legionnpcs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
legionnpcs) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thelegion2017-02-08 03:50 am
legionnpcs) wrote in thelegion2017-02-08 03:50 am
Out With the Old [modplot] [video]
[The Legion World staff maintains a feed of all Legion-related media so Legionnaires can be kept abreast of any reporting that's done on them. This all happens nearly-live, with the newslinks picking up on it as it happens. It filters into the Legion news feed quickly.]
[A real reporter is on the screen, one of the well-respected few that has, in recent years, tried to reclaim the concept of "journalist." The experience that led her to do so was once working side by side with the Legion during a catastrophe, making her feel ashamed of being a flighty "TV personality." Her expression is dour and it's clearly a tremendous test of her professionalism to keep emotion out of her voice on this story. The subtitle reads that her name is Hannah Wells.]
Hannah: This is Hannah Wells, reporting for EarthLive News, on a breaking news update. Ten minutes ago, a UP government diplomatic function on Mars devolved into sudden catastrophe, with several Legionnaires now reported missing after their apparent capture by what appears to be a group of supervillains modeled after the Legion of Superheroes. We have footage of the scene that was taken live as it happened. Due to the violence in the footage, viewer discretion is advised.
[The footage shows a ridiculous hoity-toity party. These diplomatic functions are an unpleasant necessity since it allows them to speak with Councilmembers that support legislation that helps the Legion, and to try to get a bead on Councilmembers that might be hostile and behind some of the betrayals that've happened recently.]
[Naturally, due to the extremely boring nature of these functions, the displacee Legionnaires have been forever off the hook from attending, with Kid Quantum feeling that it'd turn their already-unwanted displacement to the Legion's universe into cruel and unusual punishment. That means it's the perfect place for someone to get the ambush on just them alone.]
[The Legionnaires are all in formalwear and most of them look heinously bored, some of them plastering on fake smiles only when talking with government officials. Officer Erin, one of the people that approached all the displacees upon waking in Medbay in the Legion's universe, is there too, albeit in her Science Police uniform. She's clearly patrolling the place, trying to help keep an eye on security.]
[It all starts in a very innocuous way. A blonde young man walks up to them, wearing a suit like he belongs there. Kid Q and Brainy approach him, looking pleased to see him, as if he's someone they're friendly with.]
Brainiac 5: Ah, salutations! It's been quite a while since we last--
[Then the blonde man holds up a hand and some heavy metal candlesticks fly up from behind them and knock them both out from behind. Blood spatters in a way that makes it clear that it's not just a minor bonk to the head. They've got major concussions, bare minimum, or even cracked skulls. A hologram drops and the man's clothes shift to a sinister supervillain costume.]
[The crowd starts screaming and dignitaries start shoving each other as they try to get away.]
Hannah [voiceover]: I'm getting word now that authorities have IDed the blonde man in the video as...no. [She sounds shaken.] He's been IDed as Dyrk Mags! Formerly Magno, Mags is a Legionnaire that left the Legion and joined the Science Police after he accidentally lost his Braalian magnetism abilities during a fight against the Legion's enemy, Mordru. Why he attacked the Legion is a mystery, as Mags has been quoted as being in support of the Legion frequently in the past, even retaining a lifetime status as an honorary Legionnaire.
Ferro: Dyrk, why? Why would you -- aaaah, stop! What are you doing to me?!
[With Brainy and Kid Q already down, the Legion's not off to a great start. Mags turns on Ferro, morphing his metal arms and legs so they're melded with the rest of his body, keeping him from moving, then turns on Babbage, holding him in place and wrapping metal from his surroundings around him until it's too thick to bend away. As Umbra and Timber Wolf race over to help, they're suddenly struck by lightning, shot from a man who uses Ferro's metal body to direct and amplify his lightning to hit them. Wearing a suit like he belongs, he walks out and electrocutes Officer Erin through the metal of her gun as she raises it to fire. Only then does his face shift as if a hologram is falling away, to reveal a man with white hair, wearing a costume with electrical designs on it, resembling that of missing Legionnaires Livewire and Spark.]
Bouncing Boy: Mekt! Dyrk, why are you working with him? What happened to you?
