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

[Mr Zoat]

That should say 'shared'.

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Thank you, corrected.

They had to think of something for provisional limited access. Be glad they didn't jump to 'P'. Or worse, 'L'.

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Tried it once, it doesn't work. You get four teams all fighting over who's gonna be Team X, but they don't know each other, so nobody wants to back down.

to be

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Prince Charon]

I would hope anyone with an arrest record would be low on the priority list. Unless they were wrongfully accused or being very determined about reforming.

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Probably 'arrest record' as in 'how many people they have arrested, and how likely the arrested parties were to be guilty of the things which they were being arrested for.' Green Arrow is probably pretty good in that area, just not as good as Batman.

 

[PeriodicPedant]

I would hope anyone with an arrest record would be low on the priority list. Unless they were wrongfully accused or being very determined about reforming.

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I read that as 'author of arrests' rather than 'arrested'.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I read that as 'author of arrests' rather than 'arrested'.

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Yes, obviously? Wait, did someone read it as 'how many times they've been arrested'?

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

Yes, obviously? Wait, did someone read it as 'how many times they've been arrested'?

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Well, mostly because I don't think I've ever seen that phrasing before...

 

[Mr Zoat]

Well, mostly because I don't think I've ever seen that phrasing before...

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Plastic Man would win, but I don't think that the others have been arrested all that often.

 

[Bolo]

I'm just glad the all others Paul's shared what they could with everyone. Wonder if more of this thread will be pulled.

 

[Ardy]

I'm just glad the all others Paul's shared what they could with everyone. Wonder if more of this thread will be pulled.

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I mean they didn't, that was one of (my) biggest complaints with the series. No one warned red about Trigon in teen titans, no one warned the SI about the Reach, no one warned black about... whatever the fuck goes on in Buffy.

 

[boo600]

Well, the SI knows about the Reach, though giving him more detail (if the others remembered the show) could have let him take care of Rimbor before the League could find out and pull a Stupid (assuming the other Pauls saw past S1). Red didn't fight Trigon directly, instead slaughtering his cultists. And… Black was lackadaisical, due to his lack of motivation, with Red outright killing the Mayor and Glorificus, who seem to be the major big bads, ignoring 1. Vampires, 2. An android who may have not been built yet. 3. The First Evil (who hasn't been invoked yet). 4. An idiot with a gun, and 5. Willow, who isn't fully corrupted yet.

Oh, and Angel, who doesn't really need murdering, but does come with some nonsense. But I think Black won't give much of a shit for long…

Still, it would have been nice if they'd taken advantage of Mandated Paul/The Time Trapper's command of Time to stop and talk to each other, see if they had useful info to share of the future.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I mean they didn't, that was one of (my) biggest complaints with the series. No one warned red about Trigon in teen titans, no one warned the SI about the Reach, no one warned black about... whatever the fuck goes on in Buffy.

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I never watch Teen Titans all the way through. I'm vaguely aware of the Raven-Trigon thing from the comics, but none of the mes would have been able to give precise information.

 

[Duke Long]

Edited to put the corrections and commentary inside a spoiler because it's a bit big otherwise.

Spoiler

"No. Said there wasn't any point. But right it that moment, when the gun barrel was an inch from my eye? I wasn't scared or angry. I wasn't thinking about all the things I could have done. I wasn't thinking anything except 'huh, okay'."

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'at'

The N.C.R. had no way to redeploy its army north fast enough to matter, but by borrowing transport planes from everyone willing to help out, as well as utilising troops from friendly nations not currently involved in hunting down Legion remnants, we were able to put together a force to attack the southern part of the Washington Brotherhood's territory. Robots from Vault City, power armour, aircraft and mechanised units from Heaven's Gate, N.C.R. rangers and Arroyo tribals… And a large number of surprisingly biddable mirelurks. The Washington Brotherhood didn't leave much of a garrison, and what was there was mostly poorly organised raiders lead by their own war chiefs.

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'led'

Knights of the Order of Saint George are moving through Wardens territory, but it's hard to bring significant men or materials through the mountains. Element of the Kingdom of Manitoba's regular army are moving through the narrow passes south of the mountains to support Heaven's Gate's push north. A push made easier by the orbital fire support from the Mothership and Helios, and by the maps we've been able to provide.

