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

[AnonymouseTheThird]

Didn't notice this going on till there wasn't an update. Hope you're having a good trip Zoat, enjoy the break! Seriously, you put stuff out daily, you deserve it.

 

[ziggrrauglurr]

If I had to justify this, I'd just say that the portal is limited by mass, not area. A train adds a significant amount of mass to the transport, so it's usually better to unload the cargo, send it through in the thinnest packaging you can, then restack.

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How portals behave was explained when they were being set up in London. There is no limit, the two locations are contiguous, it's as if space continued at the other location. Throughout is as big as you can make it, but, they do explain the issue, moving the Dolmens gates, once it reaches its location, good are transported fast, but after finishing, they need to move it. There's a limit a of gates created, they are getting them too slowly now, without the large magical production capacity of Atlantis.

 

[Jankl]

Man realised how much work he put in each and every day after taking a single day off, said fuck it, and just walked away.
He's on Earth 16 now guys. Gone forever.
RIP in peace, it's over FRFR.

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He is on Earth 16 now guys. Gone forever.

 

[FeepingCreature]

How portals behave was explained when they were being set up in London. There is no limit, the two locations are contiguous, it's as if space continued at the other location. Throughout is as big as you can make it, but, they do explain the issue, moving the Dolmens gates, once it reaches its location, good are transported fast, but after finishing, they need to move it. There's a limit a of gates created, they are getting them too slowly now, without the large magical production capacity of Atlantis.

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Yeah then they should absolutely use trains.

 

[Questianor]

Hope all is well Zoat.

 

[Sockmonkey]

Huh, being such a consistent author if a huge personal safety net. If Zoat did get lost in the woods or something, there would be thousands of people raising the alarm in less than 24 hours.

 

[Jacen]

Yeah then they should absolutely use trains.

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Everything that a train would do is done by the portal.

 

[Mr Zoat]

"spent"
"count all the time I was in a hospital"
"they've just"

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Thank you, corrected.

"Have you"

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No, 'had' is correct. She's obviously heard about him now.

"is bothering him"

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No, that's correct.

That would explain why Ian keeps changing his story. First it was a shotgun-related accident, then it was a car accident, then it was shotgun shells in a car? Yeah, c'mon. I can't prove it, but it seems pretty likely that Ian shot himself for typical early teen related reasons, but he doesn't want to admit it so he keeps coming up with different stories.

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You have a point, but in this case, no, that was just me. The universe doesn't need two Arsefaces.

different from, Limey

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Thank you, corrected.

Oh god, Zoat said he was away Saturday, but it's now Sunday and he hasn't updated!

Must be dead, no other explanation.

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Either that, or he's been abducted by aliens.

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Man realised how much work he put in each and every day after taking a single day off, said fuck it, and just walked away.

RIP in peace, it's over FRFR.

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Remember, when the new Zoat comes in, just be calm and pretend nothing happened. They usually don't have their impression skills as polished, so we have to give them a pass.

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...

You guys.

 

[Mr Zoat]

September 27th, 2013
15:26 MST
Ian

I think about what Toni just said as I look the crowd over.

Hats.

There's a joke there, but I'm working right now so someone else can make it. Aberrance sells hats to the tourists and we're in Nevada, so we usually have a higher than usual hat-to-head ratio. Temperature right now is… Warmish? People are mostly dressed in t-shirts and pants, a couple have light jackets… Hats are… Baseball caps, sun hats… I'm not a hat expert-.

Oh, there it is.

Not hats it's weird to wear here…

"I'm not an expert on hats-."

Toni bites her lip and then looks away.

"Heh, yeah, yeah, funny, but I'm not seeing anything weird. Is it that weird?"

"I was thinking they might be robots again."

"'cause they're wearing hats?"

"Sure, like they're not gunna spend a lot of time on dressing robots. So they just bulk-buy clothes." Huh? "You didn't notice? Those robots we fought had, like, three different outfits."

"Didn't really get a good look." I look around at the hats again. And then at the people wearing them. "I don't think they're robots. Too many different body shapes."

And their facial expressions are… Normal? They look normal to me, anyway.

"Don't suppose your powers give you any kind of mind reading?"

"No. You?"

"No, just temperature control. You wanna call Orange Lantern?"

"Not over hats. There any supervillains who are weird about hats?"

I shrug. "Probably. Can't think of any off-. Right now. You got a smart phone?"

"Yeeeeah, but Dad checks my search history. I don't wanna look up 'supervillains who are weird about hats' in case I get something... Y'know."

No. But, okay. "Okay, well, I got two ideas, then. First one is, we just walk up to someone wearing a hat and talk to them."

"What about?"

"Oh, just make conversation. I've never been to Hub before. You?"

"No. Okay. And then what?"

"If they're totally normal, then I guess we're just in Hat Country. Do a couple more to make sure, then stop worrying."

