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

Bigking321 · 2026-09-06T07:37:45+0100

That's a terrifying situation. Someone that can just rip bits of you out and use them himself.

Scary...

Ngamer11 · 2026-09-06T07:42:58+0100

This guy seems like another high int low wis character, so it makes sense why Anarky would work with him.

Frozen20XX · 2026-09-06T07:49:18+0100

Well, the last time someone stole Paragon's ring, Morrow became a construct lantern. Lets hope Know Man doesn't get the chance to figure out that ability.

GhostKing 666 · 2026-09-06T07:51:24+0100

Mr Zoat said:
He frowns. "No, of course not." Zatanna calms slightly. "Neanderthals existed for eighty thousands years across Europe and half of Asia.

One, that's 400,000 years, not 80,000(where did you even get that number?). Second, I wouldn't really say half of Asia as that implies a much wider spread than we have evidence for Neanderthals. Unless you are including Denisovans with Neanderthal populations in that statement.

Mr Zoat said:
"Perhaps. Professor Michaël Peyrot of Leiden University might understand. He's an expert in Proto-Indo-European languages. I think he would work it out.

*Goans*... seriously? Neanderthals had been extinct for tens of thousands of years before the Proto-Indo European culture even existed. Even if the guy had been born in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe, he wouldn't be speaking Proto-Indo-European... or really have any relation with the Proto-Indo Europeans considering how their ancestors hadn't even migrated into the area yet, displacing the populations of those who were there before them who themselves had probably displaced the populations of those who were there before they were.

Mr Zoat said:
"But of course. I invented construction engineering while my peers struggled with simple group tactics when hunting. That isn't a lifestyle which lends itself to fellowship."

*Another groan*... I get that DC created this guy back in the nineties but the sheer datedness of this statement.

B00ki5h · 2026-09-06T07:53:03+0100

Mr Zoat said:
One of his crystals shimmers orange, and my rings fly from my fingers!

I can't tell if this was brilliant or suicidal.

They weakened Paul's connection to the Ophidian, drawing 'her' attention. Then he made a giant conglomeration of people's avarice without a guiding mind behind it and then shoved his rings into it. All while they were in what I assume to be a section of The Dreaming; a place where time and space are suggestions.

So either Paul gets everything back quickly or we have a giant orange snake incoming.

BR549 · 2026-09-06T07:55:02+0100

Jankl said:
it's nice to see that people with the right preparation can still defeat Paul in certain situations.

I mean, Know-Man is 'we have Controller at home'.

The Froggy Ninja · 2026-09-06T08:18:04+0100

I wonder if this version of Know Man also has a connection to the Controllers or if that's a later/non-existent thing.

Mr Zoat · 2026-09-06T08:32:20+0100

GhostKing 666 said:
One, that's 400,000 years, not 80,000(where did you even get that number?). Second, I wouldn't really say half of Asia as that implies a much wider spread than we have evidence for Neanderthals. Unless you are including Denisovans with Neanderthal populations in that statement.

Thank you, corrected.

*Goans*... seriously? Neanderthals had been extinct for tens of thousands of years before the Proto-Indo European culture even existed. Even if the guy had been born in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe, he wouldn't be speaking Proto-Indo-European... or really have any relation with the Proto-Indo Europeans considering how their ancestors hadn't even migrated into the area yet, displacing the populations of those who were there before them who themselves had probably displaced the populations of those who were there before they were.

He's also quite good at linguistics.

*Another groan*... I get that DC created this guy back in the nineties but the sheer datedness of this statement.

Were you there?

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-09-06T08:34:58+0100

Mr Zoat said:
28th September 2013
14:06 GMT -5

I clench my fists, but L-. but Anarky himself appears to be responding in a more contemplative manner. He puts his right forefinger to his chin and taps it twice.

"I feel that you have me at a disadvantage. Who are you, really?"

Ah, nice. He'll get Know-Man monologuing, giving them exactly the info they need to beat him, hopefully. Or at least give us a hint as to how and why he's doing this.

Mr. Mann tosses the Lonnie crystal back into the air -and I track its location just in case- before smiling.

"Who am I?" He shrugs, a motion mostly of his neck rather than his shoulders. "Am I who I was in my youth? Should I tell you the name people called me back then, a name I haven't use-."

Huh, subtly odd body language. A nice tell that he's not exactly modern in origin.

"You haven't used it in thousands of years." Zatanna's eyes narrow. "You're a Neanderthal, like Vandal Savage."

"Vandal Savage. Not Vandar Adg of the Blood Tribe?"

Van seems to like abandoning his old identities as he outgrows them. And after 50 millennia, being the same person would get boring.

"Did you know him? Were you part of his tribe?"

He frowns. "No, of course not." Zatanna calms slightly. "Neanderthals existed for eighty thousands years across Europe and half of Asia. I doubt that we would even have been alive at the same time if it wasn't for our changes."

I bet his figure for their existence is a little skewed. Perhaps not counting all variations of the branch as equal to his specific one.

Anarky inclines his head slightly. "I am still waiting to hear your name."

"My original name was something like 'Gur'. But…" He shakes his head. "When I found that I was changing, that I understood ideas that the other members of my tribe could not, then I chose a new name for myself."

"Which was?"

Of course. 'I am not the man I was before, so I shall be a new me.'

He stares blankly into the distance for a moment. "We had so few words back then. There were so few things that I understood that we could discuss out loud. I wanted something that explains what I had became, and the best I could do… Kum Am. Kum; to think, to understand, to have knowledge or a situation or place. Am; to exist, to be. In English it would be something like 'Know Man'."

