Remove ads

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Reader mode
Empiricist2 said:
Question: if he did make a single barrier large enough to cover a significant portion of the east coast, would the strength of the barrier fluctuate based on how much he cares about the location it's protecting, or would it be of uniform strength equal to how much he cares about the east coast on average?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Probably depends on how he's thinking about it as he makes the barrier.
 
You know, while they're shielding the east coast, the supervillain thing to do would be to have Oceanus move and hit the west coast. Of Africa and Europe. Don't know what the North Atlantic ridge might be doing to shield Africa and Europe, but get them to shield the East coast of America, then blast the opposite direction.
 
It just occurred to me that he might be able to summon the desire, by wanting to keep the progress he has made removing pollution from the ocean. Avarice being as much about keeping as it is taking. It's more conceptual, about not wanting to go back. About wanting to keep his work undamaged.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Ugh?

I slowly become aware of the duvet around me. Something.. feels… Off.

I'm not sure.. what..?

No alarms, no sounds of weapons fire. No odd smell. Not an attack, okay. Ugh. Lights… Still on the night cycle. I usually sleep better than this. I look across the pillow to my bedside table, the dim orange glow of the rings illuminating my bedside clock.

20th June
05:02 GMT -5

Uhpfff. The worst time to wake up. I've got to be up in two hours, and my mind's already sufficiently alert that I'll struggle to get back to sleep. I turn my face away from the light source and press my right cheek into my pillow. Why did I wake up? After experimenting with a white noise generator I ended up just going with a sound deadening field. Really loud noises get through fine, but sounds from other rooms, the corridor or from the mountain's equipment gets stopped dead. No movement in the room, the temperature's fine. I have a dim recollection of a dream in which I was lying on a lilo on a beach… Or maybe a desert… Don't remember it being particularly scary, though.

"Green Lantern to Orange Lantern."

Euh. What does Jordan want? I turn back over and sluggishly lift my right arm out of the duvet, waving it in the general direction of the rings. At this time of the morning I have too little desire to call the rings to me. The third flap results in my palm making contact with them, my fingers wrapping around the uppermost and knocking the lower one onto the floor.

"Orange Lantern here, sir. What can I do for-?"

"Ocean Master did it."

Fuckfuckfuckfuck! My mind sharpens, right ring finger going through the ring it's gripping even as the original ring flies around to land on my newly extruded left hand. Duvet and sheet evaporate as I rise into the air over my bed, power armour appearing from subspace.

"Oceanus is free?"

"If that's not Oceanus, I'd hate to think what it is."

A zeta tube construct forms around me, and a moment later I'm atop the KordTech building.

"Recognised-."

I transition upwards to the edge of the atmosphere and look down at the Atlantic Ocean spread out below me. Nothing much-. There's a grey cloud mass just to the west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, about two thousand kilometres from America's east coast. Ring, access weather satellites.

"Compliance."

Two hours of cloud and wind monitoring rush through my head. No, that's new. And it's slowly expanding. It doesn't appear to be moving yet…

"Don't look so big from up here, does it?" I half turn as Guy appears behind me. "C'mon, Lanterns are meetin' up on the coast."

I nod. Ring, detect will and transition.

Compliance.

Another flicker and I'm about five metres away from Lanterns Jordan and Stewart, both covered in green glowing construct armour.

"How.. bad..?"

A green cutaway image of the Atlantic appears just in front of Lantern Stewart. "Currents around Poseidonis, Tritonis and Crastinus are already so strong that they've had to call magicians back from the search just to keep them from being scoured from the seabed." The three cities are just on the US side of the Atlantic Ridge, which appears to be acting as a natural water break.

"'course..." Guy shrugs. "We don't really need to search anymore."

"Is Orm in there, or-?"

Jordan shakes his head. "Not our problem right now. Our problem is the tidal waves that are about to hit the east coast." He looks me over. "Think you can shield an area that size?"

John's image shifts, showing the water flowing over the land and marking the predicted area covered at full extension. Actual tidal waves don't look like the sort of mile high waves I remember from old cartoons. They aren't much taller than a person, but they're powerful and the water just keeps coming. Of course, those are just the normal waves caused by sudden earthquakes. Oceanus.. or Orm.. might be actively pushing. Or pushing and pulling. "You'll need to put it out to sea, from the sea bed. And make it tall. The water will just keep on pushing-."

I shake my head. "I'm-. I'm sorry, but that.. sort of area… That's well beyond me. I… I could probably shield Happy Harbour and New York, but-."

"Why not?" Jordan frowns "Yeah, it's a big area, but you don't need to make anything complicated to handle it."

"Because the east coast isn't mine. I don't own it. Complex constructs aren't a problem for me, but if I'm not invested in a place I can't.. do it. I mean, if this is the best idea we've got then I'll try…"

He frowns, eyes darting towards the storm clouds which presumably mark Oceanus' position. "How about with the snake?"

"She's got even less reason to care than I do. We.. might remain aware enough of what's going on to attack Oceanus, but.. maintaining a defence of places we've never even visited..? That's... I don't think that would work."

"Uh, great. Okay. If we work together, we should be able to."