"Or…"

"You watching the hatties?"

She glances at me, then focuses on a hat-wearing crowd. "Yeah?"

I tilt my back back, and breathe out a plume of fire. Not super-. Plasma, or whatever, just the kind of regular fire I can keep up for… Minutes. I can hear a slight stirring in the crowd, but since it's not pointed at anyone, that should be okay. And stop breathing fire, tilt back to normal…

"Ah, what was that?"

"Did they look around?"

"Huh?"

"Did they look around?"

"Most of 'em did?"

"Okay, which-" I look where she was looking. "-ones didn't, and we'll go talk to one of them."

"Ah… The Hub City Hooligans guy."

Right, blue baseball hat with a… Picture of a homeless guy swinging a trash can lid on it… Local sports team? He's also wearing a light jacket, collar shirt and jeans and sunglasses. Nothing particularly odd looking about him. He's in the queue for the work implant… Doesn't have his phone out and isn't fidgeting much. Can't see any headphones. That's a bit odd. Doesn't look like he's with anyone.

"Right. Follow me."

I walk over to the line. Standard metal barriers keeping everyone in line. You can duck out under it and there's enough space for a family to walk next to each other inside it, but… He's on his own.

"Hey there!"

He stays looking ahead for a moment, and then turns towards me, blinking in surprise. Probably doesn't see many headless guys.

"Hello?"

I give him my best for-the-punters smile. "So what brings you to Hub City?!"

"I'm here to get one of those worm things."

And he turns back towards the front of the line. A bit odd, but it could be that he's just not that social.

"You come far?"

He blinks, and then turns back towards me. "What was that?"

"Did you come far? We didn't get told where the portal's opening to."

"No, it's… It's not far."

"So, where-" He's turned back to the front of the queue again. "-are you from?"

"Um." And back to me again. Yeah, something isn't right here, but… It's a guy in a queue. Can't see a gun or a knife. And the genomorphs are giving those things out for free. "What?"

"Where did you come here from?"

"Place near Mount Dora."

P.R. smile and wait… And his attention goes back to the front of the queue. I turn and walk away, and Toni follows me.

"That was weird, right?"

"Could be he's just not that talkative. Could be he's autistic, or just has a lot on his mind. Can you knock his hat off without it being obvious?"

"My plasma looks like silver fire. I know some of the Lanterns can make real thin constructs but mine doesn't work like that. Why don't we just ask him to take it off?"

"Because-." Because we don't want to make someone's visit to the park unpleasant. And that doesn't exactly apply here, but this is Orange Lantern's favorite city-. "If he comes from Mount Dora-" Wherever that is. "-then where did he get a local hat?"

"Maybe it's not his first visit? Hey, why don't we just-?"

"Yeah?"

"Get one of those psychic genomorphs to read his mind. There's a bunch of them in the clinic, right?"

Good idea. "Yeah, good idea. You go get one, and I'll keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

She nods and makes a plasma disc for herself. I look around as she flies into the air, and… Yeah, the guy doesn't look around. A couple of others don't either.

What's going on?

 

[mossconfig]

Welcome back! How was earth 16?

 

[Mr Zoat]

September 27th, 2013
15:31 MST
Argent

The genomorphs just… Stare at me. The little ones with the tentacle arms, the human-sized ones with the big ears and hands, one of the really big ones and the little one on its shoulder.

"Ah… Hi?"

Their eyes glow a little, but otherwise they just keep staring. Can they talk? I know at least some of them can because I remember when Dubbilex took the Oath of Allegiance, but none of these guys look quite like him and I think I remember Dad saying something about not all of them being intelligent?

"Can you guys talk?"

The big one picks up one of the tentacles ones and puts it down in front of me. It's got a notepad and a pen. Oh, okay. It turns the pad around and points to 'Are you here for an implant?'.

"No no no, there's this guy. Did Orange Lantern tell you I was working security?"

It flicks to another page. 'Yes.'

"Great. Okay, is one of you telepathic?"

'Yes.'

"Good. Can I borrow-?" Ah. "Can one of you come with me? There's a guy acting suspicious outside and we need to find out if he's sketchy or just autistic."

'Yes.'

"Thank-" The big one lumbers closer, then takes hold of the little one on its shoulder and hold it out to m-. No, just puts it on my shoulder and-

**Uuoouurrgh?!**

Huh?

**Unneccesary.** / **No threat.**

The big-hand-.

**G-Elf.**

Ugh, G-Elfs-. Elves? Walk away, and the… G-Troll? Picks up the G-Dwarf and ambles off.

**Issue successfully managed.**

Wait, I'm hearing them.. think..? Huh, that's… Really useful.

