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

[Darko]

And we just had chapters a few months ago about how his thing with Cadbury was hijacked because he only did a small portion of the job and then left to go focus on the next shiny thing that caught his attention.

Click to shrink...

Yes, because focusing on running a chocolate company is truly the most important thing in the world.

He should not have delegated it to people that actually know how to run such a business, and he certainty shouldn't have returned to being a superhero.

Sure, if he stayed he was likely going to run the company into the ground, or the world/galaxy/universe would have been damaged if he didn't return to being a superhero, but that's a small price to pay.

 

[Mr Zoat]

…mind control? I'm late to this particular discussion, but I'm surprised it wasn't brought up.

Click to shrink...

It didn't look like she was mind controlling him, and they probably would have had some way to detect that.

 

[GhostKing 666]

Been busy for a few days... but about that B5 chapter...

"And I don't really want to fly back to the narn homeworld without gravity." I frown. "Do you know why Earthforce didn't reverse engineer artificial gravity from minbari wrecks?"

He looks dismissive. "Your people didn't wreck enough minbari ships. And when they did wreck them, the minbari fleet pushed them back before they could salvage anything.

Click to shrink...

The Earth Alliance did actually buy an artificial gravity generator from the Vree. Unfortunately, Vree engineering is so different from human technology that EA engineers couldn't make heads or tails out of it.

That said, the Earth Alliance is actually pretty close right now. The first prototype models of the Warlock being worked on either right now(as of the chapter) or in one or two years will have the first homemade EA artificial gravity technology. That said... it's a first-generation model, so not only can it only go up to 1/3 G, but it would also be stupidly huge, stupidly expensive and probably very delicate and maintenance heavy. Hence why the EA didn't have any complaints replacing their homemade model with Minbari sourced AG technology once they joined the ISA as the Minbari version could go up to a full 1G while also being more refined(cheaper, takes up less space and needs less maintenance to keep working).

(Technically it could be considered a war crime, even if the Minbari had never heard of Geneva; faking distress calls is one of the few things that everybody, everywhere, always have considered taboo, for the obvious reason that it might be you next needing aid and not getting it because everybody knows it might be a trap. But impending genocide does tend to make morals...flexible.)

Click to shrink...

It's only a warcrime if the Black Star had been coming in to take them prisoner and turn them into POWs. The Black Star was tracking their distress beacon with the sole intention of finishing them off... which is a warcrime itself and legally free's the EA to give no quarter right back and use tactics like Sheridan's.

The only other people your species has fought in significant numbers are the dilgar, and they didn't have the technology."

Click to shrink...

And knowing Jha'dur, if they had, they'd likely have been under orders to destroy their ships instead of letting the technology be captured.

Click to shrink...

Most Dilgar ships didn't have AG. The highly advanced Sekhmet Class advanced cruisers that were developed halfway through the war, using technology pilfered from various League races were a different matter. Not just artificial gravity but also gravitic propulsion(Brakiri), advanced armor materials and gravitic shields(Abbai) and spinal lasers(Hyach... same damage as the EA's GOD particle cannons but twice the range). They actually needed a lot of help from the Drakh in order to make the technology on the ships work together so quickly, not many were built and most that were, were used as commerce raiders in an attempt to disrupt EA logistics before getting destroyed.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Does Anarky use a spear in the comics? Meaning this was done with his own spear, a weapon we just haven't seen in the fic yet?

Probably not. Not enough detail to know where the spear comes from.

 

[Vaermina]

Yes, because focusing on running a chocolate company is truly the most important thing in the world.

He should not have delegated it to people that actually know how to run such a business, and he certainty shouldn't have returned to being a superhero.

Sure, if he stayed he was likely going to run the company into the ground, or the world/galaxy/universe would have been damaged if he didn't return to being a superhero, but that's a small price to pay.

Click to shrink...

Except he didn't delegate it to people who knew what they were doing as anyone who knew what they were doing would have kept the dolomon gate system from being used to smuggle magical mind control drugs.

Also, he didn't return to being a superhero, he faffed off into space to pick up alien media and made a giant war that he caused that much worse.