"Hal." Guy looks thoughtful. "You know how I was… goin' on about… Abin Sur's ring picking you by dumb luck-."

"Guy, this is not the time."

Guy puffs up his cheeks, exhaling slowly as he stares out across the Atlantic. "I was jus' doin' the dumb.. macho thing. Y'know, puttin' down the other guy. You're a good man, an' a great Lantern." He turns in the air, looking at the confused Jordan. "Not sayin' I couldn'a done just as well, but… You've done good."

"Guy… What?"

"You wan'ed to know how come I could break free a' Klarion without help? I had help." He holds out his right hand in front of him, looking at his ring's sigil. "I was givin' it everything I had t' try an' get away.. and it wasn't enough. I open myself up t' anything that was listening." He lowers his ring. "This has to happen, an' we ain't enough. So I guess I gotta ask fer help again."

"Well… Yeah, that would be great, but-."

"Ion." Guy's eyes burn with green light, green vapour wafting from his body. "I'm not enough. Not by myself. No ego here. Use me, burn me up, whatever. I don't care, but this doesn't happen, you hear me? I'm not gunna let millions of people die just because it's impossible t' save them."

"Guy, you've been spending too much time with Lantern Toren. I'm pretty sure Ion doesn't work like-."

"Warning, extreme will detected."

Guy's body flares with green light! I'm forced back, and the other two drift away as well.

"We are in alignment." Guy… Ion gestures, and a green barrier appears below us and then spreads out both north and south. It's got to be a hundred metres thick.

Ring, is that enough?

Unable to calculate. However, available evidence suggests that the barrier will serve as intended.

John stares at our brilliantly glowing colleague, then turns to me with a frown. "You knew about this?"

"I watched him turn off Jordan's ring with a thought. I suggested he keep quiet about it."

Jordan shakes his head. "We can have this out later. Batman, the coast is secure. Where do you want us next?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So.

It's nice that the US eastern seaboard is safe, but ...

What about literally everything else that touches the north atlantic?!
 
aeqnai said:
One would hope the former Brit might, seeing as how Britannia is about to get Ruled by the Waves.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's probably a number of different reasons why they aren't too concerned about the eastern North Atlantic at the moment.

Chiefly, I would like to imagine that Poseidon and the rest of the Greek gods (who live over there) are mad as hell and are putting boots to ass to try to resolve this situation
 
MMKII said:
Also, whats the deal with Guys green quote marks? Does he have Will enlightenment or not?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So far, I've been lead to believe that quote marks are less from enlightenment and more "pervasive but not specific presence of the involved element."

If you see green words, they're being willful in that moment. If you see green quote marks, green is just part of who they are at that moment.

This explains why John Stewart from Justice Lord universe had it, as well as that rage enlightenment guy from a while back.
 
Silverias said:
So far, I've been lead to believe that quote marks are less from enlightenment and more "pervasive but not specific presence of the involved element."

If you see green words, they're being willful in that moment. If you see green quote marks, green is just part of who they are at that moment.

This explains why John Stewart from Justice Lord universe had it, as well as that rage enlightenment guy from a while back.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ah! That's who I must be confusing Guy with at the moment. I knew there was a Lantern character around that time that had the green quotes! Of course, it was JusticeLords Stewart and not in Paragons universe...
 
The Ophidian wouldn't care about a location? That doesn't seem to make sense. To the Ophidian everything is hers. Nonsense to allow some jumped up elemental to just destroy it.

I'm definately put off at how she couldn't protect the coast. Guess she's just not as ambitious as I thought
 
Sckarred said:
The Ophidian wouldn't care about a location? That doesn't seem to make sense. To the Ophidian everything is hers. Nonsense to allow some jumped up elemental to just destroy it.

I'm definately put off at how she couldn't protect the coast. Guess she's just not as ambitious as I thought
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think Paul's concern is that he wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to be of help in the timespan that they need to act (absurdly soon, and absurdly quickly).
 
Selias said:
Guyon?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Guyon.
Mr Zoat said:
On the plus side, the Green Whale of Will doesn't seem to have a problem with me. Bad news is, I've got no idea how to handle it if Guyon becomes a full time thing.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Sckarred said:
The Ophidian wouldn't care about a location? That doesn't seem to make sense.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ophidian/Paulphidian is scatterbrained. On a scale of 1-10 they want everything at 11, which means they have no focus. No prioritization; everything is of the same importance to them. Consider all the vital, world changing things Paulphidian could have done instead of baking a giant cake.

Realizing that weakness was the insight that led the Ophidian to go for their current relationship in the first place.
 
I presume that Oceanis is manifesting in giant form.

If so then, Paul could get help from some superheroes with practice in fighting giant foes- The Ultimon Society.

Yes, DC comics has Ultraman pastiches running around as Japan's anti-kaiju defense force.

Wally could narrate the wrestling match. "And Ultimon has Oceanis, he's going for a suplex. Man, that had to hurt!"
 
So obviously the SI can't butt his head against the problem until he can make a barrier to block the tsunami, but that's not an orange way of thinking. How about using shiny toys to solve the problem?

