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

PeriodicPedant · 2026-10-16T06:26:39+0100

Mr Zoat said:
You're breaking the promise you made to your constituents so you can make yourself the exception to the rule. You wouldn't care if it was someone else's mother, but you sold out to me -alongside everyone else you ever sold out to- because the rules are for other people."

And now we know his domain (assuming he's being genuine).

Mr Zoat said:
Did think the guy I'm selling my soul to would make me work for it.

Didn't

Mr Zoat said:
Some one to help them

Someone, probably.

Darko · 2026-10-16T06:34:08+0100

Mr Zoat said:
confident that he's just give your

"he'd just"

Mr Zoat said:
And now the damn face is looking at me like I'm an idiot, and punching it isn't gunna do any good, but if this fucker's ripped me off

Yeah, this is what happens when you make deals with the likes of Smiley.

Mr Zoat said:
I mean… I didn't think I was that bad. It's just how things work, right

The fact that it's how things work is not really the great defense you think it is.

It's actually worse.

Mr Zoat said:
"So how come I'm going to Hell, anyway

Because of the whole corruption thing.

Mr Zoat · 2026-10-16T06:42:36+0100

PeriodicPedant said:
Didn't
Someone, probably.

Darko said:
"he'd just"

Thank you, corrected.

Jankl · 2026-10-16T07:07:11+0100

Wow , okay I was completely blindsided by this. So Tony was working for Boss Smiley all this time? And Boss Smiley seems to have just outplayed OL once again.

néocorvinus · 2026-10-16T07:23:14+0100

I always find it hilarious when the greater evil explains to his patsies/minions exactly how much damage they did through the banality of evil.

KharnTheBrotrayer · 2026-10-16T07:24:41+0100

I quite like Boss Smiley as an enemy, his deal is for you to break your vow and engage in corruption the end result isn't his goal, it's the MEANS of corruption that is his goal.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-10-16T07:26:14+0100

Mr Zoat said:
12th October 2013
18:39 GMT -5
Antonio 'Tony' Moretti

Mom's… Actually smiling as she does a meet-and-greet with an Alzheimer's support group. She used to come here a lot, 'til she stopped recognising them. I think it's coming back to her, I think she's remembering some of them. And she's got Toni looking after her just in case, and she knows who she is, and they've talked about things they did together before her memory started going.

Nothing like other people to nudge old memories back to the fore. Still, getting a look inside Tony's head? Why do I feel like this isn't going to make anyone like him more?

And that's…

Ah, I'm putting this off. Not like I've never taken meetings I didn't want to before.

Oh, dear. Meeting someone unpleasant? This does not bode well.

I nod to a couple of people I half-recognise, good people, constituents, but… I'm not really in the mood for people right now. Or non-people, but I knew what I was getting into.

Down the back corridor and through a door with a key they gave me because 'my Mom's illness is a private thing and I don't want reporters all over this', down another corridor and into the 'art' room they let some of the kids mess around in with their spray paint.

And the big yellow smiley face.

...Well, fuck.

It's not even that big. Or particularly good. I mean, none of this is my thing, but some of the designs at least show they had skill. This one is just a yellow circle and some black blobs for eyes. Someone tried to do some shading… I think it might have started out as a sun or something, but it's…

The iconic image isn't particularly complex, whatever emoji companies do to dress it up.

I sigh.

And then I kneel.

Of course it was too good to be true. And he's even dirtier than his comics counterpart.

And I wait. The Justice League report I read said that he can see out of every smiley face on Earth, and if that's true then he knows I'm here.

Did think the guy I'm selling my soul to would make me work for it.

What, and make it harder to take advantage of you as an asset?

"Boss Smiley, he's doing it."

"Of course he's doing it."

Ah, reporting on OL's actions concerning the Eye Drive, eh?

Yeah, that moving paint face thing he does still creeps me the fuck out. I can see it's still paint, I can see the texture of the brick, the way it changes slightly when there quantity of paint moves a little, just… Flowing. But it's just paint, but he's here…

"Orange Lantern can be a surprising individual, but his behaviour is still fairly predictable."

It's probably like seeing a poorly rendered 3d object in an anime. Not just the unnatural smoothness of it and its movement, but the kind that has entirely the wrong shaders to fit into the aesthetics of the world.

There's no where for his voice to be coming from. And I'm not even sure it's not just in my head. I remember when I tried recording it one time, and when I tried to play it back all I got was him telling me not to do that again and then my cell melted.

"So..? We're good?"

Really does feel like Smiley is a higher-dimensional being, perhaps a 5th-dimensional Imp or similar. The way he can warp time and space to his benefit...

"Tony, I think at this point a man should be honest about his moral calibre."

"I mean… I've done what you wanted."

He's not wrong there. There's a certain measure of compromise Tony's indulged in, and it's not the kind that ends well.

"Yes, you're a surprisingly useful fellow."

"So… Mom…"

The paint-face blinks, and then looks passed me towards the door. "That is her party in there, isn't it?"

There's that 'beyond three-dee space' aspect again. Like he's looking past the frames of a comic at another panel on the page.