 

[RoninSword]

He delegated it to Oliver Queen on the assumption that it would require minimum work and that the (former?) CEO that he was aquantance with could do it for him. After the smuggling came to light Oliver himself says that Paul should find someone to do the job full time because he wasn't interested in that type of work.

 

[Darko]

Except he didn't delegate it to people who knew what they were doing as anyone who knew what they were doing would have kept the dolomon gate system from being used to smuggle magical mind control drugs

Click to shrink...

Except he left the company in the hands of someone that actually had some experience in running a company, and the drugs thing happened after Anti-Life, so everyone would be too busy with reconstruction to pay that much attention to a chocolate company.

Also, he didn't return to being a superhero, he faffed off into space to pick up alien media and made a giant war that he caused that much worse

Click to shrink...

You mean the war with the Reach, aka the massive evil empire that routinely mind controls and then exterminates or enslaves entire civilizations, and who hasn't been stopped from doing those things in thousands of years?

Yeah, Paul shouldn't focus on stopping that and should instead focus on stopping bank robbers.

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th September 2013
13:48 GMT -5

Lonnie sits with his back to the tree, getting his breath back. Zatanna is studying the spear while Timothy keeps an eye on Lonnie.

I nod at the spear. "That's not actually Gungnir, is it?"

"No, this is just a spear symbolising Gungnir."

Timothy gulps as he turns his head towards us. "Was that-? Was that me?"

Zatanna hesitates, her eyes flicking towards me for a moment before focusing on Timothy. "I don't think your other half stabbed him. And someone might have stabbed him anyway. But people don't symbolically impale people onto trees with a spear unless magic's involved."

Lonnie straightens up slightly. "Gary?"

I take a moment to check that I haven't released my fungoid construct lantern… No.

Timothy points to himself. "Me?"

"Apparently not. What's your real name, then?"

"Tim Hunter. And you're Lonnie Machin."

"Not at the moment." He reaches up to his chin and tries to pull his mask-face off. It doesn't come, and I can't see a seam.

"Anarky." I walk up to him and crouch down. "Crystals. Personal resonances. A crystal tower, and your dog biting a chunk out of my conceptual nature. None of these things make me happy, and I'm going to suggest to you that now is the time to make a clean breast of things before-"

"Of course."

"-it-. Oh-. Okay, good. First thing, are we on a time limit?"

"Yes."

"Can you move?"

"I'll have to."

I stand, then bend down and offer him my right hand. He takes it and pulls himself upright.

"Which way to the tower, and what's happening?"

"I'll-. Show you. It-."

"Ah." Timothy is holding out his left arm-. The black ooze it extruding a tendril from his shoulder. "Anarky, did you..? Ah, expel one of your bad experiences from your psyche?"

"No, I just overcame them." Lonnie stares at the ooze. "What is that?"

"Some people pushed their trauma away. When…" He looks around. "-this happened, the trauma manifested as fragments of people."

"I don't remember doing that… But I suppose that I wouldn't. Is that part mine?"

"I think so."

I shake my head. "We're in a hurry. I don't think-." Lonnie walks up to Timothy and reaches his right hand out towards the slime, which elasticates onto him before merging with him. "You don't-. Okay. Fine."

Lonnie shudders slightly, then tests his mask for a seam and finds nothing before lowering his hand. "I believe in honesty. If I need to change then I should work on myself to change myself, not just cut out parts and leave them to someone else to deal with."

Zatanna runs her eyes over Timothy. "Hunter, are you alright?"

He holds up his right arm, which is now missing the little finger. "I think so."

Zatanna nods. "Anarky?"

"I'm still not entirely myself, but I feel a bit more like I should. I'd… Forgotten-." He shakes his head, and heads out across the field at a jog in the approximate direction Yap went in. "This way!"

I jog after him, jerking my head back to make sure that Hiro isn't getting left behind. Lonnie is about his age, but he's dedicated everything to getting physically capable enough to act as a superhero. Hiro on the other hand has the physique I had before getting my ring, plus he's not fully grown.

"Anarky." Zatanna's keeping up easily, as she fixes the back of his head with a stern glare. "We still want an explanation."

"I was experimenting with spiritual resonance. I already know that Anti-Life can be transmitted, and that Hatter's sphere can do something similar."

