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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    I wonder if she met Stan Marsh.

     
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  2. TheEyes

    TheEyes Well worn.

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    I mean, we can only see what we're shown. The last time I recall seeing Paul mention any sort of tech uplift was when he sent Leonard Snart over to Lex Luthor, despite knowing for months at that point that Lex is an unrepentant member of the Light and thus a terrible candidate to send someone with revolutionary tech to.Paul is supposed to be arbitrarily wealthy; why hasn't he founded his own non-profit tech incubator / angel investor / venture capital firm? So what if he doesn't know how to run such a company himself; there are any number of people who would be willing to take enough money to live on who would love to do that for him.

    Instead, we've seen Paul tooling around with the Team playing whack-a-mole with the monster of the week, playing Warhammer exhibition games, wandering around through Gotham wondering why he's wasting time messing with their themed criminal scene, generally trying to reach through the fourth wall and press as many real-world political rage buttons as possible, etc. Even Paul doesn't know why he's doing this stuff, most of which is either idle entertainment or falling into the exact same kind of rut that he ridiculed the Justice League members for a year ago. How are we meant to look through the last few months in Paul's time and assume that he's actually doing more uplift work during the times he's not in the spotlight, when the times he is in the spotlight generally read like he's faffing around as a listless teenage trust-fund baby rather than doing anything important?
     
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  3. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    Breaking a treaty doesn't make war inevitable. If that were true Gree and Turkey would have had many more wars than they actually did. They violate each other's claimed sovereign waters and airspace constantly.
     
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  4. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    After he did all that stuff in Gotham he seemed to find it odd that he wasn't able to care all that much about the city and tried to view himself using his powers to see if he was tampered with, but found nothing.

    This could either mean that someone has found a way to manipulate him without his senses being able to pick it up, or that a shitty city like Gotham just tired him out.

    He may have also recommended that Snart work for Lex because his other offer came from Alva, who has a habit of screwing over his employees, while the Lex in this story treats his employees pretty well.

    He may have also had more faith in Lex then than he does now.

    Him also engaging in traditional superhero work isn't exactly bad since he's managed to stop several threats by doing said work, like Devlos Ungol and Abin's son who wanted to bring a fleet of ships to a criminal group. Him playing uplift all the time on Earth may have allowed those two to get away.

    The reason why he doesn't create his own company is because he believes that the groups that can do his work already exist and he just wants to give them a push instead of having the planet depend on him to solve all of their problems. After he released his Bleed Generators other companies released their own advanced energy production machines.

    As to how you can know that he is doing uplift work when it isn't shown, well for that you have to have faith in the author and his character that they're still doing that, and they wouldn't abandon their main goal.

    The reason it may not be shown all that much is because most people may become bored with a story that just focuses on that, while fights tend to get us more excited.

    You may want the story to be focused mostly on uplift, but many others may want it to have fighting in it because people tend to be more interested in watching fights than hearing things like scientific lectures.

    The previous episodes, the ones before he came back from Vega, also mostly focused on him getting involved in traditional superhero work instead of uplift projects. There were projects like that included in those episodes, but they were a minority, albeit an important one.

    Even when he got back from Vega he engaged in uplift work that we saw on page, like advising those Gnomes on how they can become citizens of Switzerland and use their magic to their benefit, preventing the Gordanians from getting exterminated, making the Alignment soldiers more honorable, making Mars more habitable, making Hell more hospitable and getting the Angels to think about eating a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge etc.

    All of these things were uplift works that were found in episodes that involved traditional superhero work.

    As for him supposedly wasting time playing card games instead of doing these things 24/7, do remember that people can have hobbies that don't revolve around their jobs.

    Paul has already opened the floodgates and people on Earth are adopting more advanced tech now so he doesn't feel the need to get involved in every single instance, while previously they just sat on their tech and did nothing, so he felt the need to intervene more.
     
  5. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    custom laws -> customs laws
     
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  6. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  7. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

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    OL's work with Ted Kord, Oliver Queen, The Chocolate company preventing Kraft's takeover, the Video Game company he's worked up for the Vega thing are ongoing projects that, for the most part don't actually need him directly involved on a day to day thing, mostly a few emails and leaving it to people that do that sort of thing for a living. The Transportation hub in London has little to do with him and more to do with Atlantis and the Think Tank down there.

