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

Justice Segue (part 4)
17th November 2017
11:42 GMT +5


My jaw shatters, my head is wrenched around and I feel my vertebrae strain to keep my neck from snapping!

And for some reason I'm thinking about Kara.

I'm knocked aside, falling backwards as… Subjekt-17 flies past me. Horrifying scars and… Nineteenth century stitching aside, his body and arms are standard issue humanoid, three-fingered hands notwithstanding. His face… His nose is barely there, short and almost flat against his face. His eyes are red and wide apart, and his nostrils are only slightly below them. He's completely hairless, and his head projects forwards from his shoulders on a long, thick and highly flexible neck. For clothing, bracers and a pair of cycle shorts appear to have been… Stapled? To him?

**HURT!**

And he's telepathic, apparently. I… Didn't know that.

Construct armour, healing ray. Pacify the Belligerent

I wince slightly at the uncomfortable feeling of Sinestro pinning my chin together prior to healing, watching as Subjekt-17 keeps his face pointed at me even as his body… Struggles to turn in flight, wallowing in the air, legs sort of flicking out as he turns for another lunge.

"A'm 'ot 'ere to-." Ah, yes, thank you for spot-welding my mandible, Sinestro.

Your preparation was inadequate, Lantern Grayven.

"I'm not here to fight you. We can-."

**HURT!**

He finally gets himself sorted out in the air and flies down. He's faster than me, but I've had plenty of practice coping with that.

And now I'm thinking about Kara again.

A second's notice is all I need to dodge and grab his torso. He realises that he's missed immediately and tries to slow, but that just makes it easier for me to slam him face-first into the ground.

"Listen to m-!"

He twists with his flying ability, pulling out of my hold and catching my construct armour a glancing blow-. Which shatters it effortlessly. I float back and restore it. Just lucky he doesn't have heat vision.

"Listen to me!" Rebuke the Disorderly

**HURT ME! HURT YOU!**

"I didn't hurt you!"

Ugh, I could try talking in his species' language but he was never taught it. I could use a gas, but there aren't that many things that affect his species under these conditions.

**HUUUUUUUUUURT!**

Egh. My vision swims for about a second, and then it clears. Alright, his brain blast has raw power but no subtlety. He's using it instinctively. He hasn't gotten any training with it. Manageable, given how uncoordinated he is.

Kinetic barrier.

It will overload.

I don't need it to stop him, just to slow him down.

Very well.

The construct emitter appears just as he lunges again. He hasn't gotten up to full speed so the energy in his impact isn't enough to overload it. It flickers into existence, his own redirected force stopping him dead.

Message to Dr. Llewellyn. 'What did they dose him with, exactly?' Send.

Glaring at the barrier, Subjekt-17 snarls and slaps it. It does that… Shimmer thing it does when it's actually being stressed more than the system can withstand, but it survives that one hit.

Healing him might help his mental state, but it doesn't make poisons vanish. Anything that was altering his mood would keep doing so. Take him somewhere by boom tube and let him burn it out? Heat his body to burn it out myself?

He jumps and flies, twisting as he does so to slap the barrier-.

My construct emitter fractures as it gets hit with far more force than it was designed to withstand. But this time I don't dodge. Instead I duck slightly and punch up with both fists. He mostly misses: a light kick to the stomach where his legs flick out as he folds up around my fists.

"O-uh."

They didn't take his tongue at least. I grab his right foot and pull, pulling him down and pressing him into the ground where I try to fold his.. arms behind his back, and I can just about move them, but he's resisting and I'm not strong enough to just force them into place. Mechanical enhancement please.

Bulky construct mechanical power armour arms and shoulders appear around me, granting me the extra strength I need to fold his arms behind his back in what should be a submission position. Unfortunately, he's far too frenzied to respond to pain like that. Injection sites, injection sites

There! Analysis-.

Agh! I didn't take his neck into account! He just swung his head back and head butted me right in the still-healing jaw! Agh-! He pushed off the ground and we're flying upwards, spinning around-. Yeah, that's not going to work, and if I bind your arms with New God restraints-.

My-. My skin is humming, he's-. Some sort of sonic attack, but I can deal with that. I think he's trying to hit a frequency rather than using raw-.

Oof! No, raw power was-. Not sure why he waited, but-. Ow. Construct armour's gone, armour's cratered and my ribs don't feel too good. Fix that and broadcast this fight and related information nationwide. I need the fear boost.

Done, Lantern Grayven. But why not worldwide?

Because they'll just treat it like light entertainment. And Batman might see it. Now isn't the time.

Understood. Message from Doctor Llewellyn. That's a potent cocktail.

Ugh. It is, and it's a brutish combination too. Not so much a tailored combat drug as a mix of methamphetamines and whatever they had in the drug cabinet. But I can deal with it.

My armour glows brighter as people imagine Metropolis happening to their town or city. I don't like doing things like that, but needs must when Darkseid drives.