[As Bouncing Boy bounces over, a young, bald Coluan woman melts out of the crowd and sprays him with something from a device that makes him deflate and go back to his normal human form. She then zaps him with some kind of stun device that takes him down too. Pulling out another device, she zaps Gates as he pops out of one of his teleport discs and he curls up in pain in mid-air, as if the teleport disc is suddenly hurting him, then falls and curls up like...well. A pillbug.]
[A blonde woman steps out of the crowd, too, holds up a hand, and Dreamer is suddenly down, screaming. Her hologram blends away to show a tattoo of Saturn on her face. Oddly enough, it's Tenzil and Karate Kid that hold the line. They're so used to having no powers or nearly useless powers that they dodge the attacks of the four attackers with ease. They beat the attackers back long enough for Timber Wolf and Umbra to get back up again and it almost looks like the Legionnaires might still have a chance. Timber Wolf is clearly trying to his use omnicom to call for help.]
Umbra: Timber Wolf, call for backup!
Timber Wolf: I'm trying! I'm not getting through to the Monitor Room or any individual comms! They've got us cut off from the rest of the te--
[There's an explosion that blows them right off their feet, and that knocks out he camera drone that was filming all this. It still films from the ground, sideways, showing more feet moving in and a smoke-filled view of violence moving in and out of frame. There are clearly more villains pouring in, even if there isn't a clear view of them. Screams and more crackling energy and banging can be heard and after a few more minutes of frantic fighting, everything finally goes quiet.]
[Then several villains can be seen dragging the downed Legionnaires by, only visible from the knees downward. An unconscious and bleeding Brainy and Kid Q slide by as they're dragged along by the legs, trailing blood behind them on the floor. Then something smashes the news drone and the feed goes dark.]
Hannah: Witnesses report that the large group of supervillains dragged the Legionnaires and Officer Shvaughn Erin outside to a ship, which then T-gated away. Currently, their whereabouts are unknown, with no word yet -- hang on. I'm getting reports that -- the villains have taken over a TV studio in New New York! The audience is reportedly being held hostage and they're now broadcasting to the rest of the UP! We're patching in the feed now. Please be advised that this is broadcasting live and we cannot control what might be seen on the screen.
[The footage cuts to a live feed. All the Legionnaires are on the set of Name That Smorgblatz, a popular UP gameshow, their hands shackled with advanced restraint cuffs that go all the way up to their elbows. They're conscious now, being forced to kneel there in their torn and bloody formalwear, though they all look woozy, most of their faces beaten and bloody. Karate Kid looks especially worked over, as if someone thoroughly enjoyed their chance of hitting him while he couldn't hit back. Ferro and Babbage have dings and dents on their metal bodies and even more complicated-looking restraints meant to compensate for how organic their strength is to their forms. There are villains in the shadows behind them all, hidden by said shadows, some of them holding up hands or weapons that are clearly trained on the Legionnaires from behind.]
[The blonde woman with a face tattoo that KOed Dreamer steps forward.]
Saturn Queen: Saturn Queen here. Listen up, United Planets, we're the Legion of Supervillains, and we have something to say. Well. More like something to show you. Isn't that right, Cosmic King?
[Dyrk steps forward, on command.]
Cosmic King: The Legion's days of limping along are over. It's time that the UP learns that no one can protect you anymore.
[Mekt, Lightning Lord, steps up.]
Lightning Lord: Just like they couldn't protect the dead Legionnaires. [He kneels next to Kid Q.] Could you, Kid Quantum? You couldn't protect my siblings. Livewire and Spark died because of your leadership and Brainiac 5's mistake. [He shakes his head miserably.] I was finally getting my life together. I left the villainy behind. I was finally starting to understand what they were trying to do... I wasn't a solo anymore, because all this time, they wanted to let me in. The way they looked at me was like we were triplets, like I was a twin, too. I finally started to understand that and then, just like that, they were dead.
Kid Quantum: Mekt, Garth and Ayla aren't dead. We found out from Chronoblivion's Herald that the missing Legionnaires are alive --
Lightning Lord: Liar! [The scream is hysterical.] The Legion is a joke and the people that were the best of it are gone.
Timber Wolf: So, you're doing this because you blame us for what happened to your siblings, I get that. But what about you, Saturn Queen? With how much you hated Saturn Girl, I'm surprised you don't want to shake our hands, if you blame us for what happened. You hated your sister.
