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

[Darko]

meanwhile, Vandal Savage is running free on New Genesis

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I don't think he came there.

I think he just gave the ship to the Deep Six.

 

[Mr Zoat]

meanwhile, Vandal Savage is running free on New Genesis

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I'd consider that a victory for humanity. There's no advanced technology on the surface, and while Savage is happy enough living as a caveman he doesn't have the knowledge to advanced to the space age on his own.

"done one for"

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Actually, changed my mind on this one. I think that's an acceptable colloquialism.

 

[RoninSword]

@Mr Zoat did Justice Lord superman manage to figure out and reverse the fuck up that Grayven did when he 'healed' Kara (her brain got some Eradicator programming in her I believe?). It hasn't shown up on screen yet so I'm curious.

 

[Lord Ernest]

@Mr Zoat did Justice Lord superman manage to figure out and reverse the fuck up that Grayven did when he 'healed' Kara (her brain got some Eradicator programming in her I believe?). It hasn't shown up on screen yet so I'm curious.

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Wait, why would Justice Lord Superman be involved with that?

As far as I remember, the Kara that got healed and accidentally 'Eradicator'ed was the Kara belonging to Grayven's Young Justice Earth, I don't think there's a Justicd Lord Superman there, just regular Superman.

 

[RoninSword]

Wait, why would Justice Lord Superman be involved with that?

As far as I remember, the Kara that got healed and accidentally 'Eradicator'ed was the Kara belonging to Grayven's Young Justice Earth, I don't think there's a Justicd Lord Superman there, just regular Superman.

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Grayven went back to the Justice Lord world to talk to the local Kara, she was busy so he got Justice Lord Superman to come back to his reality to take a look since he was the next available expert.
He even explained that he brought an 'evil' Superman over to do some work for him to the Justice League so that they wouldn't be confused as to why they may or may not see a 2nd Superman running around Grayven's space territory.

 

[Lord Ernest]

Grayven went back to the Justice Lord world to talk to the local Kara, she was busy so he got Justice Lord Superman to come back to his reality to take a look since he was the next available expert.
He even explained that he brought an 'evil' Superman over to do some work for him to the Justice League so that they wouldn't be confused as to why they may or may not see a 2nd Superman running around Grayven's space territory.

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So we have a Justice Lord Superman in Grayven's universe? Does he have his powers back or no?

Honestly, been so long since we have seen anything but ponies in those segments I barely remember stuff from that timeline...

 

[RoninSword]

So we have a Justice Lord Superman in Grayven's universe? Does he have his powers back or no?

Honestly, been so long since we have seen anything but ponies in those segments I barely remember stuff from that timeline...

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Here is the specific segment

13th February 2013

22:11 GMT

Earth 50



"Oh. It's you."



Kal-El returns his attention to one of the alien animals he acquired from his fight with the Collector, a big purple herbivore of some sort. It gives him a hug with its face tentacles, and he pats it fondly on the side of its neck.



"It's me."



He walks over to check on the feeding station. "Did you want something?"



"Yeah." I sigh. "I wanted Kara's help with something and she's busy with work-."



"And I'm not." He pats the animal again, then makes his way to the exit from the enclosure. "Not that that means I'd want to help you."



"I wasn't expecting you to volunteer, but you have specific expertise that I need and I'm prepared to hire you."



That gets a frown as he wipes the tentacle goo off with a prepared towel.



"What makes you think I'd want to work for you for any price?"



"Have I done something to offend you?"



I mean, yes, obviously, but Kara didn't tell him about the gold kryptonite-.



"Kara didn't tell me about the dust you used on me, but I run a farm here. I do soil sampling to check that the soil chemistry is right for the crops, and I've got air purification systems set up. It started showing up in the filters a little while after you left."



Ah.



"Guess I'm rumbled then."



"What is it? I couldn't tell exactly what it did, but I doubt that you'd have used it unintentionally."