And then he's on me, chunks of the manacles I put on him spraying out across the wasteland around us. He's-. Fast and his flying is improving and I'm just about fending him off and my arms are going to be solid bruise in a few hours time. But the hodgepodge of chemicals they used to do this to him-. They actually implanted the dispenser. I can't get at it without cutting him open and I'm not sure I can cut him open. I've got records on the medicines that his species usually use, but there isn't anything-.

I fly down as he tries another long-necked headbutt. Blood chemistry, counteragents and-. His people use calming sounds? Alright. Broadcast and synthesise.

He hear it and slows, not pressing his attack. I use the opportunity to pull back slightly-.

The air between us ripples as he fires a sonic blast at me, but my own sonic cannons neutralise it. Construct gas mask behind the shield, wait for the sonic attack to end and throw the shield forward as if it's an attack. He braces to block it, the shield shatters and the gas mask clamps on his face and doses him.

"G-uah?"

"Sorry, but you're not in your right mind right now-."

"Yes. They put.. a machine in me. It.. does this?"

"That gas should counter it until it runs out… I think. It's not too healthy, but-."

"Take it out!"

"I… Can do that, but not without a lot of pain."

He… Is that a smile? "I know pain. Do it."

I fabricate a scalpel, x-ionise it and then float closer.

"Brace yourself."
 
Last edited:
First!

So, things are getting peaceful quickly.

Always nice to see Grey de-escalate a fight. Although… is Kara really the only kryptonian-tier combatant he's fought, after who-knows-how-long? Even if he's never fought one as readily violent, I'm a bit surprised that he thought of that one set of encounters specifically.

Also, he actually considers this world's Batman to be a… threat? Is that the right word?

Irritant? Existence? Human in a bat costume? One of those.
 
feeling of Sinestro pin my chin together prior to healin
pin -> pinning
he -> his
Which shatters is effortlessly.
is -> it
being stresses more than
stresses -> stressed
Unfortunately, he's far to frenzied to
to -> too
I fabricate a scalpel, x-ionised it and then float closer.
x-ionised -> x-ionise
 
17th November 2017
11:42 GMT +5


My jaw shatters, my head is wrenched around and I feel my vertebrae strain to keep my neck snapping!

And for some reason I'm thinking about Kara.
Not surprising, this is about how she'd normally greet you. Even though you're happily married, it's perfectly fine to think about other women. Just not acting on those thoughts.So think clean thoughts, Chum. :p

I'm knocked aside, falling backwards as… Subjekt-17 flies past me. Horrifying scars and… Nineteenth century stitching aside, his body and arms are standard issue humanoid, three-fingered hands notwithstanding. His face… His nose is barely there, short and almost flat against his face. His eyes are red and wide apart, and his nostrils are only slightly below them. He's completely hairless, and his head projects forwards from his shoulders on a long, thick and highly flexible neck. For clothing, bracers and a pair of cycle shorts appear to have been… Stapled? To him?
Honestly, he has a bit of a Jiralhanae vibe about him. Albeit a bald one. Perhaps the artist who designed him was a fan?

**HURT!**

And he's telepathic, apparently. I… Didn't know that.
Well, if he's got any knack for it, perhaps you can train his language skills to teach him English. I doubt the locals bothered teaching him anything at all.

Construct armour, healing ray. Pacify the Belligerent

I wince slightly at the uncomfortable feeling of Sinestro pin my chin together prior to healing, watching as Subjekt-17 keeps his face pointed at me even as he body… Struggles to turn in flight, wallowing in the a air, legs sort of flicking out as he turns for another lunge.
This might well be the first time he's ever been mobile enough to fly, really. At least it's not solar-powered, so no issues from being kept underground, unlike certain Kryptonians.

"A'm 'ot 'ere to-." Ah, yes, thank you for spot-welding my mandible, Sinestro.

Your preparation was inadequate, Lantern Grayven.
To be fair, he probably didn't expect quite this much aggression? Still, your evaluation is correct, Ringnestro. He should have been prepared for it, expecting it or not.

"I'm not here to fight you. We can-."

**HURT!**
And it looks like the boy wants to share that hurt, it seems.

He finally gets himself sorted out in the air and flies down. He's faster than me, but I've had plenty of practice coping with that.

And now I'm thinking about Kara again.
Hey, reminisce about old girlfriends later, possibly with the blessing of your wife, Renegade. After all, she would probably notice any interesting dreams on the subject...

A second's notice is all I need to dodge and grab his torso. He realises that he's missed immediately and tries to slow, but that just makes it easier for me to slam him face-first into the ground.

"Listen to m-!"
Ah, the classic mistake of any rookie FISS fighter: Grappling doesn't use much in the way of all that strength.

He twists with his flying ability, pulling out of my hold and catching my construct armour a glancing blow-. Which shatters is effortlessly. I float back and restore it. Just lucky he doesn't have heat vision.

