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

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Granted, OL isn't the type, but I wonder what Hawkwoman's plan was, or if she even thought about, if OL just up and crippled her ass. To say nothing of how everyone else would react.
 
Maxx Crowley said:
Granted, OL isn't the type, but I wonder what Hawkwoman's plan was, or if she even thought about, if OL just up and crippled her ass. To say nothing of how everyone else would react.
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Her aim was to prove that she would fight even if that was a possibility.

Thanagarian medical technology is pretty good. If he didn't actually kill her all that would happen is that she'd have a few months out on Thanagar. Unlike Hawkgirl 12 she's still on good terms with home office.
 
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Mr Zoat said:
Why would the Renegade try?

On the SI side, the revolution started more or less by accident when Adom stopped the government cracking down on demonstrators. In the Renegade timeline, that's already happened.

On the SI side, Adom had to do for a model with a weak central government because so many officials were killed. That hasn't happened in the Renegade timeline.
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Generally speaking, all the red is a good way to have even more diplomatic incidents than Paragon Adom has had, even ignoring other issues.
 
Ganurath said:
Oi! @T0PH4T needed in Aisle 16B!
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*twitches*

Do I look like Datcord to you? To be summoned when one desires an omake or sees something remotely romantic? Is that what I've become?



Black Magic

Karen didn't know what she had done in her previous life to deserve this, but surely it couldn't've been enough to justify the impending doom about to befall her.

"I would like to request a table for two," Teth Adom said, looking down from almost two heads above her, face politely neutral, seemingly ignorant of the gazes of the other customers and the emerging cell phones. The statement was phrased like a request, but anything that came out of the mouth of a peer to Superman was closer to an absolute decree.

"Of course," she distantly felt herself say, a fragile smile etching itself across her face. "Please, follow me," she said, motioning towards a table on the balcony, normally reserved for couples. On reflex, she handed him a menu, poured him coffee, and nodded politely when he asked for a few minutes to wait for his companion. She signaled to an equally shell-shocked Eric that she was taking a break, drifted to the employee bathroom, and proceeded to have a small break down, all quiet laughs and gentle rocking in place. After she had let out the excess jitters, she re-did her make up, took a few sips from the emergency vodka behind the mirror, and went back to the table.

"Would you like anything to drink?" she asked, shoving down the frantic nervousness and putting on a mask of professionalism. He's just another customer, she told herself. A customer that used to be a mass-murdering super-villain, but a customer. Or was that Black Adam? She didn't remember the details of the trial.

The probably-not-a-super-villain looked up from the menu, eyes surprisingly relaxed. "Do you have wine?" he asked. Karen nodded mechanically, motioning to the list in the center of the table.

"Local vintages, mainly, but we have a few nicer bottles from Europe," she said mechanically. Technically, she couldn't serve alcohol for another hour and a half. On the other hand, Eric was more than welcome to explain liquor laws to the demigod. "We also have a selection of beers and spirits available should you find none of our offerings to your liking."

"Serve me whatever you yourself are partial to," he said, waving his hand dismissively. Karen felt an emptiness open in her stomach as she nodded and walked away, slowly as she could, snagging a decorative bowl off the wall and a bottle of the most bitter red she could find. The other diners gave her awkward looks, but she was too busy desperately trying to recall ancient Greek dining customs to be bothered.

Besides, what's a little embarrassment when compared to a negative Yelp review from a metahuman?

By the time Karen returned, the one-third-water-two-thirds-wine-filled bowl held carefully before her in both hands, Teth Adom was no longer alone. A scarlet-haired woman, the color so truly red Karen had to wonder if it was a dye job, had sat down across from him, both laughing at some unheard joke.

"And who is this?" the red head asked, looking up at Karen. Karen blinked once, a deer in the headlights, as she took in the woman's eyes. Red as freshly-spilled blood and sparkling with merriment and madness, they spoke of sex, magic and murder in equal measures.

"I have yet to ask," Adom said, closing his menu and shifting his gaze from the beauty across from him to Karen, who was suddenly far more aware of the extra five pounds around her stomach. "Please, grace us with your name."

"So polite!" the woman laughed, and if the birds didn't chirp in tune with the sound it was only because the windows were closed.

"Karen," she said quietly. "Wine?" she asked, lifting the bowl in her arms slightly. Adom lifted his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled.

"The first restaurant I have found that serves it properly," he murmured quietly, holding out his glass. "An auspicious start to the evening." The woman smirked, holding hers out as well.

"Traditions have changed since you last walked the world," she said lightly, observing Karen's pouring with a critical eye. "These days fermented beverages typically come in corked glass bottles, far stronger than the near-water we drank oh so long ago."