"Uh, kinda?"

"Then I'd say we're about square."

Square, maybe, but surely not finished.

Huh? "But… That wasn't you. That was Orange Lantern."

"Orange Lantern and a design that had been sitting on the shelf for two years. I was confident that he's just give your mother one, but I removed a few of my usual impediments just in case."

And it becomes clearer how and why he interferes. A nudge here, a flash of insight unblocked there...

"But-. She's not cured. The Eye Drive just treats the symptoms. Underneath that she's still getting worse."

"I see." And now the damn face is looking at me like I'm an idiot, and punching it isn't gunna do any good, but if this fucker's ripped me off-. "Tony, what exactly do you think I am?"

Ah, very human to doubt that he's done the right thing. He hasn't, but if it makes him feel better to think so...

"I dunno. Some kind of demon, probably."

"I'm not a demon, Tony. And if I were, you wouldn't interest me."

Not the kind of fun he's interested in, eh?

"What, sell my soul to a demon, sell my soul to whatever you are, what's the difference?"

"Hah. Oh, Tony, Tony, Tony!" It rotates its head like it's shaking it. "You are in no position to sell your soul to me. We made a simple transaction-."

"What the Hell does that mean?"

The Smiling Fiend is trying to make an interesting story, not collect human souls...

"Tony. You've made deals for favours. You've abandoned political allies when they became inconvenient. You've filibustered legislation because the sponsor cut you up in traffic the year before. You've taken money from drug cartels active in your city. And none of that's a problem for me; I applaud your industriousness. But let's not pretend what the result of that was going to be, hm?"

So he's not even morally better off than his canon version, with the drug-trafficking involvement. Joy.

…

I mean… I didn't think I was that bad. It's just how things work, right? But hearing it from someone like him-.

Don't fool yourself, Tony, you did bad things.

"Hey, no." I get to my feet. "Orange Lantern's still the one who fixed Mom."

"Tony, that's how I work. I arrange things, and things happen. I don't wave my hands and magic your mother healthy again. I pull strings until she gets better. And considering the minimal work and risk involved, I'd say you got a pretty good deal."

He's a spider sitting in a web of favours and leverage, tugging a strand to make the monkeys dance as they dangle from it...

"But it's not permanent."

"Neither's she. But you're all paid up with me, so if that really bothers you, just make another deal."

Man needs to learn to let go, Everyone dies.

"Another deal."

"Another deal. You've made plenty before."

And that's how he gets you. carefully makes it so you get what you want, but it's not quite what you need. So of course he offers to make up the little difference. But it'll never be just as the fool thinks it should be.

"…for what?"

"Some of the new people joining the House could use a mentor. Some one to help them understand the practical side of how things work."

And quietly nudge them into making their own deals with the yellow bastard, no doubt...

"And that's it? Show them where the coat pegs are, and you'll-. Arrange things so that some new treatment appears?"

"No more bad proteins in her brain… And I'll throw in a nerve restoring agent, too. It won't remove the risk of a relapse, but it'll be a treatment for a chronic condition she can ignore."

Ah, yes... The palliative treatment that will end up costing far more than you think it will...

I haven't heard about anything that can do something like that, and I've been looking. And all he wants-.

It's probably more than it sounds like it is, but if there's no risk to me…

He'll probably poke a hypercognitive with a chemical focus and they'll have a 'flash of inspiration'...

But that Hell thing. I can't let that go.

"So how come I'm going to Hell, anyway? If this comes out, my career's over, and I can forget a post-Washington career if the Justice League tell everyone I'm bad people. Does that score me some points?"

Maybe actually do some actual good in your life, you fool. Not 'good for me and mine', 'good for all'.

"That's not really my department, Tony. But as far as I'm concerned? You're breaking the promise you made to your constituents so you can make yourself the exception to the rule. You wouldn't care if it was someone else's mother, but you sold out to me -alongside everyone else you ever sold out to- because the rules are for other people."

And it doesn't matter that other people will benefit from this, because it was done with selfish intent.

And then he grins.

"But if it really bothers you, we can make a deal for that, too. Accept me as your master, and I'll make sure you have a place in my realm as my footstool for all eternity."

Ironically probably better than what he might put himself through in hell otherwise.

"F-fuck you."

"Your decision! Let's see how you feel when your life ebbs away and you can start to smell the sulphur." The face shifts back towards its original position. "Now go be a mentor, okay?"

And the monkey continues dancing to the spider's tune...

And now we see just how insidious the Smiling Fiend is. How easily he can lead someone into his web of manipulation. And how easily he can keep stringing fools along with the slightest twitch of a fingertip. What gets me is why he arranged this. Why nudge OL into this position, where he raises his popularity by 'curing' a disease's symptoms through something he didn't even intend...

BR549 · 2026-10-16T07:42:44+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
What gets me is why he arranged this. Why nudge OL into this position, where he raises his popularity by 'curing' a disease's symptoms through something he didn't even intend...