"Listen to me!" Rebuke the Disorderly
Heck, if you can get him thinking of you in a parental fashion, that might help calm him.

**HURT ME! HURT YOU!**

"I didn't hurt you!"
Ah, kind of regretting that instinctive telepathic blockade now, Renegade?

Ugh, I could try talking in his species' language but he was never taught it. I could use a gas, but there aren't that many things that affect his species under these conditions.

**HUUUUUUUUUURT!**
And he's likely to amped up to be slowed by much anyway. Whatever they pumped into him is probably got his brain buzzing.

Egh. My vision swims for about a second, and then it clears. Alright, his brain blast has raw power but no subtlety. He's using it instinctively. He hasn't gotten any training with it. Manageable, given how uncoordinated he is.

Kinetic barrier.
Maybe quite a few, in fact? Assuming they don't interfere with each other, in which case, quick-switching might be in order.

It will overload.

I don't need it to stop him, just to slow him down.
Worst case, he breaks your jaw again. Or your dense skull.

Very well.

The construct emitter appears just as he lunges again. He hasn't gotten up to full speed so the energy in his impact isn't enough to overload it. It flickers into existence, his own redirected force stopping him dead.
Ah, smart. And he's probably not in the right mind to realise 'the slow blade penetrates the shield'.

Message to Dr. Llewellyn. 'What did they dose him with, exactly?' Send.

Glaring at the barrier, Subjekt-17 snarls and slaps it. It does that… Shimmer thing it does when it's actually being stresses more than the system can withstand, but it survives that one hit.
Welp. If he decides to 'Fist of the North Star' it...

Healing him might help his mental state, but it doesn't make poisons vanish. Anything that was altering his mood would keep doing so. Take him somewhere by boom tube and let him burn it out? Heat his body to burn it out myself?

He jumps and flies, twisting as he does so to slap the barrier-.
Shit, he's a quick learner!

My construct emitter fractures as it gets hit with far more force than it was designed to withstand. But this time I don't dodge. Instead I duck slightly and punch up with both fists. He mostly misses: a light kick to the stomach where his legs flick out as he folds up around my fists.

"O-uh."
Little hard to concentrate when your body is focused on catching a breath, after all.

They didn't take his tongue at least. I grab his right foot and pull, pulling him down and pressing him into the ground where I try fold his.. arms behind his back, and I can just about move them, but he's resisting and I'm not strong enough to just force them into place. Mechanical enhancement please.

Bulky construct mechanical power armour arms and shoulders appear around me, granting me the extra strength I need to fold his arms behind his back in what should be a submission position. Unfortunately, he's far to frenzied to respond to pain like that. Injection sites, injection sites
And too frenzied to simply start flying upwards, until the Renegade hits the ceiling. Very hard to pin down a flier unless you use a pain-focused hold.

There! Analysis-.

Agh! I didn't take his neck into account! He just swung his head back and head butted me right in the still-healing jaw! Agh-! He pushed off the ground and we're flying upwards, spinning around-. Yeah, that's not going to work, and if I bind your arms with New God restraints-.
Ah, there we go. Unfortunately, he couldn't capitalise on the opening.

My-. My skin is humming, he's-. Some sort of sonic attack, but I can deal with that. I think he's trying to hit a frequency rather than using raw-.

Oof! No, raw power was-. Not sure why he waited, but-. Ow. Construct armour's gone, armour's cratered and my ribs don't feel too good. Fix that and broadcast this fight and related information nationwide. I need the fear boost.
Maybe he needed to warm up the pipes? Going that loud without ramping up probably wears on the throat.

Done, Lantern Grayven. But why not worldwide?

Because they'll just treat it like light entertainment. And Batman might see it. Now isn't the time.
Ah, even in a different universe, he's wisely avoiding pissing off Batman.

Understood. Message from Doctor Llewellyn. That's a potent cocktail.

Ugh. It is, and it's a brutish combination too. Not so much a tailored combat drug as a mix methamphetamine and whatever they had drug cabinet. But I can deal with it.

My armour glows brighter as people imagine Metropolis happening to their town or city. I don't like doing things like that, but needs must when Darkseid drives.
Sounds like they just went 'Just grab anything that'll get it worked up and inject it!' Wonder if adrenaline is a part of the mix. A lot of speculative fiction likes to make it a potent combat drug for anyone but humans. :p

And then he's on me, chunks of the manacles I put on him spraying out across the wasteland around us. He's-. Fast and his flying is improving and I'm just about fending him off and my arms are going to be solid bruise in a few hours time. But the hodgepodge of chemicals they used to do this to him-. They actually implanted the dispenser. I can't get at it without cutting him open and I'm not sure I can cut him open. I've got records on the medicines that his species usually use, but there isn't anything-.
Oh, that's just nasty. Maybe remotely flush it out and inject a dosage of the happy stuff?

