Episode 8: Initiative
Takes place August 27-September 2.
Short version
Paul locates the headquarters of the League of Shadows and arranges for the Justice League to destroy it, although some of the high-ranking Shadows escape.
Longer version
After defending the Team from an attack by a nigh-indestructible clay monster, "Clayface", Paul is upset by the possibility that Clayface is dead at his hand, and seeks answers. Following up on the brief glimpse he had into Clayface's soul, Paul tracks down Talia al Ghul, daughter of the League of Shadows' leader, and questions her. She reveals that her father, Ra's al Ghul, sent Clayface after Batman in retaliation for foiling his plans of mass destruction. Paul ridicules Ra's plans for being poorly thought out and biased toward unnecessary villainy, tells her about the sister whom she didn't know she had and whom Ra's abandoned in a concentration camp for being too independent, then leaves her.
Wanting to punish Ra's for his actions, Paul locates the Shadows' headquarters on Infinity Island, copies their records, destroys their transportation and communications, and steals the Lazarus Pit that is used to revive Ra's any time he is killed. He then reports to Batman, who arranges for the Justice League to immediately follow up, attacking the island and arresting those still present; however, Ra's and various other leaders are missing, and Paul can no longer find them with ring scans. Batman is pleased by the operation's success, but annoyed that Paul didn't coordinate with the League in advance to plan it properly.
Paul later makes contact with John Constantine and requests his help in fixing Paul's vulnerability to magic. He also visits Atlantis, where he forms a partnership with a magic artificer, Sephtian, offering to manufacture arcane materials and designs of previously unreachable quality (with his ring's ability to reshape matter) if Sephtian can enchant them — starting with defensive amulets.
Equivalent canon episode: "Downtime". In contrast to the canon episode's focus on Aqualad's visit to Atlantis to clear his head, "Initiative" is all about Paul taking the fight to the League of Shadows and dealing their organisation a heavy blow.
- Boom, Headshot!: Paul takes the time to line up a precision shot on Ra's, ensuring that there are no other casualties.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Mr Zoat points out the pros and cons
of having more rules to follow when using a power ring. - Death Is Cheap: OL doesn't know what the Lazarus Pit looks like, so he shoots Ra's al Ghul in the head and waits for the mooks to take the body there. A few hours later, Ra's is up and about again.
- Didn't Think This Through: This is what annoyed Batman: that Paul didn't plan for the aftermath and follow-up of his initial assault on Infinity Island. He did cripple their mundane transportation, but didn't talk to the League about finishing the job until afterwards, and wasn't prepared for them to use magic to escape despite being painfully aware that magic can beat power rings.
- Dropping the Bombshell: Paul reveals that he has tracked down Talia, attacked and crippled Infinity Island, is capable of killing people (he killed Ra's al Ghul, something the Green Lanterns are incapable of doing), and has stolen a Lazarus Pit. The looks and reactions he gets from Batman and Flash cement it.
- Internal Reveal: OL tells Talia that she has a sister who was abandoned in a concentration camp.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The Team splits up in order to quickly locate Clayface. This proves to be the wrong decision as Clayface then takes them down one at a time.
- No Kill like Overkill: Paul was in a rush when he disabled Clayface, so he didn't have time to carefully calibrate his attack.Paul: I'm not sure exactly how much gamma radiation I hit him with, but if I dropped the shield Gotham would probably melt.
- And even then, Clayface turns out to be Not Quite Dead when brainwaves can still be detected from him.
- Storming the Castle: Downplayed and offscreen. The Justice League is able to take Infinity Island with little problem thanks to Paul destroying their defenses and vehicles.
- Super-Toughness: Being made of mud, Clayface is extremely difficult to kill. He's essentially immune to kinetic force, and even baking him hard merely disabled him.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: OL gives one to Talia about her father. He doesn't hold back and outright calls him a nutter who chooses to use nonsensical means when he could use more sane methods of reducing the population.
- Wham Episode: OL shows the Justice League what he is capable of on his own and it is massive. Thanks to him, a large part of the League of Shadows has been apprehended and the League now has a Lazarus Pit they can study. He also reveals that he is not as restricted as the Green Lanterns when it comes to how he uses his ring.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Hal gives Paul grief over his methods and says that heroes should have the moral high ground over criminals.
- Paul counters that, arguing that Hal claiming the moral high ground is hypocritical considering the latter waited for so long to give condolences to the family of Abin Sur, the previous owner of his ring.
- Word of God: Abin Sur made a new type of power ring without the aid of a Maltusian.
- Mr Zoat explains how Lantern oaths work in the story.
- Mr Zoat explains how Lantern oaths work in the story
