.

We've also seen it kick his ring out.

Or did you forget what happened with the Doomsday?

Darko said:
No, we were talking about them not too long ago, and I pointed out how they're a poor man's power ring.

The technology also allows flight and manipulates energy fields... Two of the things you claimed Kryptonian technology could do that Minbari technology couldn't do...

Darko said:
You do realize he has a piece of tech that can easily pass as magic on his finger, and that said tech is incredibly versatile and powerful.

But its not actually magic.

The ring can't actually manipulate time, it can't alter matter on the quantum level, it can't duplicate multi-dimensional matter, it can't duplicate exotic matter without Ophidian merging, and it can't do things it's user and database doesn't know it needs to do.

Darko said:
How?

Garibaldi isn't the supreme leader of their armies, and there's not really anything that they can do to him that he couldn't defend himself against, or just run away.

Three things, one, Garibaldi's reports are read by the big names in charge of Earth-Gov and Psi-Corp. So his focus on Matthew, is bribing some very dangerous focus onto Matthew.

Two, Earth Force Interceptors are specifically designed to intercept near light speed targets and disrupt energy fields.

Three, Earth-Gov is currently being infiltrated by the Shadows, which means those reports can bring Matthew to their attention.

Darko said:
Except the Narn telepath said that he can still read minds.

No he didnt,

Mr Zoat said:
Quite some way, yes. I spoke up because it appears that my telepathy allows me not just to see into your mind, but into those of my fellow deceased.

He said he can only see into the mind of Matthew and the other souls.

Except that's not a telepath thing, its a standard thing Soul collectives like this can do once they learn how, as shown in the River of Souls movie.

Darko said:
Oh, and you might want to fix your last statement, since you have been consistently saying that power rings are worthless since the story began.

You repeating that isn't going to make it true.

Jankl · 2026-09-25T06:33:46+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Paul's fine

So he is using his ring to do that right? Or is this an enlightened imposter?

BlackCoat13 · 2026-09-25T06:46:53+0100

Mr Zoat said:
but the blueprint I sent to the commercial development people is paired right down.

pared

Mr Zoat said:
"Paul's fine."

He can say the name!

B00ki5h · 2026-09-25T06:51:39+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Orange Lantern… How did you forget about this?"

"I didn't. I am still using the device as originally intended. This sounds more like a super glue situation."

"Super glue?"

"It was discovered twice before someone thought to market it as an adhesive. Then during the Vietnam War people used it to make temporary water tight sutures as an emergency measure."

Bigking321 · 2026-09-25T06:56:08+0100

The curse of dealing with random super-tech over a extended period of time.

Sometimes you just accidentally create something and just not even notice.

PepeTheFrog · 2026-09-25T07:17:49+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Okay. Do that…" She checks the clock. "Tomorrow, and I'll contact you when I've set the interview up."

"Okay-."

"And before the interview happens, we're going to do a practice run. I'm not letting you anywhere near a microphone unprepared."

Paul is about to turn on his charm and accidentally have Catherine fall in love with him.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-09-25T07:28:22+0100

Mr Zoat said:
7th October 2013
21:38 GMT -5

I knock on the door to Catherine's office. I know she said that I could see her the moment I get here, but-

The door is wrenched open

And now that we know who it is, let me drop this off for reference... No doubt she's in quite the tizzy having learned about the Eye Drive's applications for memory loss-related conditions...

"…happy to set something up, but our-" Catherine appear in the doorway, beckoning me inside as she talks on her phone headset. "-inventor isn't on Earth right now." I walk inside as she returns to her desk. "Of course I will. Speak to you later, Mark."

She ends the call, puts the headset down on her desk and then sits down heavily.

"Orange Lantern… How did you forget about this?"

He's a very busy man, you know. And there's a lot of things he's done and forgotten about.

"Well, I-" I shrug. "-didn't have the same relationship with Atlantis or KordTech back when I came up with it that I have now. I didn't make the link to Alzheimer's, so I was only really thinking about it in terms of anti-telepath technology or maybe normal forgetfulness. So I just dumped the design in the database, wrote up a summary and stopped thinking about it."

And now that people have found those summaries and the specifications, now it's getting attention.

"And you've been using it ever since?"