I fly down as he tries another long-necked headbutt. Blood chemistry, counteragents and-. His people use calming sounds? Alright. Broadcast and synthesise.

He hear it and slows, not pressing his attack. I use the opportunity to pull back slightly-.
Amusing. His people probably use a mixture of telepathic and ultrasonic signals as a lullaby sort of thing. And even if he's never heard it before, it's more than likely ingrained into his genes...

The air between us ripples as he fires a sonic blast at me, but my own sonic cannons neutralise it. Construct gas mask behind the shield, wait for the sonic attack to end and throw the shield forward as if it's an attack. He braces to block it, the shield shatters and the gas mask clamps on his face and doses him.

"G-uah?"
Well, that's one way to get a dosage of 'calm down juice' into his system.

"Sorry, but you're not in your right mind right now-."

"Yes. They put.. a machine in me. It.. does this?"
Interesting. Whatever he's speaking, the Ring understands it now. Probably Russian.

"That gas should counter it until it runs out… I think. It's not too healthy, but-."

"Take it out!"
Surprised there wasn't any fear or rage in there, but he's probably so used to shit like that...

"I… Can do that, but not without a lot of pain."

He… Is that a smile? "I know pain. Do it."
If anything it'd probably be a lot more gentle a procedure than he's usually given...

I fabricate a scalpel, x-ionised it and then float closer.

"Brace yourself."
Good, something that sharp won't hurt nearly as much.

So, the calming down went well. Minimal damage to him, the Renegade and the local scenery. And it seems he's quite pliable once he's not all dosed up with the nastiest combat drugs they could concoct. One quick telepathic language lesson later, or a construct tether to provide translation for everyone, and things should be far more diplomatic.
 
So, the calming down went well. Minimal damage to him, the Renegade and the local scenery. And it seems he's quite pliable once he's not all dosed up with the nastiest combat drugs they could concoct. One quick telepathic language lesson later, or a construct tether to provide translation for everyone, and things should be far more diplomatic.
Doubt it. This guy was tortured by humans for the entirety of his life, literally since he was born. He's not going to be satisfied by anything that won't give him the opportunity to kill every human on the planet.
 
I see that Grayven has kept up his usual fighting strategy of just tanking everything thrown at him; at this point I think the guy is half masochistic or something.

Still, mission accomplished I suppose. Now what's the strategy to convince this guy to defend the planet? He has some serious and understandable grievances, which unfortunately are probably directed at the human species, even if the guys responsible are mostly dead. How developed is his personality or even brain? He might be on some Doomsday brain pattern regarding humans, honestly.
 
Doubt it. This guy was tortured by humans for the entirety of his life, literally since he was born. He's not going to be satisfied by anything that won't give him the opportunity to kill every human on the planet.

well i mean if anyone can bring him around, its Gravy. i wonder what god enlightenment might do for this guy?

Zoat, by the way, what happened to all of the other god-enlightened people Gravy had around him? the slavishly obsessed speedster, the tiger guy... i can't remember if Lynne got enlightened, but that would be wild if she was some kind of psychic god. we got examples of Artemis' godhood during the whole Sheeda story. wasn't Kaldur enlightened too? it felt like Gravy was handing it out like candy there for awhile, and i was hoping he was building his own pantheon but i guess it got put on a back burner or something.
 
i can't remember if Lynne got enlightened

She did, and also got a piece of Grayven's own soul during thr process, if I recall. That's how their father-daughter bond started/was made.

wasn't Kaldur enlightened too?

That's also true. It fixed the "defects" in the amphibious spell that he got, so I think he was on the same level as a Pure Atlantean and probably on his way to some Ahri'ahn-level stuff.

and i was hoping he was building his own pantheon

I believe there was something like that. When Devilance came to "test him", Grayven kinda bullshitted/admited to it and to me the concept was pretty interesting. However, since he left the Team and generally distanced himself from the League and his former friends, all of that has been pretty much abandoned. Now it's all about the New Light, I think, and some of them have been Elevated as well.
 
well i mean if anyone can bring him around, its Gravy. i wonder what god enlightenment might do for this guy?
Nothing. His species aren't compatible.
Zoat, by the way, what happened to all of the other god-enlightened people Gravy had around him? the slavishly obsessed speedster, the tiger guy... i can't remember if Lynne got enlightened, but that would be wild if she was some kind of psychic god. we got examples of Artemis' godhood during the whole Sheeda story. wasn't Kaldur enlightened too? it felt like Gravy was handing it out like candy there for awhile, and i was hoping he was building his own pantheon but i guess it got put on a back burner or something.
They're all good. Misa is splitting her time between her modelling career and Grayven security force. Mr. Tawny is expecting his first litter with his wife on Karna. Lynne has been avoiding the infusion chamber due to her father's desire for to have as normal a childhood as circumstances allow rather than juicing her metaphysique. Artemis ended up deciding that it would be best to finish high school so that she can learn to human again, but intends to join Grayven''s security force after that rather than bother with college. Kaldur is as straight-edged as ever.
 