"Really?" Adom said, brows furrowing as he looked to the wall. "Would one not fall over sick after drinking but a single bottle, then?"

"One typically does," the woman said, smiling as she sipped at her own glass. "Child, where did you learn how to mix wine?"

"I study ancient Greece," Karen said, arms straining from the effort of holding up the bowl. "Kahndaqi traditions are similar, so I defaulted to what I knew." She awkwardly placed the too-heavy bowl, still more than half-full, on a nearby table, resisting the urge to shake out her arms.

"Hmm," the woman said, amusement creeping into her tone. "Tell me, what do you know of mythology?"

"I'm writing my thesis on the Iliad and modern adaptations," Karen said, relaxing slightly as the subject approached something she was familiar with. "I've had to become familiar with the surrounding literature in order to properly appreciate the context."

"Guess my name," the woman said, setting down her goblet and leaning back in her chair. Adom sighed.

"Must you play your games?" he asked. The woman tisked.

"Let a lady have her way," she said, never turning away from Karen. "I will even offer you a hint: the Odyssey." Karen paused, gathering her thoughts.

"Athena?" she tried. The woman laughed and Adom looked out the window cautiously.

"Flattering, but no," she said. "Two chances left," the woman sang. Karen wracked her brain, jumping to the first woman who sprang to her mind.

"Calypso?" she asked. The woman sighed, shaking her head.

"That dear girl is still trapped on that island of hers," she said, and Teth Adom scowled.

"Even now, the logic of her exile escapes me," he muttered, punctuating the statement with several long gulps. Karen took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and exhaled.

When she opened them, she took in her surroundings.

Where there had been an up-scale and cozy cafe and fluorescent lighting, there was now an open garden, verdant and lush, lit by the gentle glow of the setting sun. The scent of earth, flowers, and nature permeated the air, and other patrons were beginning to notice the shift in scenery, crying out in distress and wonder by turn. The cutlery has transformed from stainless steel to a lighter silver, glass to gold, and elegant wire-frame chairs to full-length chaise lounges.

"Circe," Karen said, oddly at peace. The red-headed woman put on a smile, one that showed every year she had lived.

"Do tell your chef what to cook for us," Circe said, tossing her menu aside, the paper dissolving into butterflies halfway to the floor. "Let us see the extent of your knowledge."

*****

Three courses, several pointed questions, and far too many embarrassingly frank statements of desire between the two powered individuals later and the couple were walking towards the entrance, arm in arm and wearing expressions of good cheer.

"This has been a wonderful evening," Teth Adom said, nodding once to Karen, who had relaxed into something approaching normal. "I thank you for your hospitality and grace."

"Indeed. It was refreshing to meet someone with even the most basic grasp of my preferred dining customs," Circe added, with a smile that made Karen feel that her shirt was a size too small and blood a degree too hot.

"Just doing my job," she replied, holding open the door. "Have a good night," she added as the two superhumans stepped onto the street, the changes to the cafe already retreating.

"Ah, but we must pay!" Circe said, snapping her fingers and spinning on her heel. "Unfortunately, I lack the paper you mortals exchange in the place of gold."

"I regret to inform you that I too am bereft of common currency," Teth Adom said, regret crossing his face. Karen shook her head, leaning against the door and looking up at the sky with unfocused eyes.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "You guys showing up will do more for business than anything short of a recommendation from a god."

"Nonetheless, the scales must be balanced," Circe said, a focused expression crossing her face as she lifted her hand, palm up. A bowl appeared, shining pewter and engraved with letters that looked like Greek but certainly weren't. "Here," she said, holding it out as if it weighed little more than a feather. "Fill it with water and enjoy later." Karen blinked, accepting the oddly-light bowl with both hands. When she looked up, the two beings were gone, only the scent of sand and grapes there to mark the missing presences.

*****

"This is stupid," Karen muttered, pouring a bottle of Aquafina into the bowl after being yelled at by Eric for not charging the two metahumans. Well, not yelled at (few would fault her for turning over the register as well), but strongly talked to about 'risk to other customers' and 'not indulging psychopaths.' Karen sighed, staring at the water. When nothing happened, she sighed again, rolled her eyes, and lugged the bowl over to the sink.

"Stupid witches and their stupid gifts that don't do anything," she muttered, pouring the contents out of the bowl. "Showing up on my shift because I totally deserve-"

And then she smelled hops.

Karen stopped pouring and looked in the bowl again. That was definitely red, and that scent was definitely alcohol. Karen leaned down, sniffing the liquid, and blinked at the slight burn in her eyes.

Wine.

For a moment, she sat still, gaping. Then common sense asserted itself and she dug out her phone, going to the group chat and hammering out a quick text.