"Whenever I'm in one of my heavier armour suits. My power ring prevents me forgetting things, so it's really only there in case someone tries to telepathically remove my memories again and that's never come up."

A surprising dearth of psychic attacks on his memory, really.

She nods slowly, staring blankly forwards.

"Why has this come up now?"

Yes, suspicious timing. Probably not the hand of the smiling fool, but someone seems to have poked the bear.

"Senator Moretti spoke to the press about it."

"Really?" I frown. "Why now?"

Huh. I'm surprised he found out about it. Are the League's databases open to the government, if not the general public?

"He was complaining about the delays is getting F.D.A. approval."

"How long has anyone been trying to get approval for?"

And who? This sort of thing being mass-produced needs some form of corporate backing, surely.

"I'm not sure. I didn't know about this until today either."

"Getting approved for the purple healing ray didn't take very long."

She focuses on me. "The purple healing ray has a clean fifty-year safety record, and doesn't interface with the human brain." She then makes a circle with her right hand. "And it probably didn't hurt that you were actively putting your weight behind it."

And to be fair, a cheap, easy point-and-shine form of healing would revolutionise emergency medical services. I can see it being popular for treating comparatively minor injuries that don't require surgical corrections.

"Huh, okay." Wait. This isn't a Ghost in the Shell thing, is it? The whole reason why The Laughing Man was able to find out about the suppression of the micromachine treatment for cyberbrain sclerosis -which actually worked, unlike the common drug treatments- was because the same government officials who prevented it getting licensed used it themselves because they knew that it worked. "This… Might just be me being a huge cynic, but-."

Seems... I could see that sort of corrupt behaviour before Anti-Life, but after...

"Antonia Monetti. Senior."

My eyes widen. "Oh whaw. Just be check, I was about to ask if anyone with the power to get a trial approved needed an Alzheimer's cure."

...Oh, Toni's got to be going through it for sure now.

"I know. And Senator Monetti doesn't have control over anything like that, but he knows people, and he almost certainly had someone looking into you since you started training his daughter."

"Makes sense. So… Was someone suppressing the technology, or did his investigator just bring it to his attention?"

All very safe and logical reasons for his interest. But the paranoia keeps whispering about the Light...

"I don't know, and frankly I don't have the time to find out. Are you available for interviews over the next couple of days?"

The nice thing about being able to move just about anywhere instantly is that I can completely skip travel time. If I know that I have to be in a particular place at a particular time I can turn up exactly at that time and not a moment sooner.

It's only the interference of outside parties that would prevent it.

"Certainly. Just let me know when."

"Orange Lantern, I've seen-"

Yes, be very wary of lettign him talk to the press without coaching...

"Paul's fine."

"-the aftermath of your interactions with the press."

...Very thorough coaching. I assume his name came out of the Rings.

"And I'm sorry about all the extra work I've given you. But this is an Alzheimer's treatment which I haven't done any work on for years. I'm basically going to be saying nice things about the development team, how much I hope it helps people and… That's it. Might bring up my Nan, but… I don't really see how it can go wrong."

As long as you look into the development team, make sure there's no disagreeable actions involved in the work or testing.

She sighs.

"Paul, a specialist medical interviewer might actually limit themselves to the… 'Eye drive'-. Why did you call it that?"

But msot people are going to ask things like 'why did you make it?' and 'Why is it called that?'

"It's a defictionalisation."

She looks blank.

When fiction inspires technologists... Like the original series of 'Star Trek' and their flip-open communicators when compared to early flip-phones.

"I got the idea from the television series 'Doctor Who'. There was an alien species that made it impossible to think about them unless you were looking at one of them. In order to actually work with people, they gave their allies a par of glasses which incorporated a memory backup that their ability didn't wipe. A… Drive that they wore over their eyes. It doesn't actually have to be a pair of glasses, but part of it does have to be worn next to the head."

It is a convenient form factor, though. Especially something worn fitted to the skin around the temple. Hands-free and automatic.

"Oh… Kay, plenty of inventors have been inspired by works of fiction. Does your version resemble the device in Doctor Who?"

"No, not-. Well, I build one that does because that was what I was going for, but the blueprint I sent to the commercial development people is pared right down. It just looks like a box and a strap. And I don't think the B.B.C. would sue over an Alzheimer's treatment."