They're all good. Misa is splitting her time between her modelling career and Grayven security force. Mr. Tawny is expecting his first litter with his wife on Karna. Lynne has been avoiding the infusion chamber due to her father's desire for to have as normal a childhood as circumstances allow rather than juicing her metaphysique. Artemis ended up deciding that it would be best to finish high school so that she can learn to human again, but intends to join Grayven''s security force after that rather than bother with college. Kaldur is as straight-edged as ever.
If I remember correctly, Kid Flash was also Awakened. All I remember about his changes is that becoming a New God got rid of the defects of his version of the Garrick Formula. He also mentioned that he can sort of hear something when someone speaks Godspeech when Artemis asked him about it, but that's probably the extent of the changes.
 
I walk slowly towards the checkpoint an oblong and mildly concave shield in front of me.
'with an oblong'?
"-that the one ended up here did not get a good home." I smile at my prisoner. "Isn't that right?"
'who ended'?
"Aim it for you?" I dismiss my construct and half catch half prod him in the direction of his comrade's firing line-.
'comrades''?
My jaw shatters, my head is wrenched around and I feel my vertebrae strain to keep my neck snapping!
'from snapping!'
They didn't take his tongue at least. I grab his right foot and pull, pulling him down and pressing him into the ground where I try fold his..
'to fold'?
Ugh. It is, and it's a brutish combination too. Not so much a tailored combat drug as a mix methamphetamine and whatever they had in the drug cabinet. But I can deal with it.
'mix of'?
"Sorry, but you're not in your right mind right now-."

"Yes. They put.. a machine in me. It.. does this?"
That was a quick recovery. I thought he'd be out of his mind even without the drugs.
 
Also, he actually considers this world's Batman to be a… threat? Is that the right word?

Irritant? Existence? Human in a bat costume? One of those.
He may not be an impressive instance but he's still Batman. Never underestimate him.
 
If I remember correctly, Kid Flash was also Awakened. All I remember about his changes is that becoming a New God got rid of the defects of his version of the Garrick Formula. He also mentioned that he can sort of hear something when someone speaks Godspeech when Artemis asked him about it, but that's probably the extent of the changes.
His speed became as fast as whoever the faster if the elder Flash was. His test on the treadmill had him reach 0.97c before Grayven stopped it (imo because he wqs worried about what would happen if he actually crossed c).
 

My mistake; thank you for catching that.

I am serious about the point I made, though. He's dangerous enough to civilians, but 'being a Batman' does not make Crazy Steve threatening to Grayven. There's a reason that they sent the member of the League who was weak to Yellow - and no one else - to rein him in: because anyone else would have won.
 
Fair, but Grayven's response to that headache is likely to be 'obliterate the annoyance.'
 
Justice Segue (part 5)
17th November 2017
11:47 GMT +5


"Have you started?"

I hold up the half-empty injection system. It looks disturbingly bodged together, and I'd be astonished to learn that they'd tested it properly.

"Yes. Healing your wounds now." I point the healing ray at him. "Though if you genuinely didn't feel that, I think we need to get a doctor from your own species to look at you, because you might have damage to your nervous system."

"Uh. Feel it slightly. So much pain. Didn't stand out."

The hole I dug in his chest starts regrowing at an acceptable speed. I… Could try using it on the stitches holding his head and chest together, but I'm really not qualified to deal with this and I feel uncomfortable doing anything experimental on someone so used to experimentation. Not when someone's life isn't on the line.

"Take mask off?"

"It'll still take a little while for the drugs in your bloodstream to fully purge themselves. Leave it on for a few minutes more, unless you start to feel… Uh, unwell."

He looks at me with an odd expression. "Nearly laughed."

The wound I made finishes healing. I give it a few seconds more, then shut off the beam. "Okay, that's done. Let me know if.. it-. Starts hurting more."

He… Nods. It's an odd gesture to watch, given the structure of his neck.

"Now, I'm sure that you've got a whole list of people you want to tear apart for what they did to you, and you're perfectly justified in that desire. But I was wondering if you could help me with something first."

He looks down at the facility where he was being held. "Humans right here."

"The people who did this to you are still here?"

"Humans are still here. You… Like me."

"I'm not from this planet. I was never treated as you have been." Alright, Desaad stuck a few knives in me during training but that's not the same as seventy years of torture. "I can take you back to your planet if you're not up to-."

"This planet!"

Ah. I suppose he was born here. Unlike America, Britain doesn't have citizenship by birth so it didn't really occur to me that he'd think of it that way.

"I'm sorry. Your species' homeworld. You have relatives there. Family."

"No family. No family."

Ah… I take a step closer and gingerly give him a hug… Which.. I.. realise is probably the first one he's had in his entire life. Damn. He doesn't hug me back with his arms, but he does rest his chin on my left shoulder for a moment. And at the end of that moment I feel the tension enter his body and his muscles tense.