'Prty 2nite, i hav magic wine.'

They were going to get wasted.
 
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T0PH4T said:
Oddessey
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Odyssey

but no" she said
but no," she said

first woman who sprung
first woman who sprang

cultry has transformed
cutlery had transformed

embarrassingly-frank
Words ending in "-ly" don't need the hyphen, so just "embarrassingly frank"

a degree to hot
a degree too hot

over the sink
over to the sink

desrve
deserve
 
parnary said:
Ha! I've been here for 6 months and this is my first live Omake!
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Glad I made you laugh!

Ganurath said:
Now that you mention it, you both have skulls in hats for avatars.

A lovely Omake, though.
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If people start pinging me to write shit I'm blaming/thanking you.

ThrawnCA said:
Odyssey

but no" she said
but no," she said

first woman who sprung
first woman who sprang

cultry has transformed
cutlery had transformed

embarrassingly-frank
Words ending in "-ly" don't need the hyphen, so just "embarrassingly frank"

a degree to hot
a degree too hot

over the sink
over to the sink

desrve
deserve
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THANK YOU. 10/10, #1 proofreader SV
 
So, is Renegade Paul ever going to crossover with Paragon's universe?

I need to know, because I'm wondering if I should go back and actually read the Renegade side.
 
Shadow Archon said:
So, is Renegade Paul ever going to crossover with Paragon's universe?

I need to know, because I'm wondering if I should go back and actually read the Renegade side.
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You should go back and actually read the Renegade side because it's good. Renegade's chapters in the first season were rocky because all of the buildup that made various episodes' endings feel deserved only happened on the Paragon side, so it felt like Renegade wasn't properly challenged, but that went away as the two routes diverged near the end of the first season and was gone entirely once Renegade finally had episodes of his own during the second. "Aberration" was... also rough... because so few people had heard of the sub-setting before that it might as well have been an original creation (and then Paragon experienced the same effect that Renegade had fallen victim to above), but "Stars, Crossed (Parts 1+2)" are among the best episodes of the entire series and Renegade's half of the season two finale, "Last Supper," was on a similar tier.
 
SwiftRosenthal said:
You should go back and actually read the Renegade side because it's good. Renegade's chapters in the first season were rocky because all of the buildup that made various episodes' endings feel deserved only happened on the Paragon side, so it felt like Renegade wasn't properly challenged, but that went away as the two routes diverged near the end of the first season and was gone entirely once Renegade finally had episodes of his own during the second. "Aberration" was... also rough... because so few people had heard of the sub-setting before that it might as well have been an original creation (and then Paragon experienced the same effect that Renegade had fallen victim to above), but "Stars, Crossed (Parts 1+2)" are among the best episodes of the entire series and Renegade's half of the season two finale, "Last Supper," was on a similar tier.
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Zoat really shouldn't have made the first real Renegade chapter or near it the Ogre thing. That... did not do a good number on reader retention, I'm willing to guess.
 
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Sorrow said:
Circe: I wonder if that stamina extends to Other endeavors?
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Physical attractiveness isn't what Circe look for in a partner. Her main turn-ons are power, ruthlessness and class, and those are three things Adom is in considerable quantities.
SpokenSoftly said:
there was some sort of limit reached in the first post, I think. Nothing to do with thread length.
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Yes, I literally couldn't post anything in the contents post.
 
In response to a request from @teamfireyleader, I'm posting this here in order to trigger people's alerts.

Anyone who hadn't read the below post yet, please update your notifications to the new thread.

_________________________________________​

12th November
17:32 GMT -5

"So… This is it, huh?" Dr Highwater carefully lifts the Medusa Mask from the padded Justice League case Lantern Stewart transported it in.

"Yeah."

Lantern Stewart doesn't look entirely happy about this, but KordTech has all of the licences required to analyse supervillain technology and is the only surface world site with enough qualified magic users to produce useful results with arcane equipment. If anyone is going to do something with this, it's KordTech.

Dr Highwater performs a brief visual inspection. "Mask is gold in color, but weighs more than this volume of gold should. Mask…" He prods it. "Is immobile, despite reports that it can form expressions. Mask has no visible way to attach itself to the wearer's face, despite reports that it remains attached during strenuous physical activity."

"Kid Flash was able to pull it off Roger Hayden's face just prior to his arrest."

"But why didn't it fall off?" He holds it up slightly. "I mean: look at it."

He's right. Not only is it taller than a normal man's face, it isn't clear how it was able to stay on Mr Hayden's face at all.

"It's a shame Charles Halstead wasn't able to provide a better explanation before he was committed." Dr Highwater tears his eyes away from the Mask to look at Lantern Stewart. "You're sure Mr Hayden hasn't suffered any of the same side effects?"