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'Elements'

The Paladins mostly just nod and recheck their gear, but the Knights start twitching. Standard Operating Procedure for Paladin deployment involves landing the vertibird they're on, having them pile out and then it taking off again. But pre-War America developed thruster packs that in theory should allow them to jump out of a plane and not become an iron-rich pancake. Apparently the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood came across the design in the Pentagon but never had any need for them since the didn't have any vertibirds. They sent the design to Lost Hills who were experimenting so see if it worked, and…

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'they'
'to'

I love the combination of all sorts of nations and gizmos in this chapter. Very cool.
I guess you're treating the fall damage immunity in Fallout 4 as a game mechanic haha.

A mechanical whine fills the cabin, followed by the road of winds that tried to compete with the road of the engines. Paladins and Knights take careful hold of the wall-mounted handles as they stand and prepare to deploy.

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'roar'
'tries'
'roar'

"Brothers and Sisters!" Star Paladin Mark Talus takes position by the door, facing inwards. "Today we do not merely bring justice to those who have betrayed the precepts of our Brotherhood! Today we prevent the use of the use of those very same weapons that burned the world to ash two hundred years ago! The most important part of the mission which Roger Maxson entrusted to us! Report readiness!"

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Extraneous 'the use of'

"Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" / "Ready!" /

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Extraneous slash, or you forgot one of the readies.

I stand, telekinetically grasping the plane around me. My four ghosts do likewise. We're not using rocket boosters to steady our descent, and we're not using parachutes either. Each of us are perfectly capable of controlling our descent with telekinesis, and if one of the others has a stroke or heart attack on the way down then I can carry them myself.

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'is'?

The landing is very cool, very superhero. Krono's ghoul cousin would be pissed haha. Hadn't considered that his people are still tribal and care a lot about charism. I wonder to what extent he just uses that as an excuse to do stunts.

I feel confirmation from the Ghosts, and then an acknowledgement from the telepath staying on the plane to relay things to or colleagues.

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'our'

Shayera tries to roll onto her side on her medical bed, but is stopped by the carbon nanotube re-enforced tungsten chains binding her arms to the sides. That jerks her awake, eyes staring around at her surroundings.

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'reinforced'?

"Water, vitamins, and a thanagarian-safe mood stabiliser. Because it turns out that red power rings do a number on you… If you're not a New God. Which you're not. Or… Since the red ring I got from Draan Del Darr is still where I left it and I doubt very much that he's making any more, perhaps the problem comes from using knock-off versions, I don't know, Shayera, what the fuck?"

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'Dar', I think.

Stealth boys active, we press ourselves to the walls as a Mark 2 Sentry Bot stamps past us, heading towards the firefight near the gate.

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'Boys'? Since it's a brand name.

Idly I wonder how Chinese stealth operatives managed this. We wouldn't be able to coordinate without telepathy, and I'm fairly certain that they weren't telepaths.

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Maybe they developed a limited tactile language. That would only work at close range though. Maybe they just whispered really quietly. Or perhaps they just had rigid but very complex flowcharts so that their operatives knew exactly what to do in any conceivable situation?

The robot stomps around the corner of the bunker corridor, and send a **[warning image]** to the paladins outside. Not the knights, though. They're not used to hearing voices in their heads in the middle of firefights and I'm worried that it might distract them. I feel a vague impulse of acknowledgement in return, then send the **[advance sign]** to my fellow infiltrators.

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'I send'?

We reach a bulkhead door, tiny movements in the dust on the floor letter me tell roughly where my colleagues are. I crouch down next to the door, laying my right hand on its surface just in case someone opens it and dashes out. **[Reach through…]**

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'letting'

I mentally grip the relatively flimsy servos of the turret and pull, mechanisms bursting and cables crackling. That distracts the Paladins a little, and Noran ensures that they stay that way with a tossed plasma grenade. Both Paladins shoot it, causing it to disintegrate without going critical… But that creates enough visual distraction that Petuk can dash through the doorway and move around the concrete barricade.

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Goddamn that's badass. That's what being half robot gets you, I guess. Though I feel like even most Fallout robots don't have aim that good; given the later reveal maybe the difference is that Black Paladins are all programmed by Colossus and thus are much higher quality than most robots?