I sigh. "Were you attempting to banish the human inclination to self-interest?"

"I-. Hadn't gotten that far. But I admit that I was considering doing something like that. It depended on exactly what the technology could achieve."

"Anarky, if you actually make a mass brainwashing machine, I'm not going to be able to soft-peddle you anymore. Whether you make it to rob a bank or in a genuine attempt to make people better, that's not a technology I can tolerate. And after the Anti-Life broadcast-."

"It isn't the same-."

"It doesn't matter. I know that you're not Bruno Mannheim, and that your motives are more high-minded. You're still trying to mind control everyone in the world. Even if I trusted you, which I don't, and even if I thought that your technical skills are perfect, which they're not, and even if I thought that you knew everything about the subject, which you don't, I still wouldn't let you build it."

"But-."

"Someone want to do the C.S. Lewis quote for-"

Timothy nods. "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

"-me? Thank you, Hunter. Anarky, no one likes people messing with their brains."

"I-. Yes. I… See the problem."

"That wasn't quite 'I won't keep building it', was it?"

"No, it wasn't. But I will agree to pursue other avenues first."

I know that he actually means it, but without knowing what other avenues he means, how much effort he's going to put into them and what he's actually aiming for, it doesn't really help.

"We can talk about it later. What else?"

"Someone else who'd been studying crystal resonances like I was got in contact. We started working together, sharing ideas. I was making more progress with their help than I had on my own…"

"Yeeees..?"

"I don't know what happened. Gary-. Hunter, took one of the crystals I've been using to take resonance impressions, and then… He nailed me to the tree."

"Did he say anything?"

"He thanked me for my work."

"Did you get his name?"

"Yes, but it was an obvious fake. I didn't press him, because I've used pseudonyms myself and I'm not a hypocrite."

"Anarky, your plan to prevent mind control is to mind control people. We came here because you sent people with your new crystal-tech mind puppet hats to Hub City."

"I-. I didn't-."

"Someone did. It sounds like you need to start vetting your collaborates better in future."

 

[Darko]

And after the Anti-Life broadcast-."

"It isn't the same-."

"It doesn't matter. I

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Anti-Life was basically getting your limbs chopped off with a butcher's cleaver without your consent.

Anarky's may be getting it surgically amputated, but it's still non-consensual.

"No, it wasn't. But I will agree to pursue other avenues first."

I know that he actually means it, but without knowing what other avenues he means, how much effort he's going to put into them and what he's actually aiming for, it doesn't really help

Click to shrink...

Yeah, with guys like Anarky it could mean that instead of altering brains, he's going to alter reality itself.

Anarky, your plan to prevent mind control is to mind control people

Click to shrink...

He'll protect the law and people no matter how many laws he has to break, or how many people he has to kill.

 

[Jankl]

Okay, well Anarky's plans are absolutely horrifying and short-sighted. His super intelligence is wasted on him.

 

[BR549]

He'll protect the law and people no matter how many laws he has to break, or how many people he has to kill.

Click to shrink...

Somewhere, Peacemaker sheds a single tear.

Okay, well Anarky's plans are absolutely horrifying and short-sighted. His super intelligence is wasted on him.

Click to shrink...

Lonnie is a classic case of 'high INT, low WIS'.

Or to mangle Dr. Ian Malcom's famous quote, he's smart enough to know he can, but not wise enough to know he shouldn't.

 

[Vaermina]

Except he left the company in the hands of someone that actually had some experience in running a company, and the drugs thing happened after Anti-Life, so everyone would be too busy with reconstruction to pay that much attention to a chocolate company.

Click to shrink...

The guy OL put in charge literally said he wasn't qualified to be in charge, try again.

You mean the war with the Reach, aka the massive evil empire that routinely mind controls and then exterminates or enslaves entire civilizations, and who hasn't been stopped from doing those things in thousands of years?

Yeah, Paul shouldn't focus on stopping that and should instead focus on stopping bank robbers.

Click to shrink...

No, I mean the Mind Controlling Plant Queen who Orange Lantern empowered.

 

[Darko]

The guy OL put in charge literally said he wasn't qualified to be in charge, try again.

