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

[Mr Zoat]

'I've'
'of'

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Attention Counting]

This from pointy-stick launcher girl?
Does she not pay any attention to the pantheons and star empires that he has shaped? Or the magical revolution he brought about? Dude is the most powerful being on Earth and has been for quite a while.

Click to shrink...

She's a teenager who got angry at her boyfriend for not talking to her about dropping out of college first but rather a friend who has shown questionable judgement in the past? Sure, she's being overly dismissive but it was one comment born out of emotional myopia. Perhaps you can remain completely measured in all of your statements when being annoyed in an argument but most can't.

 

[Bud-E]

Abrupt ending. Are we supposed to take away that Wally said the right thing, and they've made up now?

 

[PeriodicPedant]

Abrupt ending. Are we supposed to take away that Wally said the right thing, and they've made up now?

Click to shrink...

To refer back to the start of the chapter:

Apologise, talk about what you're going to do like rational people, and then let her talk herself out while making sympathetic noises because that's something women need even if they've agreed with you about what you're going to do next.

Click to shrink...

He apologized, they talked it through like rational people, and now she's started talking herself out, which Zoat has kindly spared us the entirety of.

 

[NightmareWarden]

To refer back to the start of the chapter:

He apologized, they talked it through like rational people, and now she's started talking herself out, which Zoat has kindly spared us the entirety of.

Click to shrink...

Yep. If she was in a better mood, playful/teasing, she might've stuck a question mark on that last one to make Wally sweat. Everyone is a bit more serious and grim since the Anti-Life scarred them, but they're improving. Plus, these two ARE working right now on a drug investigation, so they aren't getting TOO relaxed.

 

[Mr Zoat]

He apologized, they talked it through like rational people, and now she's started talking herself out, which Zoat has kindly spared us the entirety of.

Click to shrink...

You're welcome.

 

[Silveraith]

She taps her belt and.. floats into the air-. Because she's got a inertia belt.

Click to shrink...

"An".

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2013
14:45 GMT

There's something about being here that I find extremely relaxing.

Britain isn't any better defended than other European countries. Decades of spending cuts on the armed forces and a high level of restrictions on citizen weapon ownership combined with a dense population and plentiful processed resources should have made it a good target for the sheeda. In fact, the high number of low level magicians made disrupting sheeda invisibility spells relatively easy, and allowed both the military and the few civilian weapon owners to fight regular sheeda soldiers. Combine that with a sizeable small arms industry which switched to supplying local militias immediately, it… Was bad, but not as bad as it was in a lot of places.

"Orange Lantern!"

I wave back with a smile.

Which means that the physical and psychological scars the Harvest caused in most places… Aren't quite as bad here. Especially in places like Bournville, which with a little light industry and a relatively dispersed population didn't have anything to draw sheeda attention. One chocoholic highborn was about it, and they dealt with that by just handing him chocolate until enough force could be brought to bear to kill him.

I see a young woman communicate to her nervous daughter that it's perfectly acceptable to wave at me, which causes her to wiggle her windmill in my general direction. I give her a little wave back.

And with the anti-life… Good community networks did a lot to keep people alive all over the world. There was a sweet spot between high density faceless neighbours and low density isolationism where there's a measurable drop off in the death count, and Bournville's right in the middle of it. No Justifiers and no Finality Man ever visited here, because… Why would they? Heck, the nearest anti-life broadcaster was in London. The biggest problem they had was in maintaining food supplies, but a lot of places in the Birmingham area were already creating new allotments and bringing land back into agricultural use, so it was more a matter of restricted diets rather than actual starvation like in some places.

Oh, and there's the fact that the rate of employment is very high, thanks largely to me vanquishing the fake cheese merchants of Kraft, and I can feel justifiably proud of that bit.

Well. Nothing looks like it's on fire. And scans don't show anyone using the emotion drugs here. It does look like some enterprising individual is growing a few plant troughs worth of cannabis, but… Eh, fine. It's probably less dangerous than moonshine. I'd be more worried about the electricity consumption if I hadn't given Cadbury a bleed torsion generator to lower their fuel costs, which resulted in them selling the considerable excess to the national grid.

Anyway, someone's learned not to shit where they eat. Or make drugs, in this case. Scans aren't coming back with anything helpful. C.C.T.V. isn't anything like as all-encompassing here as it is in London, so I can't meaningfully use the same technique. Tracking shipments of the raw materials isn't really possible because either they're bringing in low quantities in the driver compartments of their lorries or the official manifest is otherwise being altered. Wallace thought that some of the raw materials are probably being acquired locally, but… Looking at power consumption only really returns the cannabis grower as using significantly more power than is otherwise explicable.

