The Young Protectors: Double-Cross Chapter One—Page 46

July 16, 2019 Alex Woolfson 77 Comments

Don’t make Spooky angry. You wouldn’t like Spooky when he’s angry.

It’s my great pleasure to send out another, very special Woolfpack anniversary “thank you!” to the superheroes of this comic who have been supporting our work month after month!

First let me thank pack members who have been supporting our work for the last 12 months as of this week (July 14-20):

Kate M. and Kim M.

(You totally rock, Kate and Kim!)

I’d like to send out a big thank you to members of the Woolfpack who have been supporting our work for 24 months of this week (July 14-20):

Rutzky, Ashley D., and Pum W.

(Two years of support! Thank you so much, Rutzky, Ashley, and Pum!)

And let me also send out my biggest howl to a member of the Woolfpack who has been supporting this comic and our work from the very beginning!

This is the awesome reader who has been supporting me and this comic for 48 months (4 years!) as of this week (July 14-20):

Sam B.

Thank you so much, Sam! You are so awesome!

Thank you all so much for your amazing, ongoing support! It’s the consistent support that is what really allows me to continue making this comic. You all truly are superheroes!

(Would you like to make sure this comic continues? Ready to dive even deeper into The Young Protectors world? Learn more about all the benefits of joining me and your fellow readers as part of The Young Protectors tribe on Patreon and then join the fun!)

So! Looks like the tables have turned. In a big way. But wait, Spooky thought The Platinum Priestess could be redeemed? And wait wait wait—he been holding back? What does this all mean? And what’s going to happen next?

Tune in this Saturday to find out. Hope to see you there! 😀

Liked it? Take a second to support Alex Woolfson on Patreon!

Comments From The Young Protectors Community

Klaus says:
July 12, 2019
“You could have been so useful”, the Priestess said to Spooky a few pages back. Is Spooky now going to say something similar?
bronakopdin says:
July 13, 2019
Oooops, seems Spooky is done with the good cop ^^’
I sure never want to make him angry >___<’
So I guess everyone who speculate that the wormhole needed something to swallow before closing was right! Nice call
Hopefully with PP caught like this the worst of it is over… though I fear this was still… too easy?
And omg I love the laser bears so much… This could become a franchise, Alex x’D
w_period_r_period_cl says:
July 13, 2019
Uh, jaw on floor. This is a quantum leap in power with Spooky. She is a near immortal being and he just slammed her butt into a tree with a magic choke hold? Wait, Spook’s has no memory till he wins out of hell at the age of fourteen. Hum, and, hum again. “luke I am your father”. Says the demon lord to Spooks as Spooky loses a hand? NO, please no? Could Spooks be a “lost” demon lord? After all, we truly know nothing about him except for his history from age fourteen to now.
w_period_r_period_cl says:
July 13, 2019
The don’t make Spooky angry comment. I really hope his first name isn’t Bill!
Klaus says:
July 15, 2019
w_period_r_period_cl:
“luke I am your father”. Says the demon lord to Spooks as Spooky loses a hand? NO, please no?
That already happened to Kyle. I don’t think it would be repeated.
dave.fragments.dc says:
July 15, 2019
Klaus:
That already happened to Kyle. I don’t think it would be repeated.
But, “Spooky, I am your Mother.” hasn’t been taken yet.
{I know, I know, way to silly}
Klaus says:
July 16, 2019
dave.fragments.dc:
But, “Spooky, I am your Mother.” hasn’t been taken yet.
{I know, I know, way to silly}
I don’t know. Alex is a tricksy one.
alexwoolfson says:
July 16, 2019
Klaus:
“You could have been so useful”, the Priestess said to Spooky a few pages back. Is Spooky now going to say something similar?
Maybe. He certainly takes issues with her choices.
bronakopdin:
Oooops, seems Spooky is done with the good cop ^^’
I sure never want to make him angry >___<’
He would be very dangerous if he chose to follow a dark path. It’s something that gives ExSec nightmares.
bronakopdin:
And omg I love the laser bears so much… This could become a franchise, Alex x’D
So glad you like them! They are very Spooky.
w_period_r_period_cl:
Uh, jaw on floor. This is a quantum leap in power with Spooky.
Apparently, he’s been holding back.
w_period_r_period_cl:
Could Spooks be a “lost” demon lord? After all, we truly know nothing about him except for his history from age fourteen to now.
A very interesting question, William…
Klaus:
That already happened to Kyle. I don’t think it would be repeated.
It would indeed be unlikely for me to repeat that with another character.
dave.fragments.dc:
But, “Spooky, I am your Mother.” hasn’t been taken yet.
AAAAAAAAH!
Klaus:
I don’t know. Alex is a tricksy one.
AAAAAAAAH!
dswxyz says:
July 17, 2019
Well, it looks like the end of the road for ol’ Circe, er, Sircea. If she’s truly immortal from Laampros’s gift, Spooky won’t be able to kill her, but eternal imprisonment or eternal transformation into something harmless are both possible options. Perhaps Spooky will simply stuff her into a nice platinum bottle. Can Spooky do transformations, like turn her into a tree? Or maybe he can merge her into the tree she’s being pressed against. And Spooky’s imagination is better than mine. Goodness knows what he’ll do to her.
The Platinum Priestess may have one last card to play: the Walls of Blood and Pain. If she’s truly the only human in existence that knows how to repair them, she better say something about them now.
JujYFru1T says:
July 17, 2019
(the lil pop on panel one :,D)
god i love the “i’ve only been using a fraction of my True Power” trope i hope he hyperbeams her in the next couple pages
but i AM surprised about Spooks thinking she could be redeemed, i wonder what made him think that? maybe i need a re-read.
alexwoolfson says:
July 19, 2019
dswxyz:
The Platinum Priestess may have one last card to play: the Walls of Blood and Pain. If she’s truly the only human in existence that knows how to repair them, she better say something about them now.
That’s probably exactly the card she would play. But first she’d need a bit of air. And even then, would Spooky listen?
JujYFru1T:
god i love the “i’ve only been using a fraction of my True Power” trope
Glad to hear it.
JujYFru1T:
i AM surprised about Spooks thinking she could be redeemed, i wonder what made him think that? maybe i need a re-read.
Spooky and The Platinum Priestess have a lot of history together. And not all of it has been written yet.