Click to shrink...

Yes, and before he said that he still had experience in running a company.

It's also a chocolate company. If it fails it isn't going to destroy the planet.

No, I mean the Mind Controlling Plant Queen who Orange Lantern empowered

Click to shrink...

Ahh, yes.

The plant queen that does not mind control people, is a benevolent ruler, and was in the process of getting attacked by a fascist empire that enslaved people.

Don't forget the race of metal people that tried to blow up the sun and commit multiple genocides that she was also fighting.

Yes, stopping a bunch of genocides and the resurgence of a fascist empire is a waste of time.

Paul should just stick to getting kittens out of trees.

 

[EgyptianDio]

It's at moments like this that you are reminded that Anarky is the possible son of Napier and that they both might need the same thing.

A bullet to the head.

 

[Jankl]

It's at moments like this that you are reminded that Anarky is the possible son of Napier and that they both might need the same thing.

A bullet to the head.

Click to shrink...

Anarky is only 10 years old or something like that. All he needs is a good mentor to guide him onto the right path. He just needs more sane company

 

[EgyptianDio]

Anarky is only 10 years old or something like that. All he needs is a good mentor to guide him onto the right path. He just needs more sane company

Click to shrink...

And where exactly is he supposed to find that?

 

[Darko]

And where exactly is he supposed to find that?

Click to shrink...

Well the Justice League is currently running a program that trains new heroes.

Granted, sanity isn't exactly widespread there.

 

[EgyptianDio]

Well the Justice League is currently running a program that trains new heroes.

Granted, sanity isn't exactly widespread there.

Click to shrink...

You mean the program with the kid who thought it was a good idea to… I'm not even sure what the right description for what's been happening in this arc is.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

28th September 2013
13:48 GMT -5

Lonnie sits with his back to the tree, getting his breath back. Zatanna is studying the spear while Timothy keeps an eye on Lonnie.

I nod at the spear. "That's not actually Gungnir, is it?"

"No, this is just a spear symbolising Gungnir."

Click to shrink...

This is partly the Dreaming, after all. An image can link to the real thing, but I suspect this is purely for the artistic symbolism of it. And I suspect Anarky is about to gains some wisdom, just as Odin did.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Timothy gulps as he turns his head towards us. "Was that-? Was that me?"

Zatanna hesitates, her eyes flicking towards me for a moment before focusing on Timothy. "I don't think your other half stabbed him. And someone might have stabbed him anyway. But people don't symbolically impale people onto trees with a spear unless magic's involved."

Click to shrink...

But yes, 'Gary' is the most likely subject...

Lonnie straightens up slightly. "Gary?"

I take a moment to check that I haven't released my fungoid construct lantern… No.

Click to shrink...

Ah, no 'One Steve Limit' here...

Timothy points to himself. "Me?"

"Apparently not. What's your real name, then?"

Click to shrink...

careful, Tim. You know how dangerous true names can be.

"Tim Hunter. And you're Lonnie Machin."

"Not at the moment." He reaches up to his chin and tries to pull his mask-face off. It doesn't come, and I can't see a seam.

Click to shrink...

So this basically is his Anarky persona, cast out. Or cast off like a childish jacket.

"Anarky." I walk up to him and crouch down. "Crystals. Personal resonances. A crystal tower, and your dog biting a chunk out of my conceptual nature. None of these things make me happy, and I'm going to suggest to you that now is the time to make a clean breast of things before-"

Click to shrink...

OL's patience is wearing thin very quickly.

"Of course."

"-it-. Oh-. Okay, good. First thing, are we on a time limit?"

Click to shrink...

He clearly expected Anarky to be more obstructive. But shit has hit the fan, and there's no time for tomfoolery.

"Yes."

"Can you move?"

"I'll have to."

Click to shrink...

As tempting as it would be to lay there, needs must.

I stand, then bend down and offer him my right hand. He takes it and pulls himself upright.

"Which way to the tower, and what's happening?"

Click to shrink...

Yes, please do explain what the hell you were playing at.

"I'll-. Show you. It-."

"Ah." Timothy is holding out his left arm-. The black ooze it extruding a tendril from his shoulder. "Anarky, did you..? Ah, expel one of your bad experiences from your psyche?"