"Kryptonite comes in more than one colour. That was gold. It basically turns off your powers without causing other damage."



He grimaces. "Luthor beat you to the punch."



I shrug. "What, you expect me to trust Luthor?"



He huffs. "I guess not. And that's why Kara was getting sick, until you removed it."



"Yeah. I kind of assumed it would have settled… Or that she was angry enough to have written you off. She's a really nice person."



Perfectly innocent noses aside.



"Nice isn't enough. I thought what S.H.A.D.E. did would have been enough to teach her that."



"I'm-." I frown. "Did you want her to kill you? Or lobotomise you? Because that would seem to be the logical continuation of that thought process."



"If she had, I'd have understood. But I was more hoping that she'd join me after she experienced how bad America's politics are for herself."



"I think it was less personal than Luthor was for you. She hadn't had years of graciously not tearing his head off to regret. So anyway, reason I'm here, is that I'm worried about the mental state of my universe's Kara. She's… Ah, not like yours, and I'm worried that when we fixed her up after she was seriously injured a while ago we got something wrong."



"And you want me to take a look? I do probably know more than most people about kryptonian medicine. And I've still got Brainiac's database."



"I wanted Kara, but, yeah."



"What are you offering? I doubt you'll give me my powers back."



"No, obviously, but I could upgrade your defences, if you like?" I'm definitely not including him in the program. "Get you a universal television receiver so you can watch alien T.V.? Or just more materials for your own projects? Heck, if you really want I can relocate this place somewhere so you don't have to worry about being murdered in your sleep by vengeful government agents."



"That last one sounds good. I'd still need some way to get back to Earth, though."



I nod. "I can build a zeta beam transporter easily enough. It will be point to point, so if the end station gets discovered that's your problem. That all?"



"I hate corrupt governments. I don't have anything against sick young women, and I…" He sighs. "It wasn't ever about taking power myself. It was always about… Trying to help people. Make their lives better. You hit me with that gold kryptonite of yours a few minutes after meeting me. Would you have handled the supervillains we lobotomised any different?"



"I'd have settled for killing most of them. Having them around with two burn scars on their foreheads just harmed your brand. When they stop being capable of evil, anyone who interacts with them is just left looking at a harmless person you harmed." His eyes drift away as he considers what I'm saying. "With a corpse, people would just move on, and they wouldn't have that constant visual reminder of who killed them."



"That's not a bad idea."



"There were actually a whole lot of other things you could have done better, propaganda-wise. Given your background as a journalist, I'm surprised it didn't occur to you to manufacture some consent."



"My journalism classes were about teaching me to spot someone else doing that stuff, not how to do it myself."



"You were in charge of the country. Should have changed the curriculum."



He makes an amused exhalation. "I'll remember that next time."



I smile. "That's the spirit. Anything you need to do, or are you alright to head out now?"



He walks over to a wall panel and presses a button. A few moments later, a… Somewhat weathered Superman robot trudges in and heads towards the next pen.



"It's not that hard to automate things, but I need something to do myself."



I nod. "Right then. Mother Box?"



Ping.



BOOM!



A few animals squawk or grunt, but for the most part they accept the noise and the glowing hole in reality.



I lead the way through, back into Karsta's office in the cloning facility.



"Karsta Wor-Ul, this is Kal-El Fifty." Karsta studies his face intensely, frowning as she does so. "I've asked him to have a chat with Kara, see if he can-."



"Fine. Fine. I don't need to know every little thing you get up to."



"He took over his Earth after their Lex Luthor proved to be an incompetent lunatic. I think you might like him more than our Kal-El."



She takes in Kal-El's farm overalls. "He dresses better."



"I probably used to dress the same way. It's just not really a good idea to wear a cape around farming equipment."



I nod. "Alright, I'll take-."



Ping.



I stare down at Mother Box. "Seriously?"



Ping.