    I mentioned a while back that, yes Paul could be doing the whole improving himself with science and tech, but it's far more effective to just phone a friend to get experts and powersets needed rather then try to uplift himself into being the perfect swiss army knife.

    Part of having those friends, and having the public on his side to have the political and social will to do things for him when he calls is being seen as doing the hero thing. He does have to go out and fly the flag a bit.

    Reputation Grinding is a game mechanic in play here.

    Also face punching for goodness is Relaxing, compared to eldritch horrors and galactic warfare which is what he usually gets called in to deal with.
     
  8. Khornelius

    Khornelius Overlord of the Underworld

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    Sorry got delayed a bit in RL.

    Okay the first option not a bad one. Deadpool has been shown in the past has tried to be a better person/hero for the sake of those who he respects, like Spider-Man or captain America.

    the second option, should work in theory, but this is Deadpool. The guys has regenerated and healed from some of the craziest and dumbest things over the years. Paul might have to continually re-assimilate him, because Deadpool’s body keeps regenerating from it. Plus unlike Savage’s regeneration it’s possible for there to be more than one Deadpool, as when a bunch of his discarded body parts were put in the same bag they fused into a second Deadpool.
     
  9. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    If he assimilated his soul then the regeneration may not work anymore.

    Though yeah considering this is Wade he most likely will come back from that.
     
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  10. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    Its

    semicolon

    halfway

    extraplanetary, usually

    Even without the treaty, no other sovereign power will acknowledge airspace claims above the Karman line.
     
  11. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    They withdrew before they launched.

    And you seem to be forgetting the legal limitations of orbital satellites without the OST to protect a country from violating another's air space.

    Also you might want to go back and rewatch Young Justice, because they are above real life military levels.
     
  12. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    If they withdrew from the treaty before they launched then they didn't break any laws.

    Pretty sure that they weren't violating anyone's air space, so no consequences there.

    If you mean that the metas are above real life military levels then you seem to be forgetting that Zoat has stated multiple times that most metahumans aren't that powerful and that even an ordinary human, albeit one with training, can take them on and win.
     
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  13. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    The Russian fleet hasn't gotten as far as Mars yet. This is a joke.
     
  14. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    You don't know how orbit's work, do you?

    http://stuffin.space/?search=cosmos

    Those are some of the Russian military satellites.

    Without the OST, everyone single one of them is an effective act of war since they pass through other countries airspace. See the OST isn't just some sort of "you can't have nukes in space" agreement, it's the legal framework of international space law.

    No... The young justice American military is above real life military levels...
     
  15. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    If they are above real life military levels then it's a safe bet to assume that the Russians are at least their equals on military matters, so it would be stupid of the US to declare war.
     
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  16. Threadmarks: Plutonian (part 15)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    12th April
    11:36 GMT


    Pluto's not all that big.

    I mean, it's still 13 sextillion kilograms in mass and has five minimoons, but as planets go that's nothing. I've seen super-earths and gas giants close up… Heck, at least three of Krypton's chunks are bigger than Pluto.

    But that's still a very big laser.

    "Lantern Khan, what's that?"

    "Mining laser?"

    "That wasn't there when I scanned the ClusterShip when it arrived."

    "We didn't have one. No, no, we totally didn't-."

    "Lantern Khan."

    "-have one externally mounted. We had small and medium demonstration models in the heavy machinery department in case someone wanted to buy them. ClusterCorp has a very strong don't-kill-people-who-can-give-us-money policy. Besides. The beam attenuation anywhere with an atmosphere is terrible. Otherwise you can be sure that we'd-"

    "Charge a lot more?" / "-charge a lot more."

    I turn to look at Major Adams.

    "Sir, shall I forcibly shut it down?"

    "What would that do to the people on the ship?"

    "There's no such thing as a non-lethal weapon, but that's not exactly cutting edge technology-"

    "Miningonanaffordablebudget!"

    "-there and I can hit a pinhead from a billion miles away. I should be able to destroy it with minimal collateral damage. On the other hand-."

    "Nobody's actually in any danger because no one lives on Pluto."

    I nod. "Plus, since we know the layout of that ball section's power grid, we have the knowledge required to shut it down from inside."