**[Pride.]**

I make a disk for us and fly out, heading back to where Face is watching Hat Man. This is…. Weird. I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, exactly. Classroom lessons? One of those is supposed to be happening this Saturday… Or fighting bad guys. But according to Orange Lantern, they don't really want to make us fight anyone serious yet, which, yeah, that makes sense. And there aren't that many fights on our level that the League knows about, because… They'd have dealt with them or got someone else to. So between the equipment, the classes and… Actually getting to know each other, we're just gunna get random stuff like this thrown at us. Which… Okay, if it helps, I guess

He's probably just on drugs.

**[Confusion. Inability.]**

No, no, I just need you to check his brain. Doing something about it is my problem.

**[Gratitude.]**

People in the line stare as we land. Not hostile or scared, just curious-.

**[Information.]**

Or just looking at the one interesting thing happening around them because that's what humans tend to do. Not Hat Man, though. And not a couple of others…

Okay, G-gnome? That guy. What's up with him?

I feel the G-gnome shift position on my shoulder, and-.

**[The world drops away. There's the path in front of me, and some obstacles that I must be patient with, and at the end, the thing that will solve all my problems. I must wait, and get it, and then return. And then my work will be complete.]**

And then the world snaps back into focus, and…

Fuuuuuuuck. That was not right. Okay, ah, little guy? That guy over there, the one who didn't look when we landed.

**[The world drops away. There's the path in front of me, and some obstacles that I must be patient with, and at the end, the thing that will solve all my problems. I must wait, and get it, and then return. And then my work will be complete.]**

Yeah, that's not autism.

"Face, something's wrong with them."

"Okay." Face steps back up to Hat Man. "Excuse me, sir?"

Hat Man kind of shakes, and turns to face Face. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm gunna have to ask you to take off your hat."

**[Keep the hat on!]**

"What?" Hat Man leans away from Face. "I'm not taking my hat off!"

Face motions for me to move around, and I duck into the line behind him. The people around him can read the room and back off to give us space.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you sir. Please carry on."

Hat Man blinks… And then returns his attention to the line. I-. I put small plasma pads under my feet and float up -he just ignores me- and then reach forward, grabthebrimandpull!

"My hat!" He twists around and I float back out of arm's reach. My inertia belt should protect me from everything he can do… But Orange Lantern said he died once because the Reach filled a warship that couldn't hurt him with a super-explosive that could, so… "Give it back!" He reaches for it. "Give…" He blinks. "Give… What? Wh-?" He looks around. "Where am I?"

I look at the insides of the hat… Yeah, that's some kind of circuitry. Not touching that, that can go to Hiro.

"Sir?"

"Where am-? Ah!"

Hat Man freezes as he gets a look at Face, which… Yeah, I did that too.

"Yes, I know what I look like, but-" I show him the insides of the hat. "-it looks like you've been mind controlled by your hat. Do you remember anything about that?"

"Ah-. Shit, sorry. Ah. No? I was just… I was in town 'cause I… I wanted to see the portal open…" He shakes his head. "Then it's all a blur. I'm… In Hub City?"

"Yes, and you're in the line for one of those medical worm implants. Did you want to get one?"

"Ah, noo." He steps out of line, and I follow him. "Do you-? Do you need me for anything or can I head home?"

"It would be best if we had someone check you over before you go home, but if you really want to get out of here you can just give us your details and someone will follow up later."

"Right. Yeah, I'll, I'll take the check-up."

Face turns to me. "We should probably find as many of the others as we can. Can the-?"

Five people burst out of line and dash away down the street!

 

[Darko]

"Yeeeeah, but Dad checks my search history. I don't wanna look up 'supervillains who are weird about hats' in case I get something... Y'know."

No. But, okay.

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It would probably be something sexual.

I tilt my back back, and breathe out a plume of fire. Not super-. Plasma, or whatever, just the kind of regular fire I can keep up for… Minutes. I can hear a slight stirring in the crowd, but since it's not pointed at anyone, that should be okay. And stop breathing fire, tilt back to normal…

"Ah, what was that?"

"Did they look around?"

"Huh?"

"Did they look around?"

"Most of 'em did?"

"Okay, which-" I look where she was looking. "-ones didn't, and we'll go talk to one of them

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Smart.

He's in the queue for the

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I know queue is technically correct, but it's used more by British people, and Ian is American, so it should be "line".

Doesn't have his phone out and isn't fidgeting much. Can't see any headphones. That's a bit odd. Doesn't look like he's with anyone.

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Again, smart.

here, but… It's a guy in a queue.

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And his attention goes back to the front of the queue.

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"line" for both.

Get one of those psychic genomorphs to read his mind. There's a bunch of them in the clinic, right?"

Good idea. "Yeah, good idea

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Unless the mind control can extend to them.

random stuff like this thrown at us. Which… Okay, if it helps, I guess

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Missing a . at the end.

Yeah, that's not autism

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Ehh, for the more extreme cases it could be.

 

[RichardWhereat]

Of course it's the paedophile. As soon as he said hats.