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77 Comments

Careful, Spooky – the dangers of monologuing to your arch-nemesis can apply to you just as well…!

This is true.

Emperor Palpatine: It’s okay Priestess, I did not foresee the cute bears either.

Ha!

No one expects the cute bears.

I actually rather like Spooky a lot when he is angry *shivers in delight*

It’s fun to see a different side of him, huh? 🙂

Spooky, NO! She’s too fabulous to die!

Also morals and whatever.

There’s nothing that says he can’t strip her magic, erase her memory, or give her a compulsion to cast “pretty flower conjuration” nonstop until she
blacks out, whenever she has enough magic to do anything at all useful.

Then again, there is nothing that says he can.

Normally it would be set up with ironic foreshadowing concealed among the noise in some earlier content, just like doesn’t happen in real life, but we’ve had enough going on that could be waved around as foreshadowing any of those things.

What we haven’t seen is what the legalities are for vigilante heroes who have been authorized — and Spooky is one who has been authorized, he has a license and everything. He might be agent 00Spooky licensed under certain situations to kill, but for him to do anything short of death or maiming (which is ugly) WITHOUT somehow also preventing her using her own contingency plans or magical tricks, seems like an invitation to be extinguished. She’s shown no qualms about who else she hurts. She doubtless has a “consider armed and threatening” mark on her rap sheet.

ETA: Alex says below that Spooky doesn’t have the authority to “murder” anyone. Police don’t have the authority to murder anyone either, but they kill people using their authorized weapons in situations where lives (theirs or other peoples) are endangered, or even just perceived to be endangered. Killing people isn’t the same thing as murder. There’s an implicit “heroes don’t kill” notion that may or may not have any connection to reality, but it does fit the tropes.

I’m pretty sure that Spooky won’t actually kill her. But a nice, magic-damping cell in a similar high-security facility to Duncan’s might be in her future at some point…

Honestly, I think if she made him mad enough and went far enough he would.

Not least for his own sake I would hope not.

“situational ethics”. Do unto others and all that? She was having children sacrificed for her own needs. Nope. No quarter given. Maybe her quarters as she is drawn apart.