Saturn Queen: Oh, I'm doing this for kicks. To make the galaxy as afraid as they should be. From now on, we're in charge, and the sooner the galaxy understands that, the better. [She turns to the camera] That's why, in exactly one hour, we'll be executing the Legion live.
Timber Wolf: The rookies'll--
Lightning Lad: Your rookies won't stand a chance if they try to fight us.
Timber Wolf: [grins a wicked grin] You're gonna eat those words, pal. 'Cause the rookies are gonna forcefeed 'em to you.
Brainiac 5: I have to say, a public execution has quite the dramatic flourish. Not exactly your style, Sharn Nux. I thought all your actions were for the betterment of Colu. Removing a force that routinely protects the homeworld from conflict seems counterproductive, wouldn't you say?
[The green Coluan woman's voice is filled with loathing.]
Mastermind: It's 'Mastermind' now. And of course I joined with them when they offered -- it gave me a chance to get to you. Because of you, machine life has been allowed to flourish and I accidentally merged with that filth you called an AI, Computo.
[Brainy looks up at her, having difficulty hiding the almost parental concern on his face.]
Brainiac 5: Where is he? Where's Computo? Are you still bonded together?
Mastermind: I ripped the disgusting thing out of me and destroyed it. Admittedly, the augmentation of my intelligence that it left me with isn't a bad consolation prize for having been infested by it.
Brainiac 5: [A snort.] Amusing.
Mastermind: What's so amusing?
Brainiac 5: The prospect of you being intelligent enough to have destroyed my creation. Very droll.
[She slaps him across the face. He doesn't react.]
Saturn Queen: Brainiac, Brainiac, always so aloof. Always above it all. Isn't he, Emerald Empress?
[The Emerald Empress walks out of the shadows. The Persuader is with her. The other members of the Fatal Five were captured in their fight with the Legion, and the Emerald Eye was destroyed and disbursed, but these two had escaped before they'd been taken into custody.]
Emerald Empress: He's always floating around, untouchable, with that smug little look on his face above every fight. Hiding behind that shield of his.
Brainiac: You mean...this look? [He suddenly looks smug.]
[Several things happen very fast. First, his restraints click and fall off his arms, due to him using the pin of one of his cufflinks to disarm the device from the inside. Then he jumps to his feet and elbows Saturn Queen in the face, knocking her back. Then he lunges for Mastermind, snagging a device off her belt that he apparently guessed the purpose of, from her use of it, and dives off the stage.]
Mastermind: The power suppression device! Stop him! Or they'll all get free!
[He tucks into a roll down on the audience floor, lifts the device up to smash it on the ground and then -- then an invisible force tries to whisk it out of his hand. He refuses to let go and is dragged back on the stage in the process, until Lightning Lord shocks him. For a second, he just clenches his hand harder because of the muscles freezing up, but after the shock is over, he lets go and drops back onto the stage, his body twitching and smoking.]
Bouncing Boy: Brainy!
Saturn Queen: Tsk tsk, Brainiac 5, I guess that makes you our one-hour-long example.
[She walks over and pins Brainy's arm down with one foot and stamps down on Brainy's hand with the heel of the other, making him scream in agony. Once, twice, three times. He tries to curl the other hand out of reach but she's too fast, pinning that one with a foot next, and stomping on the other hand until it's a broken mess.]
Saturn Queen: Let's see those clever fingers work against us now.
Ferro: Stop it! Stop hurting him!
[Timber Wolf starts to climb to his feet but someone behind him calls out "Move and the audience dies!" He grits his teeth and roars in rage.]
[Saturn Queen lifts Brainy up to a sit, and stands behind him. By now, sweat is streaming down his face and he's shaking.]
Saturn Queen: I'll make this easy for you. Let's play a little game. Let's play 'Brainiac wants to be one of us, deep down inside.' Because the idea of you being a hero is a joke. Everyone knows it, Brainiac. Everyone knows what you really are. If you play along, the next hour will be pleasant. If you don't, it'll be painful -- and when things are painful, an hour is a long time.
[Saturn Queen holds a hand up and touches a few delicate fingers to the back of his head.]