We know that there have to be plenty of artificial gravity generators in his tech database, and he has plenty of ways of generating electricity. How about making a gravity generator with as large an area of effect as possible with the gravity pointing towards the tsunami, then feed it power from bleed torsion generators?
Mr Zoat said:
"Ion." Guy's eyes burn with green light, green vapour wafting from his body. "I'm not enough. Not by myself. No ego here. Use me, burn me up, whatever. I don't care, but this doesn't happen, you hear me? I'm not gunna let millions of people die just because it's impossible t' save them."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You know, we actually don't know if Guy survives here. Or if any other member of the League will die. It's a huge threat, and we don't have any meta information about if someone keeps living after this point. Actually rather nice not to know.
Broovian said:
Couldn't they put someone he sees as his and use the want for their safety to shield the east coast? Or would they have to disperse the team around the east coast so that he can want it badly enough.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't think that would work. Through flight, magic, super speed, sheer toughness, or some combination of the above, all but two members of the Team could easily survive a tsunami. The only ones who can't are Speedy (who seriously needs to choose a new name) and Beryl, and that's if they forget to wear their flight belts.
Silveraith said:
I think the barrier would collapse around the edges before collapsing entirely to his position. The barrier's strength wouldn't be strongest for what he cares about most and weak in others or even do an average but likely do a "lowest common denominator" and put the strength at that. In this case: some random shack along the coast; the only good thing though is that as the edges collapse the strength increases because his own life starts to become in greater danger.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Interesting thought. I wonder if it works this way.

Although I disagree about his life being in danger. He can fly. Waves don't do much to him.
RichardWhereat said:
It's a new thing in DC comics. Phantom Corps. The ring does anything you want it to, doesn't care who its owner is, or their emotional state.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's.. boring. 75% of the interesting part of a power ring is the need to be emotionally invested in what you're doing, and getting yourself into the right state of mind to use the ring. For example, would this story be improved if the SI never had to learn anything about himself to use his ring, never had to care at all about what he was doing? I don't think so.
Mr Zoat said:
You don't achieve number two. You fail to achieve number one.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
"If you're not first, you're last."
Bakkasama said:
Paul takes off his rings to sleep? I thought that ended when he was attacked in the bathroom.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's fine to do so in a properly defended mountain fortress.
Mr Zoat said:
. I open myself up t' anything that was listening.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Opened?
 
Ellf said:
... Is that what Leviathan looks like? Damn, my mental image was way off.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Mine had less of a defined "neck starts torso ends".
MMKII said:
There's probably a number of different reasons why they aren't too concerned about the eastern North Atlantic at the moment.

Chiefly, I would like to imagine that Poseidon and the rest of the Greek gods (who live over there) are mad as hell and are putting boots to ass to try to resolve this situation
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think more than just the Greek ones. A time for the other religions to get a boost and the narratively boring "omnigod" to take a backseat. Dresden Files is the only time I recall "omnideity" being handled properly in a story.
readerdreamer said:
I wonder though, how Willpower can function as Enlightenment, and how this alignment would last. I mean, Paulphidian primarily functioned by doing whatever they wanted, but Willpower?

Willpower is goal-centric, but almost blindingly so. This shall be done, but afterwards? What would happen afterwards? At least avarice wants everything, but Willpower needs guidance before it can achieve anything. Once this is all over, what would happen to Guy?

He'll likely be as all over the place just as much as Paulphidian, I reckon. Paulphidian wanted to be accepted, wanted their friends and family, but Guyion has to do his dues.

Hero-work, peace-keeping, justice, hey maybe Guy will even get to sorting out minor things that he pushed to another time, like for example washing the dishes and cleaning his house. Maybe morality will be lost in translation there somewhere, maybe not!

Hmmm... I wonder what will happen to Guy after this. Will he make a similar relationship to Ion as Paul did for the Ophidian? Or will he simply try to cut the connection?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Willpower is also Ego/Pride, think the bits of Malfeas that aren't about RAEG!, or about Isidoros.

"My will be done." "My opinion is The Opinion." "CANT BE STOPPED, CAN BE COBVINCED TO CHANGE COURSE!" "DOESN'T NOTICE SMOL CREECHURS, BE TOL IF YOU WANT TO BE HEARD!"
 
Last edited:
Science said:
I think more than just the Greek ones. A time for the other religions to get a boost and the narratively boring "omnigod" to take a backseat. Dresden Files is the only time I recall "omnideity" being handled properly in a story.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Presence hasn't shown up yet in this fic, directly or indirectly iirc. The Judeo-Christian pantheon of demons has at least but that's about it.

I think the balance of powers in WTR is narratively satisfying regardless
 
MMKII said:
Presence hasn't shown up yet in this fic, directly or indirectly iirc. The Judeo-Christian pantheon of demons has at least but that's about it.

I think the balance of powers in WTR is narratively satisfying regardless
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I was bitching in general about "crappy omnideity implementation", after the comment about the non-Abrahamic deities maybe getting off their asses.
 
Reader mode
40,416 more messages…
Status
Not open for further replies.
Remove ads
Back
Top