"Okay, ah…" I look at Kal-El and Karsta. "I'm sorry, but it sounds like Atlantis has risen from the ocean and I need to get back to Earth. Karsta, could you please show Kal-El around, introduce him to Kara, that sort of thing?"



She gets up out of her chair. "Sure. Probably-"



Mother Box.



BOOM!



I jog through the portal back to Challenger Mountain.



"-best to start with the healing pod…"

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I was curious as to how much progress had been made.
Edit: someone had been speculating that evil Kal could likely use the opportunity (healing pod should he get it properly fixed) to get his powers back.

 

[Agumentic]

@Mr Zoat did Justice Lord superman manage to figure out and reverse the fuck up that Grayven did when he 'healed' Kara (her brain got some Eradicator programming in her I believe?). It hasn't shown up on screen yet so I'm curious.

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Probably not, perhaps on the account of being evil and not really seeing the problem.

Speaking of troubled young adults, I wonder when this timeline's EradiKara plotline comes to a head.

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Not particular soon. The program knows that it can't rebuild krypton with children, and is happy enough to accept alien servants. This issues will start to come once the clones reach adulthood.

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[Mr Zoat]

@Mr Zoat did Justice Lord superman manage to figure out and reverse the fuck up that Grayven did when he 'healed' Kara (her brain got some Eradicator programming in her I believe?). It hasn't shown up on screen yet so I'm curious.

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Justice Lords Kal-El hasn't ever encountered either an Eradicator or a Daxamite. As such, he originally thought that Kara was behaving strangely due to trauma. He's mostly trying to encourage her to socialise in an attempt to help her go back to normal.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Cappare

25th July 2013
02:12 GMT

I take a moment to watch the workers employed by the reclamation part of… Well, it's technically part of the Darkstars, but is in effect a civilian agency under the control of the Controllers for building new worlds for refugees and rebuilding worlds recaptured from the Reach. That latter part has only really become one of its actual responsibilities recently with us actually reclaiming worlds, and it's required a massive increase in staffing. Fortunately, it's a good deal easier to convince people to join a civilian relief agency than an aggressive military.

And it's a good place to put Lanterns who are either verging on becoming stress casualties or are otherwise not good people to put in a combat zone. In theory, Lantern Coutara could take her place in the war zone. She's certainly demonstrated that she can kill when motivated. But when we tried having her spar with other Lanterns, she just… She can't muster the drive when there isn't an immediate and personal offence. But, she liked working to rebuild her home county after the purge, and when I made it clear that we had plenty of room for someone with desires like that, she was happy to join up.

And of course that puts Lantern Taranna and Lantern Yat under her supervision. Lantern Yat is far too young to be in combat without taking psychological damage. Lantern Taranna on the other hand has expressed an interest in moving to a combat role, which…

I understand where she's coming from, but her mother has been very clear that she's not happy about it, and… Taranna isn't a particularly violent person either. So Lantern Ratchet acknowledged her change in status and assigned her to picket duty on worlds that her mother and foster brother were working on.

"Illustres to Lantern Coutara."

The response is immediate, her face appearing over my ring. "Yes, Illustres?"

"No need to drop what you're doing, but when you have a moment I'm a few miles over the headquarters building."

She nods. "Of course. What is this about?"

"A possible new assignment. As I said, no hurry."

I end the communication. I-.

"Whow!" Lantern Yat flies closer, staring at me. "Illustres! How come you're here? Are we getting invaded?"

"Not as far as I know. And it would be a very sorry invader who tried taking us on, right?"

He nods. "And Taranna! She's really good at fighting too!"

I nod. "And Lantern Taranna. Speaking of who, shouldn't she be keeping an eye on you?"

"She is." He looks a little awkward. "But she can't spend all the time with me, and I've got stuff to do too!"

"I know, I get the reports."

He blinks in astonishment. "You read my reports?!"

"I read all the reports written by Lanterns I recruited."