Aside from getting Senator Scumbag further in his web? Quite possibly for the sheer amusement of it. Paul's an annoying thorn in his plans, so being able to point at something OL arranged and go 'see that? I did that' has to make the Smiling Fiend chuckle.

deccan2008 · 2026-10-16T07:49:17+0100

So why does Smiley want Superman as President? Would that be the ultimate corruption?

Neruz · 2026-10-16T07:55:39+0100

deccan2008 said:
So why does Smiley want Superman as President? Would that be the ultimate corruption?

Corrupting the moral center of the entire DC multiverse would be one hell of a feather in his cap.

Darko · 2026-10-16T08:08:02+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
Why do I feel like this isn't going to make anyone like him more?

Because you have reading comprehension.

Chojin Patriarch said:
He'll probably poke a hypercognitive with a chemical focus and they'll have a 'flash of inspiration'...

Or just remove any obstacles to some intelligence boosting serum from being used in that way.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Ironically probably better than what he might put himself through in hell otherwise.

Not necessarily.

Hell does use damned souls to create materials.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Why nudge OL into this position, where he raises his popularity by 'curing' a disease's symptoms through something he didn't even intend...

Paul develops a closer relationship with Smiley's agent and that way Smiley can influence Paul, or at least keep an eye on him.

After Paul figured out that Smiley can be impeded using that planar disruptor, Smiley may want to keep his distance.

teikan · 2026-10-16T08:17:38+0100

Mr Zoat said:
...Rarity isn't in business to make as much money as she can...

Okay. Her business doesn't work that way. But that's exactly how it should be when she's sewing dresses not for herself, but where her main priority is being generous to her friends.

EEEEEh. Wrong answer." ...."I'm going to count to five, and then I'm going to start killing people. One."

Homie, i didn't expect to meet you here!

We have been attacked by demonically… Corrupted superhumans.

Ha, demons and Nazis.

And unless you have walked into a still-functioning murder factory yourself, as I have, please do not imply that you understand the horror of it. I am here to-

He fought against the Sheeda. He witnessed genocides with more cruel points.

FeepingCreature · 2026-10-16T08:22:13+0100

Wait hang on. I always thought he wants to stop progress. But what if he just wants to corrupt Orange Lantern?

Bigking321 · 2026-10-16T08:42:46+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
What gets me is why he arranged this.

He gets to use the senator to subtlety corrupt the incoming batch of politicians. To mentor them in how the game is played.

So the ones that felt guilty and were doing the penance with Uncle Sam and the worms, they get removed from power even if they were trying to do their jobs correctly now.

And Smiley gets to start on corrupting the new batch.

All because he let orange make his cure and be in the right place at the right time to reveal Uncle Sam's plan for improving America and the justice league being forced to sabotage it and leave America more open to corruption.

Mr Zoat said:
"Ah, what..?" Zatanna looks nervous. "What happens if they stop?"

"What happens?" Uncle Sam still looks angry, though his temper is more under control. "What happens is that the Tree of Liberty takes longer to get back to full strength. Every American is just a little more vulnerable to otherworldly and un-American influences for just a little longer. And they'll have been denied the chance to purge their guilt."

So it's win win for Smiley. The justice league does his work for him. Just pieces on a board.

deccan2008 said:
So why does Smiley want Superman as President?

He doesn't. Uncle Sam does.

NightmareWarden · 2026-10-16T09:47:06+0100

Ssssso what hope does Batman's supplementary power structure and the Conspiracy Theorist cabal have of avoiding this sticky tar pit of a monster?

That's a hypothetical question, don't worry about it. Although if Smiler has a supreme fear, Batman making it a reality for him would be quite satisfying. For this chapter though, BigKing321 seems to have nailed it; not quite a Thanatos Gambit here, but Smiler is well positioned to set those up regularly. Wily. He couldn't have predicted the Anti-Life or the effects of Paul's solution, but then this end stage just demonstrates he can adapt after all. "Wicked problems" and all that.

God, is he for his hands on the staff which is connected to all of humanity... Well, we've seen what a world where human society's just illogical looks like.

The Froggy Ninja · 2026-10-16T09:48:28+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
Man needs to learn to let go, Everyone dies.

Or fall in more fully with Paul and his philosophy. I can't believe he was willing to sell his soul to Smiley before he was willing to sell his soul to Hades. At least Hades is good for it.

Honestly, they should be setting up a surveillance network on all major public figures so Mr Atom can just instantly get them for corruption. Or really push for that "magically binding oath of office" idea to be implemented. The fact that they are allowing corruption to continue existing when they are actively fighting a corruption elemental and have solutions is probably a bad sign.

teikan · 2026-10-16T10:57:08+0100

"She's an Assaultron! Definitely feminine!"

It's lucky she didn't find out he was bisexual. Otherwise, Mr. House would have been next.

Old Knife · 2026-10-16T12:20:08+0100

Boss smiley is the spirit of the hollow self.
Every deal that makes your that bit more monstrous. Every compromise that kills you from the inside.

Every "necessity" pushed upon us by uncaring masters. Every disappointment that eats away at our hearts.

He is the opposite of the orange light.

He is the spirit of dissatisfaction.

He just looks like corruption because corruption produces him in abundance.

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

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