Murder is murder. no matter what the other person has done.

Also, it was just a joke.

I did sort of reply in kind. The quarters bit. I did not mean to offend. Apologies.

No need for apologies, I’m just a bit touchy after so many similar responses, I wasn’t expecting such a negative response to what was just a joke.

Playing catch up on the story, so please pardon my two week late response. Reading through the comments, they don’t strike me as negative so much as a thoughtful discussion on ethics. Which I imagine was quite a surprise when you were just making a joke. A joke that made me laugh, FWIW.

Hitting her with extreme force, risking her death, would have been justified when she was about to kill those children. Killing her now would be different.

Technically he’s still within his rights to end her, as long as she continues to resist. If she surrenders (or is rendered harmless by nonlethal injury), THEN it’s the time to stand down. But as long as she continues to be a violent threat, he is not only justified in doing whatever it takes to end the fight in his favor, but obligated to do so (on account of he is literally protecting children from being murdered by her).

This is then considered to be an ongoing fight to the death. How many acolytes were attempting to kill flyboy and each other? She was not directly the one killing others but she was the one for whom the killings were being done. I digress. It is a comic. Who would think there would be ethics discussion inspired by a comic? Alex, your a sneaky educator, right?

Well, I did do my senior thesis on ethics when I was in college.

But really, I just love reading the awesome discussions y’all have. 🙂

Indeed. Sneaky are the lessons o wise one. A thesis on ethics. That would be an interesting read. Situational ethics change with borders, race, time, people and continents. Few hold validity across all folk. In my humble opinion.

She’s a mass-murderer, in the middle of murdering a bunch of children. Ready to kill all TYP just in case or out of spite. On one hand, I wouldn’t have any moral dilemmas with killing her, it would just be self-and-others-defense. On the other hand, I’m older and more mature than Spooky, with set-in morals and years of adult deliberations. So maybe Spooky shouldn’t actually kill her, yes.
Although countles stories teach us that leaving the oponent alive always comes to bite one in the ass.

I would assume Spooky doesn’t have the legal authority to just murder a human. Turning her over to the authorities for a trial and due process is what he likely should do.

Anyway, it was mostly a joke, not meant to be taken as serious.

How? Turn her over I mean? He would have to have some way to permanently curtail any and all of her abilities.

Gag her and restrain her hands. Maybe keep her unconscious if necessary.

Well, she has power, it feel like gagging and restraining her could not be enough XD
That and the fact that I’m extremly sensible to child abuse, if I was Spooky I would have killed her without too much of a moral dilemma x)
In a way I kinda hope he is going to do it, because I want to see what kind of repercussion there is going to be.

Spooky does not have the legal authority to murder anyone. Especially if they are defenseless.

He REALLY liked that cap
so unless you can summon it back, you better be really good now

Ha!

He did like that cap. A lot.

Is Spooky gonna terminate her with extreme prejudice?

I vote for Mind-wipe.

Delete me.

Ohh…. Ok. That sounds ominous.

So…bloody…cute… And precocious and wise… And backed by an army of diminutive, translucent, holographic bears who live on the juice from spent glow sticks of past raves…

Don’t hold back when it comes to vote for The Young Protectors or Artifice… You can vote each day for both‼

Thank you, b3nc0!

As to my comment about Spook’s being a “lost demon lord” being a repeat. Nope. Kyle is the SON of a demon lord. Spooks could well be a lost forgotten ruler of said realm!

…Spooky’s kind of hot when he is angry…

Mixed thoughts on Spooky axing PP though…

When is he not hot?

🙂

Eh, there are different types of hot. Spooky has mostly been older brother hot. Like you recognize your older brother is hot but you aren’t really attracted. This is the attracted hot.

Two words: backstory. Or my favorite: story time!

I love how casually Spooky brushes PP’s attacks aside in the second panel. That’s a whole new level of cool too.

Is that because she is understaffed? Or could he do that anyway?

Glad you like that, Steven. 🙂

I am highly suspicious of Spooky overpowering Sircea like this. She’s so much older than he is, and he’s admitted to not really understanding how she does certain things before.

Either she’s playing some game now, or Spooky has been playing us this whole time.

Or maybe she has been relying more on that staff than she ought.