Even if they're lacking in sentence structure, depth, and are in general about what I'd expect a child your age to write as a piece of 'what I did on my holiday' homework rather than a military after action report. The Corps is well past the point where I could read everyone's reports, but the handful of Lanterns I actually recruited don't eat up too much of my time.

"I wanted-. Ah."

I glance up as Lantern Taranna appears, eyes slightly wide.

"M-Illustres! What brings you here?"

"Ah, well, I'm here to offer the three of you a transfer."

"A.. transfer?"

I nod. "My homeworld suffered a rather unpleasant attack a little while ago, and I could use your help putting it back together. It's basically the same sort of work that you've been doing here, but my homeworld has an entirely accurate reputation for having all sorts of strange things happen on it and I know that you've wanted to get some combat experience. Most fighting that happens on Earth is well below the level that a Scarab Warrior can reach, but it will be practice against people actually trying to kill you."

"Your homeworld? Why didn't the whole Corps head over there? Or at least a few dozen Lanterns? I didn't even know you were under attack!"

"Memetic hazard. I couldn't risk the Corps getting infected with Anti-Life. And I didn't think it was worth pulling Lanterns away from the work we're doing here when my homeworld was pulling itself together without them. But we got rid of the memetic hazard -for now- and I checked the resettlement figures and… Well, you can be spared, if you're interested. I think I'd like to have a few more Orange Lanterns around."

"Will.. you.. be.. training us?"

"I can, and there are also other Lanterns or high-powered warriors who can help you upskill. Oh." I turn to Lantern-. I turn to Sodam. "As well as several kryptonians who can help you learn to use your natural abilities."

"Really!?"

"Really. Ak-Var has only started using them recently, so you'll have someone you can measure yourself against."

"Are there any kids my age?"

"On my entire planet? Yes. I-." Huh. Cassandra is almost… "Yes, one who has abilities like yours and is roughly your age. One I know, I mean, there are probably plenty of others."

He's practically vibrating with excitement. "That's great!"

Taranna looks at him sharply, and gives him a poke.

"What?"

"You were using too much. You know what happens."

He dips his head. "Sorry, Taranna. I'll be more careful."

"Good."

"Oh, and one other thing. Ah…" She looks at me curiously. "A friend of mine, a hero in good standing… Has expressed an interest in dating."

"Dating?"

"Courtship. I know that in your culture your betrothal would have been arranged by your father, and I don't know… What you were thinking about doing in regards to that."

"Are..?" She regards me cautiously. "You arranging one..? For me?"

"No! No. I'm arranging a meeting between two people who might get on and might not. Unless you're already seeing someone, in which case forget about it."

"Oh. No? I… Suppose I can meet him?"

"Glad to hear it. So, assuming that your mother-."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm not waiting on her approval. She won't give it anyway. Just tell her we're training and I'll meet him then."

"I-. Okay, I can do that. Assuming that no one invades, why don't you both-" I send them both the cultural and current affairs package. "-read up on that while I square things with her."

 

[Meneth]

Warcraft 3 dryad: "Are we being invaded?"

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

Cappare

25th July 2013
02:12 GMT

I take a moment to watch the workers employed by the reclamation part of… Well, it's technically part of the Darkstars, but is in effect a civilian agency under the control of the Controllers for building new worlds for refugees and rebuilding worlds recaptured from the Reach. That latter part has only really become one of its actual responsibilities recently with us actually reclaiming worlds, and it's required a massive increase in staffing. Fortunately, it's a good deal easier to convince people to join a civilian relief agency than an aggressive military.

Click to shrink...

Because while Orange Lanterns can be good at infrastructure repairs, they aren't always the best therapists. And worlds freshly targetted by the Reach will definitely need therapy to cast off the 'encouragement' methods used...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

And it's a good place to put Lanterns who are either verging on becoming stress casualties or are otherwise not good people to put in a combat zone. In theory, Lantern Coutara could take her place in the war zone. She's certainly demonstrated that she can kill when motivated. But when we tried having her spar with other Lanterns, she just… She can't muster the drive when there isn't an immediate and personal offence. But, she liked working to rebuild her home county after the purge, and when I made it clear that we had plenty of room for someone with desires like that, she was happy to join up.