I take out a rune stone, but… No. Far too large an area to cover. Unless I'm right over where they're doing the magic part of the work, that's not going to show anything. It's not good at picking up alchemical products at the best of times.

Empathic vision…

Huh. Nothing useful. In fact, everything's a little blurry. That… Shouldn't-.

Ah. Probably deliberate. I wouldn't notice from a distance or if I was visiting headquarters, but now that I'm here… Yeah. Alright, there are only so many places in Bournville -or even wider Birmingham- that an alchemical laboratory could be hidden, but me being here and floating menacingly is probably enough to stop anyone doing anything foolish, and it's probably best if I wait until Wallace and Artemis can back me up before making an attack. Mostly for the intimidation factor. With three of us they're much less likely to say 'I can take 'em'.

And in the meantime…

The universe flickers as I appear over the main portal park and depot. Eighty large-sized portals positioned around a tarmacked area about the size of ten football fields, lorries coming in and out, men in high visibility vests checking identities and directing drivers to the appropriate warehouses, crews loading and unloading pallets… And the lorries being directed away from the complex and towards the Cadbury factory directly.

What was the series called-? The Commonwealth Saga, that was it. Mass transit was undertaken not by spacecraft but by a massive network of giant railways connected by wormhole portals, all based on planets owned by a megacorp founded by the portal technology's inventors. I don't know, I should probably get someone to assess whether moving to a system like that would actually be better. I wasn't planning for this to be permanent-.

I wasn't really planning for this at all.

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?

Trying not to get further distracted, I descend towards the management offices and phase through the wall. Once inside, I head towards the logistics office and knock on the door.

"Yeah!"

I push it open and stroll inside, prompting eyes to widen and mouths to drop. "Good afternoon. Need access to your computers for a moment."

"I mean… They're your computers?"

"Yes, but just grabbing them-" I connect to the closest with a construct cable. "-would be rude."

Due to the magical nature of our logistics train, our computer systems are warded, so no remote access for me. Plugged in, however, I can access transportation logs…

Ah. Mr. Mannheim is here… Somewhere. Not sure why, what he's learned… Patterns of lorry movement-. Shipments from source locations-. Good.

I disconnect. "Thank you. All yours again."

"Is there something-?"

I

step out, returning

to the depot. Where is-? Ah, there. Transition down, because even if there's been a network shutdown it would take a while for everyone to be notified.

"Davidson-"

The man flinches, turns around to see me, and flinches more.

"-Oyebe. I can't see your desires. Why would that be?"

"What-? What you mean, man?"

"It means that you're under arrest under suspicion of smuggling and such other offences as may be discovered by a full investigation. You may find me more-." He turns and sprints away from me. "Where are you going?"

Other people working in the depot turn and stare as I fly after a man attempting to flee from me. Why would-?

Oh gosh darn it. I grab him with a construct just as he simultaneously has a stroke and a heart attack, and this time I take out the planar jammer immediately. Remove the patches -and if one of these isn't fear then it's certainly stupid- and repair the physical damage. Ongoing symptoms..? None, good.

"Mister Oyebe."

He doesn't move for a moment, then focuses on me. "He just-. Crazy fucking wizard. I should have known this was going to happen."

"You really should. But I may be lenient with you if you tell me where he is. Now."

 

[GigaVanguard]

Open italics tag.

 

[Ngamer11]

Britain isn't any better defended that other European countries. Decades of spending cuts on the armed forces and a high level of restrictions on citizen weapon ownership combined with a dense population and plentiful processed resources should have made it a good target for the sheeda. In fact, the high number of low level magicians made disrupting sheeda invisibility spells relatively easy, and allowed both the military and the few civilian weapon owners to fight regular sheeda soldiers. Combine that with a sizeable small arms industry which switched to supplying local militias immediately, it… Was bad, but not as bad as it was in a lot of places.

Click to shrink...

That should say 'than'.

Oh gosh darn it. I grab him with a construct just as he simultaneous has a stroke and a heart attack, and this time I take out the planar jammer immediately. Remove the patches -and if one of these isn't fear then it's certainly stupid- and repair the physical damage. Ongoing symptoms..? None, good.

Click to shrink...

That should say 'simultaneously'.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

1st September 2013
14:45 GMT

There's something about being here that I find extremely relaxing.

Click to shrink...