The Paladin awkwardly tries to look around as he hears up coming up behind him, but while power armour can be fast in a straight line it isn't fast at turning. A psychokinetic surge from me sends him flying into the wall at the end of the corridor at speed, slamming with a loud clang and falling to the floor.

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'us'

To my right, Edward puts off the Paladin's helmet and Noran shoots him in the head with his own gun. Then Edward jogs over and taps the lock on the cell door, which clanks open. I step back, and the agent steps out.

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'pulls'?

And we didn't spot it because… Why would we? Between the snow and storms it's hard enough to observe this part of the world at this time of year, and we only have so many eyes are far more pressing things to watch. Not sure why he destroyed the satellites now, but… I suppose that he didn't know that we didn't know. Or maybe the plan calls for an acceleration now?

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'and'?

Well in... [Checks watch] Eight years, you can find out.

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It's frightening to imagine that this story will end someday soon (for a certain definition of soon). Chills my soul. Come on, I know you can stretch this out for a few more decades. We just need a few more random crossover adventures with Mazikeen, maybe some time travel so that events can happen with only subjective time passing.

"He wanted to limit the blowback. But is there a reason I'm not seeing to retaliate anyway?"

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'to not'?

Xalitan hits the Lantern over the head with a staff, and knocks them out. A couple of Reachian construct lanterns drag the recumbent Lantern away. Xalitan then glances my way, nods politely, and then returns to marching around the ranks of the devoted.

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Extraneous 'then'

He takes the box and open it, then stares at the ring for a moment. "Hm." He then picks up what looks like a calliper and uses it to grip the ring before transferring it to his anvil. "Yes. One nine one. Entirely functional. Do you want a copy of the usage logs?"

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'opens'

Colonel Shaw watches the screens impassive as they start showing footage of the Enclave portion of the base. He's confirmed that he wasn't even really aware of the Enclave being a thing back before the War, but he's the closest thing we've got to someone who might be au fait with their mindset.

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'impassively'?

"Would be recognise you?"

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'he'

Major Moines checks his Pip-Boy, and then turns around… He head out of shot. Edward pulls the camera back to its usual position to follow him a moment more… No, gone.

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'heads'

Do military personnel normally have Pip-Boys? I had the impression they were fairly exclusively a Vault-Tec thing.

"Yes, and no. The goods elevator has no cover, and you're too heavy for the regular elevator. So even if you grabbed a stealth boy off one of your…" He turns his head to glance at Pittman, a nightkin commander who followed him from the Troll Warrens. Pittman doesn't react. "Colleagues… They'd have to be idiots not to see you coming."

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'Stealth Boy'?

Edward makes on of the screens display a plan of the interior. "As far as I can see, that's an office. Probably his office."

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'one'

"Is this a prank call? Because I am absolutely fine with having you flogged before we set out. Your ass will heal on the way over.""

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Extraneous speech mark.

"'Downside'? Shaw, the fact you can even remember your name is a breakthrough! And yeah, now I look at you I can kinda see you-. The outline of your face."

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Oh yeah, this guy is Enclave alright. Well, I guess a lack of ethics was actually very common pre-War, but still.

The Enclave officer whose squad had been pinned down bellows the advance immediately, waving his arm before leading the charge himself. Pre-War T-51 suits charge forwards, while a squad of regular infantry give them fire support from what little cover they could find on the quayside and I reposition, because someone updated the Black Paladin's programming and it looks like they've marked my squad as priority targets.

I activate my stealth boy and leap clear, the ledge I was perched on being melted with concentrated laser fire from their heavy weapon teams a moment later.

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'Paladins''
'Stealth Boy'?

Interesting that it can be updated like that, I guess remotely?

So this is what a science fiction war zone feels like.

It's not the quantity of soldiers or death. The major battles of the N.C.R./Legion War could have more people die than this battle has combatants in total. But they mostly use Second World War era technology and tactics while this is the first power armour versus power armour battle I've seen.

Far to my right I spot three Black Paladins armed with super sledges and thermal lances charge into close quarters with an Enclave squad who are totally unprepared for people attacking them with giant hammers and metal cutters. The Knights of the Order of Saint George try making their way in that direction, but the Enclave soldiers are responding by trying to hem the Black Paladins in and deny them the space they need to swing their weapons. They surround them, clustering up-.