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Sometimes, you need to find the best place to focus your efforts. Coutara's definitely in that place now.

And of course that puts Lantern Taranna and Lantern Yat under her supervision. Lantern Yat is far too young to be in combat without taking psychological damage. Lantern Taranna on the other hand has expressed an interest in moving to a combat role, which…

I understand where she's coming from, but her mother has been very clear that she's not happy about it, and… Taranna isn't a particularly violent person either. So Lantern Ratchet acknowledged her change in status and assigned her to picket duty on worlds that her mother and foster brother were working on.

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Yat's still in his early teens, right? Definitely not someone you want in a warzone, powerful as he is.

"Illustres to Lantern Coutara."

The response is immediate, her face appearing over my ring. "Yes, Illustres?"

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A little panicky, but being called by the most senior Orange Lantern in the Corp who is also the person who recruited you out of a bad place, makes it kind of understandable.

"No need to drop what you're doing, but when you have a moment I'm a few miles over the headquarters building."

She nods. "Of course. What is this about?"

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She'll drop anything anyway, I suspect. As neatly as she can.

"A possible new assignment. As I said, no hurry."

I end the communication. I-.

"Whow!" Lantern Yat flies closer, staring at me. "Illustres! How come you're here? Are we getting invaded?"

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Excitable, isn't he? Hope he's not eager to see combat, that's a little messed up.

"Not as far as I know. And it would be a very sorry invader who tried taking us on, right?"

He nods. "And Taranna! She's really good at fighting too!"

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But still young. I don't she's entirely aware of just how bad actual war can get.

I nod. "And Lantern Taranna. Speaking of who, shouldn't she be keeping an eye on you?"

"She is." He looks a little awkward. "But she can't spend all the time with me, and I've got stuff to do too!"

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True, they are both active Lanterns. I expect they have minor duties in between training.

"I know, I get the reports."

He blinks in astonishment. "You read my reports?!"

"I read all the reports written by Lanterns I recruited."

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A manageable amount, true. Though there's probably no surprises, given that most of his picks aren't deep in combat zones.

Even if they're lacking in sentence structure, depth, and are in general about what I'd expect a child your age to write as a piece of 'what I did on my holiday' homework rather than a military after action report. The Corps is well past the point where I could read everyone's reports, but the handful of Lanterns I actually recruited don't eat up too much of my time.

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Seventy-two hundred reports might be hard to read through each day. I suspect even Dox takes to summarising his updates if only due to lack of time...

"I wanted-. Ah."

I glance up as Lantern Taranna appears, eyes slightly wide.

"M-Illustres! What brings you here?"

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I assume she was going to say 'Master' there, like a personal apprenticeship. Probably the best way to look at the relationships between OL and his hand-picked recruits.

"Ah, well, I'm here to offer the three of you a transfer."

"A.. transfer?"

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Oh-ho? To Earth, then?

I nod. "My homeworld suffered a rather unpleasant attack a little while ago, and I could use your help putting it back together. It's basically the same sort of work that you've been doing here, but my homeworld has an entirely accurate reputation for having all sorts of strange things happen on it and I know that you've wanted to get some combat experience. Most fighting that happens on Earth is well below the level that a Scarab Warrior can reach, but it will be practice against people actually trying to kill you."

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If they can handle themselves against Earth's weirdest Bullshit™, they can handle anything.

"Your homeworld? Why didn't the whole Corps head over there? Or at least a few dozen Lanterns? I didn't even know you were under attack!"

"Memetic hazard. I couldn't risk the Corps getting infected with Anti-Life. And I didn't think it was worth pulling Lanterns away from the work we're doing here when my homeworld was pulling itself together without them. But we got rid of the memetic hazard -for now- and I checked the resettlement figures and… Well, you can be spared, if you're interested. I think I'd like to have a few more Orange Lanterns around."