God, could you imagine the bad publicity from that? Whoever initiates that suit would be out the door and bouncing down the road so fast their school tie would be flapping in the breeze.

"Did you invent the whole thing yourself?"

"No, just putting together bits of existing technology. The interface comes from Hartford Jackson's Thinking Cap, and the memory storage is something I got from Oscar Morrow's advanced robots. Add a few bits and pieces from wherever I could scavenge them…"

And since most of them are criminal hypercognitives, they likely never patented or maintained any patents on their tech.

"Anything you got from other planets?"

"No, this was before I could leave Earth. I didn't even get Green Lantern Two Eight One Four A's database until Christmas."

It's easy to forget how much stuff happened back in those early chapters... So long ago...

"Is your use of these technologies as a form of memory backup an original application?"

"A-h… Morrow created an android based on himself with his own memories, but I don't think he ever tried to improve his own mental acuity by cybernetically augmenting himself. Jackson definitely didn't."

And Morrow isn't exactly about to object right now.

"Are there any problems with the device?"

"Not that I know about. It's never caused any problems for me, but I didn't test it to a level that would be required for a licence."

"But-. Do you mean to tell me that you plugged it into your brain without testing it?"

Orange Power RIng, ma'am. Anything damaged his brain, his Ring could fix it as long as he had the motivation to do so.

"I tested it enough to know that it worked. Thinker's Cap technology was tested in the field extensively, and other than being a bit fragile when built with nineteen fifties components there weren't any problems." Though… "I could ask Doctor Morrow to double-check, if it would make things better?"

Modern components are a lot sturdier, of course. No vacuum tubes, for a start.

"I thought he was dead."

"No, just not alive. He's a construct, but his personality appeared to be intact. Albeit the personality he had as a very old man, rather than the one he had when he was younger."

And any obvious defects can be smoothed over by being commanded not to be that way.

"You should do that. You should have done that two years ago."

"I… Maybe. For me it doesn't really matter because my ring could just reset my body, but… Alright. I'd probably have done that if I was actually going to do anything else with it."

Instead, you ended up playing Superhero and Space Soldier for two years instead of trying to bring Earth's technology up a notch...

"Okay. Do that…" She checks the clock. "Tomorrow, and I'll contact you when I've set the interview up."

"Okay-."

"And before the interview happens, we're going to do a practice run. I'm not letting you anywhere near a microphone unprepared."

Wow, smarter than Batman in that respect. Although there's no predicting what will be asked, they can at least try to prepare for all possibilities...

Alright, then. It'll be interesting to see how OL handles the interviews, and what they focus on about the Eye Drive. And for his part, I hope he muses about how long it took for people to catch on to the applications. Along with a little self-deprecation about him not noticing them either...

Darko · 2026-09-25T07:37:18+0100

Vaermina said:
That's nice, but we're strictly talking about canon.

And in canon they were shown as being incredibly advanced.

Vaermina said:
We've also seen it kick his ring out.

Or did you forget what happened with the Doomsday?

Ahh, you mean the piece of tech created by a race that knew what Lanterns were and would have had centuries to study them and figure out countermeasures?

Vaermina said:
The technology also allows flight and manipulates energy fields

So does the power ring.

The difference is that the ring is better at everything.

Vaermina said:
Two of the things you claimed Kryptonian technology could do that Minbari technology couldn't do

And that makes Minbari tech equal to Kryptonian?

A car made during the 1930s can do some of the same things a car made today can do, but that doesn't mean both are technologically equal.

Vaermina said:
But its not actually magic.

Compared to everything else in the setting, it is.

Vaermina said:
The ring can't actually manipulate time, it can't alter matter on the quantum level, it can't duplicate multi-dimensional matter, it can't duplicate exotic matter without Ophidian merging, and it can't do things it's user and database doesn't know it needs to do.

Except we've seen it do similar things.

And I somehow doubt Minbari use these things to create their writing materials.

Vaermina said:
Three things, one, Garibaldi's reports are read by the big names in charge of Earth-Gov and Psi-Corp. So his focus on Matthew, is bribing some very dangerous focus onto Matthew.

And?

Vaermina said:
Two, Earth Force Interceptors are specifically designed to intercept near light speed targets and disrupt energy fields.

Can they do the same to something on the level of a power ring and actually make it stick?