Modest-sized towns always feel comfortable, don't they? Places where you can see the ends of streets, rows of diverse houses all the way, rather than stamped-down mass-production suburbs. Cars at the roadside, kids' playthings in the gardens... They feel alive in a way bigger cities don't.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Britain isn't any better defended that other European countries. Decades of spending cuts on the armed forces and a high level of restrictions on citizen weapon ownership combined with a dense population and plentiful processed resources should have made it a good target for the sheeda. In fact, the high number of low level magicians made disrupting sheeda invisibility spells relatively easy, and allowed both the military and the few civilian weapon owners to fight regular sheeda soldiers. Combine that with a sizeable small arms industry which switched to supplying local militias immediately, it… Was bad, but not as bad as it was in a lot of places.

Click to shrink...

There was probably still a lot of remote farms that were oddly empty without explanation, I bet.

"Orange Lantern!"

I wave back with a smile.

Click to shrink...

Neither a 'it's the Cake Man!' nor a 'Oh, hey, it's the Cadbury's bloke!' Amazing.

Which means that the physical and psychological scars the Harvest caused in most places… Aren't quite as bad here. Especially in places like Bournville, which with a little light industry and a relatively dispersed population didn't have anything to draw sheeda attention. One chocoholic highborn was about it, and they dealt with that by just handing him chocolate until enough force could be brought to bear to kill him.

Click to shrink...

Not quite lethal chocolate, but he may have been immune to poisons...

I see a young woman communicate to her nervous daughter that it's perfectly acceptable to wave at me, which causes her to wiggle her windmill in my general direction. I give her a little wave back.

Click to shrink...

Ah, little kids. Always cute.

And with the anti-life… Good community networks did a lot to keep people alive all over the world. There was a sweet spot between high density faceless neighbours and low density isolationism where there's a measurable drop off in the death count, and Bournville's right in the middle of it. No Justifiers and no Finality Man ever visited here, because… Why would they? Heck, the nearest anti-life broadcaster was in London. The biggest problem they had was in maintaining food supplies, but a lot of places in the Birmingham area were already creating new allotments and bringing land back into agricultural use, so it was more a matter of restricted diets rather than actual starvation like in some places.

Click to shrink...

And a lot of places would have stocks of canned food too, I guess? Farming can only grow food so fast, after all, without some Green-annoying chicanery.

Oh, and there's the fact that the rate of employment is very high, thanks largely to me vanquishing the fake cheese merchants of Kraft, and I can feel justifiably proud of that bit.

Click to shrink...

Hence why you're so popular.

Well. Nothing looks like it's on fire. And scans don't show anyone using the emotion drugs here. It does look like some enterprising individual is growing a few plant troughs worth of cannabis, but… Eh, fine. It's probably less dangerous than moonshine. I'd be more worried about the electricity consumption if I hadn't given Cadbury a bleed torsion generator to lower their fuel costs, which resulted in them selling the considerable excess to the national grid.

Click to shrink...

Not worth the effort of busting up the operation. The local police could handle it if he remembers to leave a note.

Anyway, someone's learned not to shit where they eat. Or make drugs, in this case. Scans aren't coming back with anything helpful. C.C.T.V. isn't anything like as all-encompassing here as it is in London, so I can't meaningfully use the same technique. Tracking shipments of the raw materials isn't really possible because either they're bringing in low quantities in the driver compartments of their lorries or the official manifest is otherwise being altered. Wallace thought that some of the raw materials are probably being acquired locally, but… Looking at power consumption only really returns the cannabis grower as using significantly more power than is otherwise explicable.

Click to shrink...

Because of indoor hydroponic methods, I suppose. It makes sense the brewing process isn't energy-intensive for anyone but the brewers.

I take out a rune stone, but… No. Far too large an area to cover. Unless I'm right over where they're doing the magic part of the work, that's not going to show anything. It's not good at picking up alchemical products at the best of times.

Empathic vision…

Huh. Nothing useful. In fact, everything's a little blurry. That… Shouldn't-.

Click to shrink...

Someone spreading a little emotional chaff in the ether, Maybe. Perhaps this is where they're getting some of the emotions linked by their patches, since it's already been found they aren't generating the moods ex nihilo...

Ah. Probably deliberate. I wouldn't notice from a distance or if I was visiting headquarters, but now that I'm here… Yeah. Alright, there are only so many places in Bournville -or even wider Birmingham- that an alchemical laboratory could be hidden, but me being here and floating menacingly is probably enough to stop anyone doing anything foolish, and it's probably best if I wait until Wallace and Artemis can back me up before making an attack. Mostly for the intimidation factor. With three of us they're much less likely to say 'I can take 'em'.

Click to shrink...

And while three teenagers might not seem too intimidating, they do get moreso when they fly, leap or move superfast.