Saturn Queen: You can feel it now, can't you? I can't intrude into that complicated Coluan brain of yours, but I can still project into it. How much everyone hates you. So many people, so much hate. Right now, some of them are even thinking 'I want him to die first.' Or 'If any one of them dies, I hope it's Brainiac.' You can ignore it most of the time, but not when it's right behind your eyes. Now you're choking on it.
[Brainy shakes, trembles, tries to resist, then cries out, his eyes going wide and blank. For a moment, they stay that way, open and unseeing, and then a few tears start to roll down his face as she makes him drown in the hatred of millions.]
Umbra: Get away from him, filth!
Saturn Queen: I can make it stop, Brainiac. All you have to do is say that you hate them. That you hate the UP public, the little peons that look down on you. They need to see that it's all over, that the Legion isn't going to protect them anymore. They already hate you, so tell them how much you hate them back. It'd be so easy.
[He shudders and closes his eyes.]
Saturn Queen: So...what do you have to say?
Brainiac 5: I have...only one thing to say. [He opens his eyes. His jaw trembles as it sets, and then his expression sharpens into one of pure defiance. His nose is twisted by the snarl on his face.] Long Live the Legion.
[Saturn Queen screams in outrage at her telepathic torture failing and smacks him on the side of the head.]
Saturn Queen: [she turns to Emerald Empress and Persuader.] Hurt him. Don't stop until I say so.
[If they have any hesitation over her ordering them around, it's quickly overwhelmed by their chance at Brainiac 5 when he's sans shields. There's a sickening crack as Emerald Empress kicks him in the ribs, and then she and Persuader start to mess him up. Badly.]
Kid Quantum: Brainy! So help me, if you --
Saturn Queen: [reassembles her face into a pleasant smile as the beating goes on in the background. Timber Wolf has to be restrained by one of the villains, trying to fight even despite the risk to the audience.] One hour, UP! Tell your friends to tune in!
[The video cuts out and cuts back to a horrified Hannah. It takes her a moment to collect herself.]
Hannah: Y-you saw it for yourself, ladies and gentlebeings! The senior members of the Legion have been captured and the villains involved claim they'll kill them in one hour. One can only hope that the displacee Legionnaires are prepared to muster for a rescue!
[ooc: You can use this post for reactions and IC planning for the rescue.]
[A real reporter is on the screen, one of the well-respected few that has, in recent years, tried to reclaim the concept of "journalist." The experience that led her to do so was once working side by side with the Legion during a catastrophe, making her feel ashamed of being a flighty "TV personality." Her expression is dour and it's clearly a tremendous test of her professionalism to keep emotion out of her voice on this story. The subtitle reads that her name is Hannah Wells.]
Hannah: This is Hannah Wells, reporting for EarthLive News, on a breaking news update. Ten minutes ago, a UP government diplomatic function on Mars devolved into sudden catastrophe, with several Legionnaires now reported missing after their apparent capture by what appears to be a group of supervillains modeled after the Legion of Superheroes. We have footage of the scene that was taken live as it happened. Due to the violence in the footage, viewer discretion is advised.
[The footage shows a ridiculous hoity-toity party. These diplomatic functions are an unpleasant necessity since it allows them to speak with Councilmembers that support legislation that helps the Legion, and to try to get a bead on Councilmembers that might be hostile and behind some of the betrayals that've happened recently.]
[Naturally, due to the extremely boring nature of these functions, the displacee Legionnaires have been forever off the hook from attending, with Kid Quantum feeling that it'd turn their already-unwanted displacement to the Legion's universe into cruel and unusual punishment. That means it's the perfect place for someone to get the ambush on just them alone.]
[The Legionnaires are all in formalwear and most of them look heinously bored, some of them plastering on fake smiles only when talking with government officials. Officer Erin, one of the people that approached all the displacees upon waking in Medbay in the Legion's universe, is there too, albeit in her Science Police uniform. She's clearly patrolling the place, trying to help keep an eye on security.]
[It all starts in a very innocuous way. A blonde young man walks up to them, wearing a suit like he belongs there. Kid Q and Brainy approach him, looking pleased to see him, as if he's someone they're friendly with.]