"What-?"

"Humans."

I separate and look down-. Doctor Llewellyn and Hippolyta are darting out, arms full of binders and hanging files. Old paperwork. I-.

He's diving at them-.

"Waitwaitwait-" I head down after him. "-waitwait-."

Hippolyta drops her load and prepares to-. Die fighting, but I put a wall between them and Subjekt-17 stops rather than charge through it.

He glares at me, gesturing with his right arm. "Humans!"

"Hippolyta has lived on an island with no contact with the outside world for three thousand years. Doctor Llewellyn was here to heal you. If you want the people responsible…" I scan the building. "They're still inside. But it's-"

He flies up and then smashes down through the upper levels of the building and into the secure laboratories, the gas mask construct failing as he breaches the site.

"-interrogate, then eradicate." Hm.

Doctor Llewellyn looks at me expectantly. I look blank, shrugging and shaking my head. "Aren't you going to stop him?"

"No? Bastards had him chained up for seventy years. They deserve everything they get, as do the moral vacuums who enabled them. I'd make sure he has a list of names and faces before he tears down any cities wholesale, but that's the limit of my largess."

"Oh. I-. Thought-."

"You..? Oh, I'm not a superhero. I'm actually trying to conquer your planet."

"… Oh."

"I just don't want to be a dick about it. Ah, so do you actually know anything about his physiology, or was your work here more speculative?"

"I was-. I'm a paleobiologist. My specialisation is working out how the bodies of-."

My eyes narrow. "You're the reason dinosaurs have feathers?!"

"Ah." She takes a step back. "It's-. They do-. Did. You've just got to look at their bone and skin structure-."

"But it's so lame!" I throw up my arms. "I used to like dinosaurs, and now they're just-. Giant… Turkeys." I sigh. "So they don't have any actual alien doctors or xenobiologists, so they hired the closest thing they could get. Fine, I understand." I read a Star Trek story where the Enterprise got the ship's vet to help with an injured alien because they were familiar with a wider variety of morphologies. "Have you actually made any plans for treatment?"

"I was still going through the records." She shakes her head. "I was really just here to advise the actual doctors." She glances back into the building in response to a particularly loud scream. "Who… Are dead, now."

"And nothing of value was lost. The Hippocratic Oath exists for a reason."

"They weren't-. They weren't here at the start-."

"Don't care. If they saw what was happening and didn't leave immediately, they got what was coming to them."

"I didn't-."

"Yeah. Lucky for you that I'm feeling nice, because he is worth far more to me than the population of this country."

Subjekt-17 bursts through a wall, forearms and face coated in blood and tiny pieces of torn flesh. He stands there, looking up and the sky and breathing heavily.

I take a few steps closer, putting myself between him and the other two. "Are you ready to move on?"

"Humans. I want to kill humans."

"We have records on everyone involved in this place. Everyone who did this to you, and everyone who knew about it. But I need your help with something first. You're not the only one something like this happened to."

His head twists to look at me. "There are other Subjekts?"

"Oh yes. More than a few. Will you help me rescue them? Will you help take revenge on the people who hurt them?"

"Yes. Where? Where are the other Subjekts?"

"A place in America called Area Fifty One, and a prison in China."

"We kill humans?"

"Some. We let the other Subjekts kill the people who hurt them. It's only fair."

"Then I will help. Where first?"
 
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He… Nods. It's an odd gesture to watch, given the structure of his neck

I'm guessing it's not a natural expression for his people, but he's seen humans do it and knows what it means.

been." Alright, Desaad stuck a few knives in me during training

Technically, he didn't.

Unless you're Actually Grayven that thinks he's Paul.

"I was-. I'm a paleobiology

"paleobiologist"

My eyes narrow. "You're the reason dinosaurs have feathers

Kill her! Do it now!

But it's so lame! I throw up my arms. "I used to

Add a " after "lame"

"But it's so lame! I throw up my arms. "I used to like dinosaurs, and now they're just-. Giant… Turkeys

I remember watching an American Dad episode where Steve astral projected himself back into the past and saw feathered dinosaurs.

One of them sounded like a chicken.

Don't care. If they saw what was happening and didn't leave immediately, they got what was coming to them."

Unless they were told that he invaded the planet and was captured.

After Zod's invasion, they may have been fully convinced that others tried something similar.

There's also the question of how much choice they actually had.

After seeing that the government was fully willing to torture someone for years they may have thought that if they refused then they'll join him on the vivisection table.
 
I take a few steps closer, putting myself between him and the other two. "Are you ready to move on?"

"Humans. I want to kill humans."

"We have records on everyone involved in this place. Everyone who did this to you, and everyone who knew about it. But I need your help with something first. You're not the only one something like this happened to."

His head twists to look at me. "There are other Subjekts?"

"Oh yes. More than a few. Will you help me rescue them? Will you help take revenge on the people who hurt them?"