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Very cool stuff.

I wince as the fat man detonates, killing the three Black Paladins and the twenty or so Enclave soldiers who they'd drawn into them.

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'Fat Man'? Since it's a brand name. I saw someone else suggest this correction but I guess you missed it.

"And if any of you miserable sons of bitches bunch like up goddamn rookies again I will kill you myself!"

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'up like'

To be fair, the bunching up seemed smart until they suddenly all died.

As I watch, a Black Paladin tried to hold a gangplank against an advancing Enclave fire team. He opens up with a minigun, but the bullets just bounce off the heavy frontal plates of the Enclave power armour. They don't even bother shooting, they just charge into him, knocking him back and using him as cover while they open fire on the paladins on the deck.

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'tries'

As cover, hahaha. Poor guy.

One of the ships turns its engines to full, Black Paladins shooting the mooring chains to let it get underway faster.

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Wow, that's pretty cool. I feel like they have to be remote-controlled to some extent because otherwise how would they know to do that? I guess maybe they got orders in advance.

It's not the furthest away, but it's only one berth closer and from the way it's lower in the water than the others I'm assume that it's the only one that's fully laden.

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'assuming'

But while it might be nice to use the power other versions of myself use freely, things aren't quite like that here. We don't really know how the Odious King's song spread, but it looks like some psychic phenomena are memetic hazards. And something as infectious as the orange light? That's bad enough in places that aren't full of telepaths, or when the ring isn't being used by a telepath. And would it attract more demons, like the one living in the Odious King's head? And how do those demons work, if we've only ever seen one, and we didn't see that for very long?

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Nice explanation. Wonder if we'll ever see one of these demons on-screen, they sound cool. Not sure where it would come from though.

**[All these ships are the same]** + **[I happen to be on that one]**

-and then-. Shit! Barrel into the Brotherhood knight checking the cargo, punch him and then activate my stealth boy.

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'Stealth Boy'?

He can teleport? Wow, this magic shit is pretty good.

Right, ladder up to the hatch over there. I can't hide the fact that I'm opening a hatch with the stealth boy-. The cargo is still in the cargo lift. I guess that the knight hadn't finished loading. Right, get on board, hit the switch and get behind the pallet of… Noodles. I guess even cyborgs have to eat. And up we go.

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'Stealth Boy'?

The Immortal jerks around, his helmeted head focusing on me even though I'm suppose to be invisible.

"There! Stealth boy! Open-"

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'supposed'
'Boy'?

Did he spot the ripple? Or if this is assuming Stealth Boys are full invisibility, maybe he spotted a really subtle change in dust movements or something. Makes sense if he has a direct line to a supercomputer AI.

He drops the multiplas rifle and draws a chainsword while The Immortal smashes open a crate and pulls out a laser weapon.

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An elongated Ripper? Don't remember any chainswords in Fallout.

-other Black Paladins are converging! I throw a smoke grenade at my own feet and step around a shipping container. I can feel their locations in my mind, and whatever sense or programming is guiding them has cottoned on to the fact that not grouping up when someone has pulse grenades-

Or a pulse grenade, now.

-it's best to make sure that they can't fry you all in one go.

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The last bit after the cut doesn't follow on properly from the rest of the sentence. Not sure exactly how to fix.

"Where is he! Where's the Immortal!"

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Is this a deliberate reference? Made me chuckle.

"My primary aim is to prevent an apocalypse. Between the Enclave's disease weapons and Doctor Presper's use of the New Plague, I have concluded that people are still trying to destroy what little remains of human civilisation, which is turn is no longer robust enough to survive such attack, even to the small degree which it survived the Great War. Similar apocalyptic weapons presumably exist in China and Russia. I must render them safe."

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'in'?

Gosh, it's always an AI causing trouble in Fallout. Haha. Good motivation though. Look forward to seeing where it goes.

Funny to see people complain about the Fallout, I liked these chapters way better than the main story ones coming alongside.

Shayera stews for a moment, then bites the bullet. "Because I grew up in a place where you had to fight for everything, and if someone hurt you and you didn't hurt them fight back, you were prey."

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'right'