Maybe, when she’s been made younger by Lamproos she also lost a lot of her power ?

well, im certainly glad Spooky has the upper hand. Sircea is very old and experienced though. he still has to be careful.

With her. Always.

Kill the witch kill the witch ! 😀

I don’t think he’s got a house at hand which he could accidentally drop on her…!

He’ll get by with a little help from his friends.

Alex, just a heads up but the Patreon exclusive preview page has been visible off and on the last few days.

Thank you, timemonkey. It’s an ongoing, intermittent issue. It’s helpful to know it’s still going on.

I’ll keep working at it….

Hello Campers,
What will the fickle finger of fate dish up for the Platinum Priestess tonight?

I think I read that in the Batman Narrator voice…

As is so often the case, dunno. I can definitely see the argument for Spooky killing her for realz (I’ve even listed the reasons myself) as a preventative for a danger too powerful to be contained. But I can also see the possibility of Spooky trying to fake her out for some reasons and using the fear of death as a tool for that. And there’s also the possibility of Flyboy being righteous enough to argue for her to be brought in for trial (although that’s very low probability.)

The one I won’t go for is the meta reason that applies to big shared universes like Marvel or DC, and that she such a great character that some future writer will want to use her, and therefore no reader could possibly believe that she’d stay dead.

[narrows eyes thoughtfully] Okay, this question has only just occurred to me: Would any of you really be surprised (or upset) if after Spooky kills the Priestess that she reforms a new body in a safe place with the comment of “That always hurts, and uses up more resources than I can really afford to lose, but it’s always a good contingency. There’s a reason I’m over six thousand years old, Jones.”

I think she might reveal who her “other-worldly” sponsor really is…

Patreon Rumbles

The New Page is up:
https://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ3/doublecross-ch1-page-47/

Why make The Young Protectors Bonus comic to be only accessed by patreon backers? Why do it now? Why make a comic with nsfw pages that can only be accessed by patreon users and then, two years after it was first launched, restrict all of it?

Howdy Palpad100,

Thank you for checking in. I think you’re referring to the censored, blacked-out versions of Chapters 1 and 2 of Legendary which I’ve removed from the site. (The NSFW, uncensored versions of those chapters were never available to the general public, only Patrons. And what was Legendary: Chapter 3 is still up, it’s just been renamed “Spooky Jones: Past Sins.”)

The short answer is that those pages aren’t gone forever. I’m restructuring the site to make it more friendly to new readers, but I’ll be reposting the original blacked-out, censored versions of the Legendary chapters, along with the original comments, on another site. So readers like yourself who want to re-read those pages will be able to do so whenever you want. I should have that squared away in a week or so, and I’ll make an announcement when they are ready.

But to answer your question as to why I decided to remove them from this site in the first place, it’s because I was getting emails and confusion from new readers. Unlike an experienced reader like yourself, I’ve found most new readers don’t bother to read my notes under the pages. So, I was getting questions and complaints about why the art style had changed so drastically. And why the pages were suddenly full of blacked-out sections.

And then, of course, the bulk of my work is not explicit at all, so having a bunch of pages that felt like porn—blacked-out porn, no less—right after new readers finished the first arc of The Young Protectors was creating the wrong impression. It was a bad look. People who might love what followed wouldn’t actually continue with the story. So, after checking in with some other readers, I’ve been working on making the flow of this site more friendly to new readers.

That’s still a work-in-progress, but so far, I’ve cleaned up some menus, turned the SFW “Legendary: Chapter 3” into its own standalone comic called “Spooky Jones: Past Sins.” And I’ve unpublished the censored first two chapters of Legendary, and replaced them with a summary.

Originally, I had figured that since long-time readers had already read those pages well over a year ago, that they wouldn’t be missed. But recently I received one other concern (via email) about this, and since it’s clear there is interest, there’s no reason why I can’t make those blacked-out pages available again for long-time readers, since y’all already understand that Adam had requested a break so I was doing something very different with Legendary. And by hosting those original censored chapters on another site, there shouldn’t be any confusion for new readers.

So, hopefully that makes sense. Let me know if you have more questions. There are now over 700 pages of comics on this site, and it’s a big project trying to clean things up for new readers binging their way through our work for the first time. It’s going to take some time and tweaking to get it right. And I appreciate your feedback. 🙂