    "What exactly are they shooting-"

    "Mining!"

    "-at?"

    "The feature doesn't have a name. Studying Pluto is rather hard for Earth-based astronomers."

    "Are you certain there's nothing down there?"

    I crank up my empathic vision so high that I start getting vague impressions from the next inhabited planet along my sight line.

    "If there's anyone down there, one, they're having a very bad time due to mining laser, and two, they're using the-. "

    There's a tiny orange twinkle, which… Vanishes almost immediately.

    "Huh."

    "See something?"

    "For a moment, I saw a desire. It wasn’t.. really.. focused on anything. Though that could just have been because there was a momentary gap in the disguise spells. I'm not picking up anything other than a large hole on the surface." I shake my head. "Sorry, not getting anything else."

    He nods.

    "We'll breach the hull near the laser and go from there. Lantern Khan, Lantern Koriand'r, we haven't worked together before, but I want to be clear that we're trying to keep as many people alive as possible."

    Koriand'r nods.

    "I have studied the tales of the Justice League's heroism. I know your rules of engagement."

    "Training new employees is expensive. Our insurers always increase our premiums when we claim for lost work-hours."

    I turn to-

    "Are there any corporations on Earth which offer starship insurance? I'm asking for a friend."

    -the ClusterShip and transition forward, crumbler construct disrupting the shields and smashing into the hull. I generate an airlock construct just in case the emergency atmospheric regulator isn't working. Shots from the interior -mostly plasma-based- strike my constructs at once, but with nothing like enough force to significantly damage them. The interior of this part of the 'ball' of the ClusterShip has clearly seen a lot of very rapid engineering work; the mining laser is exposed directly to vacuum and the ship-side of the arrangement looks like they've just cut through the decks until they had enough space. Dozens of crew members in space suits are attempting to advance, though it looks like ClusterCorp decided not to overspend on flight systems.

    A dozen species with different tolerances for electricity and atmospheres, fighting in a vacuum.

    "Blue Lantern. Catching duty."

    "Ready when you are."

    Filaments flicker out, punching through unshielded civilian spacesuits and apply species-specific knockout gasses while simultaneously disarming them. Guns get chucked away and our new prisoners are thrown towards open space, where Alan catches them in a Looney Tunes cage-construct.

    He needs to spend less time with Guy.

    Lantern Khan flies past me, a construct hemisphere protecting him from incoming fire as he flies for the mining laser's controls.

    "I'm garnishing your wages for this, all of you!"

    Well familiar with murderous pirates, Koriand'r scans the inner hull for scuttling charges or other booby traps, shooting out the handful of functioning internal defences as they deploy. Adams hangs back slightly; his energy blasts don't have a 'stun' setting and would be massive overkill for soft targets like this.

    I chuck the last 'guard' at Alan just as Khan shuts down the mining laser. Okay. That wasn't too bad. I look out through the ersatz firing port and down at the planet. There are some pretty violent dwarf planet quakes going on down there, lines of stress radiating away from the point of impact.

    I frown. That's a little odd… But it's not as if anyone's ever done a really detailed geological survey of Pluto.

    I punch probes through the sealed doors abutting this section-.

    "More people on the other side of those doors. They're ClusterCorp employees and they've got runic cuts on their faces in the shape of a star."

    Major Adams grimaces.

    "I don't know magic. Is that conclusive proof that this was the Star Conquerors?"

    "Sadly, no, but it's very suggestive. Lantern Khan, is there anything useful on their targeting computer?"

    "I'm the CEO! I don't know how things work!"

    Fair enough.

    "Captain Atom, where would you like us to breach?"
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2020
  17. Whenever Possible

    Whenever Possible Versed in the lewd.

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    If this turns out to be Satanus trying to corrupt Pluto and open a portal to hell instead of the star conquerors, Paul is gonna have to recruit Doom Guy
     
  18. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Khan is hilarious.

    And Pluto a Star Conqueror.

    Bummer.
     
  19. Queshire

    Queshire Not too sore, are you?

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    Oh fuck. I've played Cthulutech before. Nothing good can come out of this.
     
  20. Belenus

    Belenus Versed in the lewd.

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    If a Mass Relay pops out, I'm leaving.
     