"Yes. Where? Where are the other Subjekts?"

"A place in America called Area Fifty One, and a prison in China."

"We kill humans?"

"Some. We let the other Subjekts kill the people who hurt them. It's only fair."

"Then I will help. Where first?"
I am very curious as to what Hippolyta thinks of the Renegade after seeing this and hearing what he plans to do now. Also, is there anyone specific at those two locations that the Renegade wants to recruit?
 
I am very curious as to what Hippolyta thinks of the Renegade after seeing this and hearing what he plans to do now. Also, is there anyone specific at those two locations that the Renegade wants to recruit?

I'm honestly wondering if we'll see some Kryptonians that may have been captured.
 
Ah, so the point is to target his desire for revenge to... productive endeavors, if you will.

I'm still not sure how that transitions into getting this guy into a Superhero team, though, which is essentially what he told Hippolyta he was trying to do, no?

And I wholeheartedly believe in science... but I'm also mad that now dinosaurs have feathers and Pluto isn't a main planet anymore. But we have to accept it, if not, we are no better than the ice wall and flat earth lunatics we have running around.
 
I'm still not sure how that transitions into getting this guy into a Superhero team, though, which is essentially what he told Hippolyta he was trying to do, no

Looking back, he may not be trying to do that. At least not in the traditional sense.

I think he's planning on staging an attack on Earth and he's recruiting people like Subjekt here to help him with the charade.

He's basically taking Steppenwolf's place in this scenario and is planning on having the League form by trying to stop him.
 
17th November 2017
11:47 GMT +5


"Have you started?"

I hold up the half-empty injection system. It looks disturbingly bodged together, and I'd be astonished to learn that they'd tested it properly.
Worrying, that he didn't feel that at all. Either he's got so many aches and pains that being carved open like that didn't even register, or his people have a strange pain response. I'd be worried about his long-term health, but he's been around for seventy years so far...

"Yes. Healing your wounds now." I point the healing ray at him. "Though if you genuinely didn't feel that, I think we need to get a doctor from your own species to look at you, because you might have damage to your nervous system."

"Uh. Feel it slightly. So much pain. Didn't stand out."
Ah, yes. Because when your baseline is enough to make a regular person scream, one more sting doesn't even get a mention.

The hole I dug in his chest starts regrowing at an acceptable speed. I… Could try using in on the stitches holding his head and chest together, but I'm really not qualified to deal with this and I feel uncomfortable doing anything experimental on someone so used to experimentation. Not when someone's life isn't on the line.

"Take mask off?"
Given the way his face was described, I can't picture it being comfortable.

"It'll still take a little while for the drugs in your bloodstream to fully purge themselves. Leave it on for a few minutes more, unless you start to feel… Uh, unwell."

He looks at me with an odd expression. "Nearly laughed."
Gee, how would he tell? :rolleyes:

The wound I made finishes healing. I give it a few seconds more, then shut off the beam. "Okay, that's done. Let me know if.. it-. Starts hurting more."

He… Nods. It's an odd gesture to watch, given the structure of his neck.
Like Darko said, it's probably not a natural movement. I suspect a subvocal warble would be the more likely response alongside a telepathic pulse. But he's never experienced his own people's responses, so...

"Now, I'm sure that you've got a whole list of people you want to tear apart for what they did to you, and you're perfectly justified in that desire. But I was wondering if you could help me with something first."

He looks down at the facility where he was being held. "Humans right here."
Now, now. Business first, fun vengeance later.

"The people who did this to you are still here?"

"Humans are still here. You… Like me."
Obviously he's going to assume all humans are like the ones that hurts him, after all.

"I'm not from this planet. I was never treated as you have been." Alright, Desaad stuck a few knives in me during training but that's not the same as seventy years of torture. "I can take you back to your planet if you're not up to-."

"This planet!"
It's the only one he's known, after all.

Ah. I suppose he was born here. Unlike America, Britain doesn't have citizenship by birth so it didn't really occur to me that he'd think of it that way.

"I'm sorry. Your species' homeworld. You have relatives there. Family."
Anyone know what the situation would have been like in the USSR roughly the year he was born? Be amusing if he eventually decided to run for Premier. Or president, or whatever Russia of this Earth has going.

"No family. No family."

Ah… I take a step closer and gingerly give him a hug… Which.. I.. realise is probably the first one he's had in his entire life. Damn. He doesn't hug me back with his arms, but he does rest his chin on my left shoulder for a moment. And at the end of that moment I feel the tension enter his body and his muscles tense.
Probably half-confused at what you're doing, but feeling the empathy in it and responding to it. Kid really needs a mum and dad.

Psychic senses, or...

I separate and look down-. Doctor Llewellyn and Hippolyta are darting out, arms full of binders and hanging files. Old paperwork. I-.

He's diving at them-.
Ah, right, the ladies. Probably should have guessed he wouldn't take kindly to their presence.

