Tinker, Tailor, Hero, Spy [Modplot/Network IC Post] [Part 2] [Set after the ambush ends]

[legionnpcs]

[Things are not good -- and that's the understatement of the century. Just about everyone got walloped and the native Legionnaires were at the epicenter of that collective wumping, targeted first by the Fatal Five in the hopes that with them out of the way the rookies would be easy to pick off.]

[Thankfully, the Fatal Five were wrong. The rookies took their lumps but they held their ground.]

Matter-Eater Lad here.

[His glasses only partly hide the massive shiner he's got, and he's wearing a neck brace. Hooray. Fortunately, those are much less bulky in the glorious robot future.]

Alright, ladies and gents and variations thereupon, I think it goes without saying that what just happened was the pits. Right now, half of us more experienced Legionnaires are in Medbay and Kid Q is still trapped in a time loop, even if we've managed to relocate her to Legion World. Brainiac thinks he can fix it but he's still a mess because his personality inhibitors got blown and he has to fix those first before he can even hope to think straight again.

Everyone's respective boo boos aren't the only thing we have to worry about though. The Fatal Five knowing all our weaknesses, and some of what they said, suggested there's a mole on Legion World passing them private medical scans and tactical data. Since the Science Police had jurisdiction, they've already arrested a suspect.

[He tilts his omnicom and they can see that the Science Police are in the background, arguing viciously with Timber Wolf, Officer Erin, and Umbra, and trying to drag away a handcuffed Rocket, who's wasting no time in arguing with them, too.]

["Hey! Hey, watch the sui--what do you mean, hand over my gun? That's my gun! I mean, I got more, but it's my gun! I told you, I ain't a spy! Or a mole, or whatever stupid word you wanna use! I didn't do it!" A pause. "Do I look like a sp--yes, I know spies don't look like spies, that's whole point, but you know what I mean!"]

[Back on Tenzil's face again.]

It's totally bogus. The only evidence against Rocket they have is all digital sign-ins and video, which is so easy to doctor in this time period that a Terellian spongebeast could do it. No physical evidence or witnesses. No prints or DNA at the console he was supposedly accessing the data from. But they're not listening to us.

[Rocket has not stopped arguing in the background. "You're all assholes. Complete friggin' assholes. Have I told you that? 'Cause I feel like I should. Shouldn't you be out policing science, instead of arresting people who didn't do anything?"]

[Tenzil lowers his voice.] Which means we're gonna have to take a few things into our own hands.

[The last thing they hear from Rocket as he's dragged off is: "--and somebody remember to go water the plants while I'm dealing with this shit! I come back and they're all dead, somebody's gonna get their ass shot, then bit by a flytrap!"]

[Tenzil goes into the Legion Leader's office for more privacy.]

The chances of any of you rookies wanting to take down the entire Legion, when it means Chronoblivion would make the multiverse go kaput, are slim. We think Rocket's innocent -- and if he's not, there needs be evidence that's a whole lot more reliable before charges are brought.

Kid Q's out of the loop -- stuck in the loop as it were -- so as Deputy Leader, I'm taking charge. While the rest of us are licking our wounds, I'm organizing a team from the Legionnaires that are still standing to investigate. It'll be a private affair. No reason the Science Police need to worry their pretty little heads over any possible investigations that might be running side-by-side with their own, right?

Some good news, by the by: other than 4 Science Police officers that went down in the first blast, we had no other fatal casualties. All the delegates survived, all but the 4 Scicops made it, there were no fatalities in the crowd, and even with taking our lumps we didn't lose any teammates. The Fatal Five had everything they needed to turn the attack into a massacre that could've destroyed two governments, and taken out the entire team. You did good.

Oh, and since we have some new people with absolutely impeccable timing, welcome to the Legion. Don't mind our dust. Or the multitudinous catastrophic injuries. If you have any general questions that aren't just "Why is absolutely everyone injured?" feel free to ask.

Comments

[walkingballpit]

[ Robbie teases people with nicknames like Buckethead and Supertights, once a solid rapport is established, but that's a different situation. He wouldn't feel comfortable with someone's codename being Idiot or Jerkface, and, once he thought about it, Brainiac didn't sit well either.

Brainy could be okay, but Robbie was hung up on Querl not knowing who the Smurfs were. The fact that it's obviously a pet name for Brainiac is now a negative. ]

Okay. So it's Querl on Legionworld and whenever off-duty applies, and Brainy when we're being all official and codename-y. Sidebar: I am really, hilariously bad at using codenames when a teammate's life is in danger, so you try not to be in peril where I can see unless you're down with everybody knowing your real name.

Or, you know, where I can't see. Because I'll find out and lecture you later.

[googledox]

Secret identities were used by superheroes in Earth's past, and I'm aware they're common in other universes with superheroes, but Legion standard practice is for the public to have access to our true identities. We've found that the transparency helps inspire trust in the public.

Even if that weren't the case, I've always been a public figure. You needn't worry about anyone knowing my real name.

[walkingballpit]

I don't know how I feel about that.

[ Actually, he thinks it's a flat-out terrible idea, but it's not his call what the Legion decided to do with their own names. ]

Maybe the public are better than their television choices, now, but I doubt it.

[ After all, look at what he's already found out about how the public perceives Brainy. ]

Things that happen in one life should only follow you into the other if you bring them.

[googledox]

[That seems to hit a nerve, but not one that causes anger or hurt. Just thoughtfulness. For someone who was denied even a very basic right to privacy until he was eleven years old, the idea of keeping things restrained to just one side of his life is strange to him. The cameras that are so often trained on him now are actually less intrusive than the constant surveillance he was under as a child. At least at the end of the day he can come back to Legion World and the privacy of his lab, among friends.]

[There are some concepts that are alien to him, and it has nothing to do with his species. The idea of having some kind of dual life, where one half of it is private and separate from the other is almost impossible for him to imagine.]

[So far, the only private life he's ever had, hidden away from even the rest of the team, was the little bubble of reality he and Lyle had created with their relationship.]

Some members of the team have come from...unusual circumstances. For some of us, we only have the one life. Fortunately, it's generally a highly rewarding one.

[A brief pause.]

Generally.

[He'd be lying if he said it's always rewarding. The public hating your guts cuts into that a little bit, even though he takes a great deal of satisfaction in supporting his teammates.]

[walkingballpit]

[ Robbie notices that Querl's gotten less forthcoming and less - immediate. It's the first time that he could tell the guy was thinking.

He's paranoid enough to wonder if he's slipped, somewhere, or if one of his friends has told them about him. He thinks this about him, somehow. A test. ]

I guess I come from... unusual circumstances. It sounds like a 90s band. 1990s. I keep forgetting what century I'm in.

[ He stops to clear his throat. ]

Yeah, I used to have two identities. Now I've got one. It's awesome! Everybody knows your name. It's... what's the word. Liberating.