Click to shrink...

If it is, it wants back in.

"No, I just overcame them." Lonnie stares at the ooze. "What is that?"

"Some people pushed their trauma away. When…" He looks around. "-this happened, the trauma manifested as fragments of people."

Click to shrink...

Ew. It does confirm the forms they encountered are coagulated bits of people, though.

"I don't remember doing that… But I suppose that I wouldn't. Is that part mine?"

"I think so."

I shake my head. "We're in a hurry. I don't think-." Lonnie walks up to Timothy and reaches his right hand out towards the slime, which elasticates onto him before merging with him. "You don't-. Okay. Fine."

Click to shrink...

They're young, OL. They're gonna do what they will, whatever you like.

Lonnie shudders slightly, then tests his mask for a seam and finds nothing before lowering his hand. "I believe in honesty. If I need to change then I should work on myself to change myself, not just cut out parts and leave them to someone else to deal with."

Zatanna runs her eyes over Timothy. "Hunter, are you alright?"

Click to shrink...

A remarkably sensible outlook. But one a lot of people find too hard to do because it isn't easy.

He holds up his right arm, which is now missing the little finger. "I think so."

Zatanna nods. "Anarky?"

"I'm still not entirely myself, but I feel a bit more like I should. I'd… Forgotten-." He shakes his head, and heads out across the field at a jog in the approximate direction Yap went in. "This way!"

Click to shrink...

At least even if he looses all the bits he'll be fine, if odd-looking. he'll have to anyway if they can return the stuff chunks to their owners.

I jog after him, jerking my head back to make sure that Hiro isn't getting left behind. Lonnie is about his age, but he's dedicated everything to getting physically capable enough to act as a superhero. Hiro on the other hand has the physique I had before getting my ring, plus he's not fully grown.

Click to shrink...

Ah. Slightly overweight sedentary bookish nerd. Not insulting, just musing, since I have much the same shape. Hiro's definitely going to have to work on fitness if he wants field roles.

"Anarky." Zatanna's keeping up easily, as she fixes the back of his head with a stern glare. "We still want an explanation."

"I was experimenting with spiritual resonance. I already know that Anti-Life can be transmitted, and that Hatter's sphere can do something similar."

Click to shrink...

Sure as hell hope you weren't poking Anti-Life, though.

I sigh. "Were you attempting to banish the human inclination to self-interest?"

"I-. Hadn't gotten that far. But I admit that I was considering doing something like that. It depended on exactly what the technology could achieve."

Click to shrink...

Ah, metaknowledge, cutting to the chase.

"Anarky, if you actually make a mass brainwashing machine, I'm not going to be able to soft-peddle you anymore. Whether you make it to rob a bank or in a genuine attempt to make people better, that's not a technology I can tolerate. And after the Anti-Life broadcast-."

"It isn't the same-."

Click to shrink...

We might actually see OL angry enough to dope-slap Anarky. Amazing.

"It doesn't matter. I know that you're not Bruno Mannheim, and that your motives are more high-minded. You're still trying to mind control everyone in the world. Even if I trusted you, which I don't, and even if I thought that your technical skills are perfect, which they're not, and even if I thought that you knew everything about the subject, which you don't, I still wouldn't let you build it."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, mind-control is never a good idea.

"But-."

"Someone want to do the C.S. Lewis quote for-"

Click to shrink...

There's always a CS Lewis quote, isn't there?

Timothy nods. "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Click to shrink...

Impressive that he dropped the whole thing in one go. Did he just read up on it in school, perhaps?

"-me? Thank you, Hunter. Anarky, no one likes people messing with their brains."

"I-. Yes. I… See the problem."

Click to shrink...

At last, light dawns!

"That wasn't quite 'I won't keep building it', was it?"

"No, it wasn't. But I will agree to pursue other avenues first."

Click to shrink...

OL will hold you to that.

I know that he actually means it, but without knowing what other avenues he means, how much effort he's going to put into them and what he's actually aiming for, it doesn't really help.

"We can talk about it later. What else?"

Click to shrink...

And you'd better stick to that, OL. Don't let the Illuminati just ghost you when you get out of here...