"Waitwaitwait-" I head down after him. "-waitwait-."

Hippolyta drops her load and prepares to-. Die fighting, but I put a wall between them and Subjekt-17 stops rather than charge through it.
He may be wondering why the Renegade is trying to protect them, and since he's shown he can outfight Seventeen...

He glares at me, gesturing with his right arm. "Humans!"

"Hippolyta has lived on an island with no contact with the outside world for three thousand years. Doctor Llewellyn was here to heal you. If you want the people responsible…" I scan the building. "They're still inside. But it's-"
Surprising, I would have though they'd be driving for the hills by now.

He flies up and then smashes down through the upper levels of the building and into the secure laboratories, the gas mask construct failing as he breaching the site.

"-interrogate, then eradicate." Hm.
...I don't think he's much interested in talking, Renegade. If he's got any telepathic abilities, he might rip information out of their minds, but for the most part... He's going to be painting the base red.

Doctor Llewellyn looks at me expectantly. I look blank, shrugging and shaking my head. "Aren't you going to stop him?"

"No? Bastards had him chained up for seventy years. They deserve everything they get, as do the moral vacuums who enabled them. I'd make sure he has a list of names and faces before he tears down any cities wholesale, but that's the limit of my largess."
Just because he's not evil, doesn't mean he has to be nice.

"Oh. I-. Thought-."

"You..? Oh, I'm not a superhero. I'm actually trying to conquer your planet."
Admittedly, this world might not even have the term 'superhero', though Superman had made some efforts in that field.

"… Oh."

"I just don't want to be a dick about it. Ah, so do you actually know anything about his physiology, or was your work here more speculative?"
And do you know what they did to him, more or less?

"I was-. I'm a paleobiology. My specialisation is working out how the bodies of-."

My eyes narrow. "You're the reason dinosaurs have feathers?!"

"Ah." She takes a step back. "It's-. They do-. Did. You've just got to look at their bone and skin structure-."
And they are rather cute. But dammit, I prefer the dragon-adjacent classic style.

"But it's so lame! I throw up my arms. "I used to like dinosaurs, and now they're just-. Giant… Turkeys." I sigh. "So they don't have any actual alien doctors or xenobiologists, so they hired the closest thing they could get. Fine, I understand." I read a Star Trek story where the Enterprise got the ship's vet to help with an injured alien because they were familiar with a wider variety of morphologies. "Have you actually made any plans for treatment?"
That is true. Unless they super-specialise in a particular field (like, Dogs, Cats, Birds, that sort of thing) Vets are a sort of prototype xenobiologist, having to know a bit about all manner of non-human physiologies...

"I was still going through the records." She shakes her head. "I was really just here to advise the actual doctors." She glances back into the building in response to a particularly loud scream. "Who… Are dead, now."

"And nothing of value was lost. The Hippocratic Oath exists for a reason."
Look at it this way, Doc: You might be able to become the world's first experienced xenobiologist. :p

"They weren't-. They weren't here at the start-."

"Don't care. If they saw what was happening and didn't leave immediately, they got what was coming to them."
All it takes for evil to persist is for good men to do nothing. Of course, depending on the right good man...

"I didn't-."

"Yeah. Lucky for you that I'm feeling nice, because he is worth far more to me that the population of this country."
I hope that sculpted onesie includes a diaper, otherwise she might just be feeling a little soggy right now...

Subjekt-17 bursts through a wall, forearms and face coated in blood and tiny pieces of torn flesh. He stands there, looking up and the sky and breathing heavily.

I take a few steps closer, putting myself between him and the other two. "Are you ready to move on?"
And perhaps he found that vengeance isn't the relief he thought it would be, perhaps. Or he's just disappointed they died so quickly.

"Humans. I want to kill humans."

"We have records on everyone involved in this place. Everyone who did this to you, and everyone who knew about it. But I need your help with something first. You're not the only one something like this happened to."
Which is significant. Given that for the most part, before Superman went public, no-one knew there were aliens about, did they?

His head twists to look at me. "There are other Subjekts?"

"Oh yes. More than a few. Will you help me rescue them? Will you help take revenge on the people who hurt them?"
Don't sound so eager, Renegade.

"Yes. Where? Where are the other Subjekts?"

"A place in America called Area Fifty One, and a prison in China."
Interesting. I wonder who... We'll find out soon, I bet.

"We kill humans?"

"Some. We let the other Subjekts kill the people who hurt them. It's only fair."

"Then I will help. Where first?"
Nice to see he's enthusiastic, at least. Pity about the subject of that enthusiasm.

That went... Surprisingly well. I would have expected him to press the attack on the ladies, but maybe he realised they weren't like the one who hurt him. They wouldn't be as afraid, for one thing. Still, if they can keep his aggression pointed at deserving targets, the Renegade might be able to make use of him. Now, who's next on the list, I wonder?
 

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