And in the meantime…

The universe flickers as I appear over the main portal park and depot. Eighty large-sized portals positioned around a tarmacked area about the size of ten football fields, lorries coming in and out, men in high visibility vests checking identities and directing drivers to the appropriate warehouses, crews loading and unloading pallets… And the lorries being directed away from the complex and towards the Cadbury factory directly.

Click to shrink...

Not all that different to any mass-freight depot, really, beyond the lack of external road access for anything more than staff cars and a delivery truck or two. Bet the internal roads are quite well-managed.

What was the series called-? The Commonwealth Saga, that was it. Mass transit was undertaken not by spacecraft but by a massive network of giant railways connected by wormhole portals, all based on planets owned by a megacorp founded by the portal technology's inventors. I don't know, I should probably get someone to assess whether moving to a system like that would actually be better. I wasn't planning for this to be permanent-.

Click to shrink...

The sticking point would be the mass fabrication of gates. Those assembled here are probably representing a long period of manufacturing in Atlantis, and a wider network would demand orders of magnitude more.

I wasn't really planning for this at all.

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?

Click to shrink...

At the least, it might cut down on rail accidents, especially at level crossings or pedestrian accesses...

Trying not to get further distracted, I descend towards the management offices and phase through the wall. Once inside, I head towards the logistics office and knock on the door.

"Yeah!"

Click to shrink...

No doubt already expecting the boss, having received word of him floating about outside.

I push it open and stroll inside, prompting eyes to widen and mouths to drop. "Good afternoon. Need access to your computers for a moment."

"I mean… They're your computers?"

Click to shrink...

True, but this is a lot more polite. Less chance of digital concealments than an announced visit, too.

"Yes, but just grabbing them-" I connect to the closest with a construct cable. "-would be rude."

Due to the magical nature of our logistics train, our computer systems are warded, so no remote access for me. Plugged in, however, I can access transportation logs…

Click to shrink...

A drawback of the arrangement, of course, but there are upsides - less possibility of industrial espionage, for one.

Ah. Mr. Mannheim is here… Somewhere. Not sure why, what he's learned… Patterns of lorry movement-. Shipments from source locations-. Good.

I disconnect. "Thank you. All yours again."

Click to shrink...

He'll have to touch base discreetly with Mannheim, see if he's had any luck.

"Is there something-?"

I

step out, returning

Click to shrink...

Ah, something time-critical enough he can't offer an explanation, eh?

to the depot. Where is-? Ah, there. Transition down, because even if there's been a network shutdown it would take a while for everyone to be notified.

"Davidson-"

Click to shrink...

Wouldn't do to have a suspect slip through a portal at the last second, after all.

The man flinches, turns around to see me, and flinches more.

"-Oyebe. I can't see your desires. Why would that be?"

Click to shrink...

Oooh, that's extra-suspicious.

"What-? What you mean, man?"

"It means that you're under arrest under suspicion of smuggling and such other offences as may be discovered by a full investigation. You may find me more-." He turns and sprints away from me. "Where are you going?"

Click to shrink...

Hell of a reaction. Wonder if he's panicking because he's concerned about being nobbled remotely?

Other people working in the depot turn and stare as I fly after a man attempting to flee from me. Why would-?

Oh gosh darn it. I grab him with a construct just as he simultaneous has a stroke and a heart attack, and this time I take out the planar jammer immediately. Remove the patches -and if one of these isn't fear then it's certainly stupid- and repair the physical damage. Ongoing symptoms..? None, good.

Click to shrink...

...And there we go. Looks like the one responsible is scrying on them if he can cause a kill-switch to trigger that quickly.

"Mister Oyebe."

He doesn't move for a moment, then focuses on me. "He just-. Crazy fucking wizard. I should have known this was going to happen."

"You really should. But I may be lenient with you if you tell me where he is. Now."

Click to shrink...

And that's two counts of attempted homicide for the docket now. Possibly three if that first kid was also intentional... Otherwise it's manslaughter.

The net slowly closes on whoever's responsible for this stuff. And they're getting desperate with each step OL takes towards them. Hopefully they don't escalate into holding everyone who's used a patch hostage once OL meets them face-to-face. But I get the feeling there's something deeper going on with all this magical drug stuff. I expect we'll find out what soon.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Open italics tag.

Click to shrink...

That should say 'than'.
That should say 'simultaneously'.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[NightmareWarden]

I wonder if the wizard in all of this will be connected to powerful damned souls, rather than demons. Still hell magic. But the First of the Fallen and at least one other made the point that demons suuuuuck.

Wait.

Is this related to the Medusa Mask's destruction? Err, its... Infusion with White Light and Compassion? Did some wandering spirit get trapped by the first Psycho Pirate when he made the first set of masks?