  21. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    The Andromedans would disagree.

    Actually yes, there is.
     
  22. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'required'

    ' ,his energy'

    'anyone's ever done'

    maybe 'launch' instead of 'punch' , but I could be wrong.

    They probably don't exist in the Earth 16 universe, and why would aliens that live in the Milky Way call themselves 'Andromedans'?
     
  23. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    At least you're calling it a Planet. Poor Pluto, ignored because it's the baby of the solar system...

    ...Yes, we can see that. Any details? Like, effective range, estimated kiloton-equivalant yield?

    So, the suborned crew dragged it out of storage, bolted it to the hull, and wired it up when they weren't looking. It must be a hell of a kludge to be vibrating the entire hull...

    Have put it in the weapons showroom?

    :rolleyes: So predictable.

    Can you do it safely? Without killing anyone in the vicinity?

    Shush, Khan, the adults are talking. This is no time for a sales pitch.

    ...That anyone knows of... It'd be kind of embarrassing to discover a new population by detonating a small nuke overhead.

    And people think OL is pedantic?

    Not named yet. Joy of time travel SIs.

    And... How many lightyears is that? Damn.

    ...Fuck. The Star Conqueror isn't on Charon!

    Don't dismiss it out of hand, OL. Anything could be significant here!

    Oh, crap... And none of them have any idea anything's there...

    No fear of that, Kori is very much the wholesome lifesaver type. Sure, she can kick posterior like no-one else, but she'd much rather save lives.

    ...Damn, I hope someone smacks him in the head...

    Shush! Honestly, Manga Khan is such a pain... And no, no sane insurance agency would offer that. <reads Vaermina's comment> Huh.:confused:

    Like I said, a kludge. Evidently the Chaos Starros, if that's who're responsible, have no patience or concern for their slaves' safety.

    This won't be all that difficult. Lanterns own at space-combat operations.

    Ah, nothing like the classics. And as I thought, not a threat amongst them.

    I hope his anthropoid shell is rated as combat-grade armour. Not that anything aboard could pierce an environmental shield.

    And he isn't much use as a shield, either. Too much energy and he warps out.

    Something for the future Russian spacefleet's scientific endeavours.

    Crud. That explains how they're controlling them and how they're concealing them.

    Eh... Until we see one flapping about, I'd go with sleeper agents.

    Well, isn't that just prime.

    At least the cleanup will be quick. The crew are wildly outclasses.

    Now, how long until whatever they were digging up realizes it's got an opening? Because it's pretty clear by now, this was all about waking up something big on Pluto...

    Though that could just have been...
     
  24. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Hey, at least he's honest about it.
     
  25. Cuchulin

    Cuchulin Versed in the lewd.

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    Well... at least they didn't run into any Mi-Go or anything.
     
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  26. Ace Dreamer

    Ace Dreamer Questioning The Nature of our Realities

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    I tend to feel you should add the word 'yet' on the end of this sentence...

    Smart thing to do here, which I doubt they'll do, is get all Orange Lanterns on-site to collaborate on creating the biggest Cold Ray construct anyone has ever WANTED to exist, and blasting the area the laser has been targetting.

    Someone has been trying to pump energy in there? Cooling the area down seems unlikely to do any further harm, and, you can sort any issues out later, with some carefully localised defrosting. Is there a Starro there? Cooling has a good history of giving them a bad day.
     
  27. cereal_lurker

    cereal_lurker Getting sticky.

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    Is Lantern Mother of Mercy still in the system? I'm curious how her ring-augmented gravitation senses and power would match up against the interstellar telepathic power of a larger Starro. Would she have any particular reaction to the Star Conquerors? I ask because of the similarity between their forms of mind control?
     
  28. Sorrow

    Sorrow Getting sticky.

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    I'm beginning to believe Manga Khan should run for President... He appears to be less of a buffoon than the current contenders...
     
  29. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Think she left after finishing Mars.

    She doesn't technically mind control people, but just uses her Black Mercies to put them into a dream like state.

    Careful with the whole no modern politics rule.
     
  30. Ace Dreamer

    Ace Dreamer Questioning The Nature of our Realities

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    Probably want to watch that, given Rule 8... Basically, 20th Century politics OK, 21st, no.
     
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