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Not quite the sort of social contacts Ollie envisioned, but these kids are probably some of the most normal Lanterns at the moment...

"Will.. you.. be.. training us?"

"I can, and there are also other Lanterns or high-powered warriors who can help you upskill. Oh." I turn to Lantern-. I turn to Sodam. "As well as several kryptonians who can help you learn to use your natural abilities."

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As long as he's careful about environmental exposure. Possibly cured lead allergy or not... Things can catch him out.

"Really!?"

"Really. Ak-Var has only started using them recently, so you'll have someone you can measure yourself against."

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The phantom zone prisoner? Yeah, I can see him slowly building up exposure to yellow sunlight.

"Are there any kids my age?"

"On my entire planet? Yes. I-." Huh. Cassandra is almost… "Yes, one who has abilities like yours and is roughly your age. One I know, I mean, there are probably plenty of others."

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...Oh god, I can see the shipping now. 'Power Boy' and 'Wonder Girl', or whatever Earth gossip circuits dub Yat.

He's practically vibrating with excitement. "That's great!"

Taranna looks at him sharply, and gives him a poke.

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Ah, being careful about overloading on Orange Light? Given that the comics Sodom Yat was an Embodiment's host, I'm not surprised that he can feel strongly.

"What?"

"You were using too much. You know what happens."

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And a Daxamite with Orange overload is a little trickier to deal with than most Lanterns.

He dips his head. "Sorry, Taranna. I'll be more careful."

"Good."

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She's totally slipped into the big sisterly role, hasn't she?

"Oh, and one other thing. Ah…" She looks at me curiously. "A friend of mine, a hero in good standing… Has expressed an interest in dating."

"Dating?"

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...Alan? Or was someone else putting out feelers?

"Courtship. I know that in your culture your betrothal would have been arranged by your father, and I don't know… What you were thinking about doing in regards to that."

"Are..?" She regards me cautiously. "You arranging one..? For me?"

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Only if she thinks she wants that. Which I suspect she's feeling wary of.

"No! No. I'm arranging a meeting between two people who might get on and might not. Unless you're already seeing someone, in which case forget about it."

"Oh. No? I… Suppose I can meet him?"

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Hopefully she doesn't feel obligated to do anything more serious.

"Glad to hear it. So, assuming that your mother-."

"No."

"No?"

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Heh. starting to enjoy flexing her independence?

"I'm not waiting on her approval. She won't give it anyway. Just tell her we're training and I'll meet him then."

"I-. Okay, I can do that. Assuming that no one invades, why don't you both-" I send them both the cultural and current affairs package. "-read up on that while I square things with her."

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Man, that's got to be quite the hefty read. Given that Earth still hasn't really formed a unified planetary government and all.

So, OL calling in additional Ring-slingers to cover where he can't in reconstruction. Probably a good start to ease off taking so much on himself. And the possibility of shenanigans between the kids and other super-teens. With any luck, OL might be able to shift himself back towards a more modest mindset and loosen up a little, feel a little more human again.

 

[NightmareWarden]

I glance up as Lantern Taranna appears, eyes slightly wide.

"M-Illustres! What brings you here?"

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"Master?" Give the girl a construct scythe and Speedster formula- hm. Hmmm. No, no, she isn't Misa Amane. I'm remover how Renegade!Paul described Misa's handling of Darfor. Compared to Paul's description here, of her suitability for combat? Nope, quite unlikely.

First meeting.
2nd.
No Coutara, no Taranna, but instead Darkstar Cadet Caccanah.
Important meeting.
And the lucky young man!

 

[Ngamer11]

I assume she was going to say 'Master' there, like a personal apprenticeship. Probably the best way to look at the relationships between OL and his hand-picked recruits.

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More likely she was going to say "My Lord Illustres" before catching herself, as it seems many people, probably mostly women, from her home world call him that.