"Someone else who'd been studying crystal resonances like I was got in contact. We started working together, sharing ideas. I was making more progress with their help than I had on my own…"

"Yeeees..?"

Click to shrink...

'Someone else'? Oh, that doesn't sound good at all. Better find out who pronto.

"I don't know what happened. Gary-. Hunter, took one of the crystals I've been using to take resonance impressions, and then… He nailed me to the tree."

"Did he say anything?"

"He thanked me for my work."

Click to shrink...

Oh, that's not concerning at all. Something has gone badly wrong all because Tim stepped in it without checking.

"Did you get his name?"

"Yes, but it was an obvious fake. I didn't press him, because I've used pseudonyms myself and I'm not a hypocrite."

Click to shrink...

Can you at least describe this git?

"Anarky, your plan to prevent mind control is to mind control people. We came here because you sent people with your new crystal-tech mind puppet hats to Hub City."

"I-. I didn't-."

"Someone did. It sounds like you need to start vetting your collaborates better in future."

Click to shrink...

If they ever get any in future...

Well, looks like Lonnie wasn't fully behind all this. But he still holds some culpability for enabling it. The problem is who this 'crystal expert' is and what they've been doing with the arcano-technology the Illuminati were using. Anyone got ideas? There's also the matter of where Tetch is in all this and what he's been up to...

 

[Darko]

You mean the program with the kid who thought it was a good idea to… I'm not even sure what the right description for what's been happening in this arc is.

Click to shrink...

Sticking random goo people left behind into himself.

 

[Slake Mothman]

Man, child geniuses and magical prodigies in the DC universe really suck, don't they? They have incredible natural capability and the casual arrogance of adolescence without any of the self-regulating habits that come from years of consequences and near-death experiences. With how... fluid... reality is in the DC universe every unchecked hyper-intelligent youngster seems destined to create the next unique and exciting WMD.

I wonder if the JL can convince Srs. Sivanna and Zatara to run a seminar about it, with mandatory attendence for Lonnie, Hunter, and Hiro of course (Essentially them running through a modified Evil Overlord List).

 

[Darko]

I wonder if the JL can convince Srs. Sivanna and Zatara to run a seminal about it, with mandatory attendence for Lonnie, Hunter, and Hiro of course. (It'd essentially be them running through a modified Evil Overlord List

Click to shrink...

I don't think they'd want any Sivana near the children.

Maybe Venus and Beautia, but not the others.

And so far Hiro hasn't done anything particularly wrong.

 

[Slake Mothman]

And so far Hiro hasn't done anything particularly wrong.

Click to shrink...

And so far Hiro hasn't done anything particularly wrong yet.

Gun owners shouldn't learn firearm safety after they accidentally shoot someone, after all.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Man, child geniuses and magical prodigies in the DC universe really suck, don't they? They have incredible natural capability and the casual arrogance of adolescence without any of the self-regulating habits that come from years of consequences and near-death experiences

Click to shrink...

I'm actually doubtful that OL's superpower would be helpful for this conversation. For that reason, as you've laid it out. The borders between intense emotions are probably blurrier.

Does Tim Hunter have a dog or familiar in his story? Anarky's dog could be dead or beyond recovery, but Tim could get a new minion out of this by cleansing the entity that's taken over the ex-dog.

 

[WereDragon]

I'm going to suggest to you that now is the time to make a clean breast of things before-"

"Of course."

"-it-. Oh-. Okay, good.

Click to shrink...

Does he actually believe that? All prior experience suggests that as soon as the immediate matter is resolved the git will slip away and continue to be a thorn in Paul's side.

"We can talk about it later.

Click to shrink...

Can? Yes.
Will? Not unless he is physically prevented from escaping.

 

[Steelplaza]

Does he actually believe that? All prior experience suggests that as soon as the immediate matter is resolved the git will slip away and continue to be a thorn in Paul's side.

Click to shrink...

True, but the immediate matter is very much not resolved so got to prioritize that.

Personally I blame the ape. Bobo, you were supposed to be the adult in the room. That doesn't mean just smoking and drinking, it means you're supposed to keep Lonnie from doing anything too crazy.