Vaermina said:
Three, Earth-Gov is currently being infiltrated by the Shadows, which means those reports can bring Matthew to their attention.

And?

EarthGov and Earth Force aren't exactly the Federation of Planets or Starfleet when it comes to tech and dealing with unknown phenomenon.

And when he visited the Vorlon homeworld, the Vorlons tried to enter his mind, but the souls within him, and the ring, were able to drive them out.

Vaermina said:
Except that's not a telepath thing, its a standard thing Soul collectives like this can do once they learn how, as shown in the River of Souls movie

You do know that the Ralgans weren't souls?

Vaermina said:
You repeating that isn't going to make it true

You've literally been saying that power rings are worthless since this whole fic started. Practically everything you have written across the three sites this story has been through is something to that effect.

khansy · 2026-09-25T08:22:23+0100

i suggest proceeding like the rest of us and blocking vaermina.

Mr Zoat · 2026-09-25T08:32:00+0100

Darko said:
"appears"
"in getting"
"built"
"acuity by"

Tbryan said:
Should be Thomas Oscar Morrow, or just Thomas Morrow

BlackCoat13 said:
pared

Thank you, corrected.

Darko said:
Si he can finally say just name?

If he can't then the name part should be in orange, to show that it's the ring saying it.

Tbryan said:
He can say his own name now?

Jankl said:
So he is using his ring to do that right? Or is this an enlightened imposter?

BlackCoat13 said:
He can say the name!

Chojin Patriarch said:
I assume his name came out of the Rings.

I... Yeah, no, sorry, that was me. Whoops.

khansy said:
i suggest proceeding like the rest of us and blocking vaermina.

Witness the Internet Flagellant, wearing his hair shirt with pride.

WereDragon · 2026-09-25T10:15:44+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Catherine

She is strangely confrontational for someone talking to their boss. Or possibly their boss's boss.

Mr Zoat · 2026-09-25T10:41:22+0100

WereDragon said:
She is strangely confrontational for someone talking to their boss. Or possibly their boss's boss.

Since the SI is not a member of the Justice League, he's neither as far as I can tell.

Wivk · 2026-09-25T10:44:31+0100

Certainly they will update and adjust what he is allowed to say if people ask about the justice league issuing currency, or the justice league erasing people's minds to make them super cops. Right?

Darko · 2026-09-25T10:45:01+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Since the SI is not a member of the Justice League, he's neither as far as I can tell.

Plus he's probably caused her a lot of frustration with his antics, so she's not feeling the need to be polite to him.

Alan975 · 2026-09-25T13:23:53+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Oh whaw. Just be check,

to?

Steelplaza · 2026-09-25T13:25:29+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Since the SI is not a member of the Justice League, he's neither as far as I can tell.

I accept this is correct, but the SI frequently talks like he's a member of the Justice League, cooperates closely with them, and pokes his oar into how they operate all the time. Due to his legacy as having been a member of the Team, he's programmed into all the Zeta Tubes and has open access to all Justice League areas and databases.

I'm not sure what would change if he were a member of the Justice League other than he would actually get to vote when they have a vote. Which they don't that often. He's basically a non-voting member, effectively one of the League models he's talked about before. I expect if the League Members ever get around to properly laying out a new Justice League organizational model, they'll have to clarify his status (and that of the other former/current Team members, who are also effectively non-voting Justice League members.)

Bud-E · 2026-09-25T13:49:31+0100

Steelplaza said:
I accept this is correct, but the SI frequently talks like he's a member of the Justice League, cooperates closely with them, and pokes his oar into how they operate all the time. Due to his legacy as having been a member of the Team, he's programmed into all the Zeta Tubes and has open access to all Justice League areas and databases.

I'm not sure what would change if he were a member of the Justice League other than he would actually get to vote when they have a vote. Which they don't that often. He's basically a non-voting member, effectively one of the League models he's talked about before. I expect if the League Members ever get around to properly laying out a new Justice League organizational model, they'll have to clarify his status (and that of the other former/current Team members, who are also effectively non-voting Justice League members.)

After Nabu Paul was officially removed from the team and from being an ally of the Justice League, even though he has all this sway, he is not officially anything League related and I don't think that will change anytime soon.

Mr Zoat · 2026-09-25T14:14:58+0100

Alan975 said:
to?

Thank you, corrected.

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

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