A very logical explanation for such a silly name.

I groan quietly. "So your name is a pun that only two people in the world would understand."

"Perhaps. Professor Michaël Peyrot of Leiden University might understand. He's an expert in Proto-Indo-European languages. I think he would work it out. And now you all do as well. And as I implied, Vandal Savage and I came from different times and places. Not all grunt-patterns were the same."

Presumably by similarity to languages they've got some idea of the meanings for, since his own clan's tongue would be lost to all but him...

Anarky nods. "A joke that only you would understand. That speaks of profound social isolation."

"But of course. I invented construction engineering while my peers struggled with simple group tactics when hunting. That isn't a lifestyle which lends itself to fellowship."

Yes, but you are a member of a social species, even so. Which might explain his behaviour...

"And now you surround yourself with bits and pieces of other people."

"The useful parts. Or the useless parts. You were using the technology for that yourself."

...He sees everyone, everything else as tools for his use.

"What did I lose?"

"Humanity." Ah "Don't worry: after a while you'll forget why you missed it."

Ah, and he means to do that to other superbeings, hmm? At least, that's what happened in the comics, I think?

Anarky's mask frowns. "I don't feel any different."

"What does your mother's face look like?"

Ooh, that's a piercing question.

"It-." The mask blinks. "She-."

"You see? Don't worry: I don't remember my mother's face either. You didn't mention your family once to me while we were working together. Were you already using the crystals to remove the distractions from your soul?"

No, don't let him trick you, Anarky. Focus on what's important.

"I..." Anarky tilts his head to the side. "Wouldn't remember, would I?"

"Such a simple concept." He calls down another crystal. "I wonder if the Apokoliptians ever considered using the technology like this?"

I suspect if they have, then they've used it at least once just to see what happened.

I nod. "Yes. That's how they beat the Green Lantern Corps."

"More Anti-Life projection?"

Ah, yes. The original battle between Oa and Apokalips.

"Fear." I got curious, and Canis was happy to boast about it. "They forced them to feel the fear of the Lowlies, thousands of years of it, dumped on a few hundred Lanterns."

"I see. But wouldn't the Lowlies have lost their fear as a result?"

That's why you kill them the second they're no longer useful, to avoid them realising there's more of them than you.

"They just gave them new ones. Look, fascinating as I'm sure this technology is, we are going to need you to turn everything off and give everyone their stuff back."

Zatanna nods. "And explain why you mind controlled those people in Hub City."

Ah, good point, Zee. that question is still hanging over the situation.

I blink. That had actually slipped my mind. Not forgotten, but shelved as irrelevant and unimportant.

Anarky turns his head towards-. Really?

Goes to show how Enlightenment makes OL laser-focused on goals yet able to keep track of everything.

"That was a group effort. We were concerned that you were implanting people with genomorphs for sinister purposes."

"Making people healthier is sinister?"

I think half the issue was you doing it for free. If you'd been charging for the implants, they'd have... Probably looked into it but at a lower priority.

"Implanting living creatures into their body to regulate their body chemistry, creatures which have a telepathic hive mind network and are allied to you, seems extremely sinister."

"You could just have gotten one yourself, or asked for a volunteer."

Instead, they went straight for the mind-control hats. Different goals, still the same supervillain methods.

"We couldn't take the risk that the symbiote would read the host's mind."

"That's the sort of reasoning I'd expect from Tetch, but not from you. What happened to-."

OL, you really expect him to remember?

"I-."

"No, don't answer that. Answer it once you're a single person again. You don't even know that what you're saying is true."

...That is a concern. I expect once they get loose, the Illuminati will be giving themselves deep checkups.

"You're right. It does seem… At odds with what I think I believe that I would use people like that."

"Right, so where were we?" I draw my sidearm. "Noel Mann, Know Man, Gur, Kum Am, whatever you're calling yourself. You're under arrest."

Cocky, but it might work.

He shakes his head. "Orange Lantern. Illustres. Paul. Whatever you're calling yourself. You are standing inside a crystal that lets me pull traits off people and make them part of myself."

"My gun isn't a person."

But he might be able to steal your skill with it.

"Dleihs su morf sih rewop!"

He sneers at Zatanna as nothing happens, then reaches out with his right hand as two crystals descend towards him. "On. T'nod."

Oh hell, he's got their powers too now?

We shimmer purple for a moment, Zatanna's eyes widening. I-.

One of his crystals shimmers orange, and my rings fly from my fingers!

Shiiiiit. Let's hope the Ophidian is paying attention.

"Ah." Know Man blinks, staring around the room with new eyes. "This is how you feel? I suppose it explains a few things."

No.

And I hope Num-skull chokes on it. I wonder if he's really prepared for what he's doing might call down.

"Used to feel, I should say. How does it feel to know that there is nothing about you that cannot be taken away? Llet em."

"Really, really bad. Last time something like this happened was just after I got resurrected, and I was too out of it to really be aware of what was happening. I'm in a situation that's out of my control without my best tools."

Ugh. And I doubt he can speedrun Enlightenment in time to reclaim his Rings.

"And what will you do next, I wonder?"

"Keep your attention while Hunter does his thing."

...Or he could do that. Huh!

"What?"

Above us, crouched on Toyman's drone, Timothy plunges his black hand into the crystal with his face in it!

The rare time when doing something stupid might actually improve matters.

Hopefully this pulls the place down around Know-Man's head without hurting anyone else. The situation is already FUBAR now that he has OL's Rings and Enlightenment. That alone will let him stomp everyone in the room. Zatanna's magic on top of it? That's an 'All hands on deck' moment for the League...

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

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Bigking321

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