Lantern Stewart shakes his head. "Not according to the prison shrink."

Yes, that was something I hadn't known before I started reading up on the case. After getting a whole life sentence and passing his equipment on to Psycho-Pirate 2, Psycho-Pirate 1 gradually lost all ability to feel emotion. There are emotion-affecting magics which could have that effect, but that wouldn't explain why it stopped doing that for the second wearer.

"Mister Hayden claimed to have amalgamated the many masks Mister Halstead used into a single mask."

Dr Highwater nods. "Then I think we're ready for human testing."

I nod, and create a frame construct around the Mask. I remember that the comic version of this mask gave medium awareness but I haven't seen any sign of that in the League's records on either of the local Pirates. Which I suppose might mean that the Earth 2 version got that power not from the Mask but from living through the Crisis.

Lantern Stewart leans slightly to the left. "That seems a bit sudden."

"After.. what happened to Bobo, we decided that testing telepathic equipment on animals wasn't a good idea."

"How's the little scamp doing?"

"He's reached eighth grade now."

Lantern Stewart frowns. "Who's 'Bobo'?"

"He's the chimpanzee KordTech tested the updated Thinking Cap on. We've removed it now, but it appears to have given him human-equivalent intelligence." But not the capacity for speech. His vocal systems just aren't the right shape, so he mostly communicates by writing. "We're not.. really sure how, but we're not going to be testing it on any other chimps."

Lantern Stewart looks decidedly uncertain at that news. "So you're skipping straight to human testing?"

Dr Highwater nods. "Nothing in either Psycho-Pirate's background indicates a particular level of arcane knowledge, and Abraham Carlyle and Wolf Krieger were able to use it without any adverse side affects. This is just a quick trial run so I can get some idea of what it feels like to use, so I can pass that on to the arcanists so they can narrow down the range of things they're investigating. And we're not allowed to do human tests on objects of this class without a member of the Justice League being present."

"So it's my fault." Lantern Stewart nods. "Great."

"I don't think you understand exactly what this can do for the Green Lantern Corps."

"Make us all feel fear so we can train to work through it?"

"Why not just amp up your will?"

He frowns. "Is that possible? I didn't think that 'will power' was really an emotion."

"Should be. And the best thing about it is that it can affect as many people as the wearer can see. Marginally useful for a single Green Lantern, but in any situation where you need a whole task force…"

He nods. "One Lantern can hold back and enhance all of the rest."

"If they're a natural empath, they could use what they're doing to the rest of the force to enhance themselves as well. And they can suppress any conflicting emotions that the rookies are feeling."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Rookies shouldn't be in that sort of situation." He nods slowly. "But I take your point. That could dramatically cut down the casualties during major operations."

I beam. "Thank you for volunteering."

He blinks. "You want me to put that thing on?"

"No, of course not. Doctor Hightower is going to put it on and use it on you. I've already got recordings of how strong you are without it from our training sessions, now we just need to find out how strong a pre-m'eelam na'aquall Sector Lantern gets with it."

"Why don't we use it on you?"

"Do you want another giant cake?" He bows his head slightly, smiling as he does so. "Besides, I need to be available to yank the mask off Doctor Highwater if something goes wrong."

He nods. "Alright, but take things slowly."

Dr Highwater nods. "Of course. We don't even know if I can use it yet." He steps up to where I have the mask suspended in a head height frame. "Here goes."

He presses his face into the inside of the mask for a moment, then pulls it back. There's a slight tug on the frame, but otherwise I don't see anything unusual.

"Feel anything?"

"I felt it stick to my face, but I didn't get any sort of impression of the emotions around me. It might be that it only senses strong emotion, or it might be that the effect is only one way; it can create emotions but not detect them in the people around it."

"It put a small amount of pressure on the frame when you pulled back. It looks like it does stick. Try again?"

He nods, and presses his face back into it. "Okay, I'm-. It's moving, the mask is moving with my mouth as I speak. That.. feels.. weird."

"Yeah." Lantern Stewart walks around to the front. "I can confirm that from the outside. It looks different from how it looked when Krieger was wearing it, but that might be because your face is a different shape from his."

"Okay. If you're ready, I'll-" Lantern Stewart's ring flashes. "-try to-."

"Just a moment." He holds his ring out. "Go ahead."

"Batman to Green Lantern. The team was investigating a LexCorp facility in Argentina. They've just missed one of their scheduled check ins."

"I can head down there and take a look. What were they investigating?"

"A geology research center. I had no specific intelligence that they would meet any significant threats there."

"Understood." He glances at me. "Orange Lantern is here as well. Should I bring him along?"

"As if I'm giving you a choice."
 
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