Brainiac 5: Ah, salutations! It's been quite a while since we last--
[Then the blonde man holds up a hand and some heavy metal candlesticks fly up from behind them and knock them both out from behind. Blood spatters in a way that makes it clear that it's not just a minor bonk to the head. They've got major concussions, bare minimum, or even cracked skulls. A hologram drops and the man's clothes shift to a sinister supervillain costume.]
[The crowd starts screaming and dignitaries start shoving each other as they try to get away.]
Hannah [voiceover]: I'm getting word now that authorities have IDed the blonde man in the video as...no. [She sounds shaken.] He's been IDed as Dyrk Mags! Formerly Magno, Mags is a Legionnaire that left the Legion and joined the Science Police after he accidentally lost his Braalian magnetism abilities during a fight against the Legion's enemy, Mordru. Why he attacked the Legion is a mystery, as Mags has been quoted as being in support of the Legion frequently in the past, even retaining a lifetime status as an honorary Legionnaire.
Ferro: Dyrk, why? Why would you -- aaaah, stop! What are you doing to me?!
[With Brainy and Kid Q already down, the Legion's not off to a great start. Mags turns on Ferro, morphing his metal arms and legs so they're melded with the rest of his body, keeping him from moving, then turns on Babbage, holding him in place and wrapping metal from his surroundings around him until it's too thick to bend away. As Umbra and Timber Wolf race over to help, they're suddenly struck by lightning, shot from a man who uses Ferro's metal body to direct and amplify his lightning to hit them. Wearing a suit like he belongs, he walks out and electrocutes Officer Erin through the metal of her gun as she raises it to fire. Only then does his face shift as if a hologram is falling away, to reveal a man with white hair, wearing a costume with electrical designs on it, resembling that of missing Legionnaires Livewire and Spark.]
Bouncing Boy: Mekt! Dyrk, why are you working with him? What happened to you?
[As Bouncing Boy bounces over, a young, bald Coluan woman melts out of the crowd and sprays him with something from a device that makes him deflate and go back to his normal human form. She then zaps him with some kind of stun device that takes him down too. Pulling out another device, she zaps Gates as he pops out of one of his teleport discs and he curls up in pain in mid-air, as if the teleport disc is suddenly hurting him, then falls and curls up like...well. A pillbug.]
[A blonde woman steps out of the crowd, too, holds up a hand, and Dreamer is suddenly down, screaming. Her hologram blends away to show a tattoo of Saturn on her face. Oddly enough, it's Tenzil and Karate Kid that hold the line. They're so used to having no powers or nearly useless powers that they dodge the attacks of the four attackers with ease. They beat the attackers back long enough for Timber Wolf and Umbra to get back up again and it almost looks like the Legionnaires might still have a chance. Timber Wolf is clearly trying to his use omnicom to call for help.]
Umbra: Timber Wolf, call for backup!
Timber Wolf: I'm trying! I'm not getting through to the Monitor Room or any individual comms! They've got us cut off from the rest of the te--
[There's an explosion that blows them right off their feet, and that knocks out he camera drone that was filming all this. It still films from the ground, sideways, showing more feet moving in and a smoke-filled view of violence moving in and out of frame. There are clearly more villains pouring in, even if there isn't a clear view of them. Screams and more crackling energy and banging can be heard and after a few more minutes of frantic fighting, everything finally goes quiet.]
[Then several villains can be seen dragging the downed Legionnaires by, only visible from the knees downward. An unconscious and bleeding Brainy and Kid Q slide by as they're dragged along by the legs, trailing blood behind them on the floor. Then something smashes the news drone and the feed goes dark.]
Hannah: Witnesses report that the large group of supervillains dragged the Legionnaires and Officer Shvaughn Erin outside to a ship, which then T-gated away. Currently, their whereabouts are unknown, with no word yet -- hang on. I'm getting reports that -- the villains have taken over a TV studio in New New York! The audience is reportedly being held hostage and they're now broadcasting to the rest of the UP! We're patching in the feed now. Please be advised that this is broadcasting live and we cannot control what might be seen on the screen.
[The footage cuts to a live feed. All the Legionnaires are on the set of Name That Smorgblatz, a popular UP gameshow, their hands shackled with advanced restraint cuffs that go all the way up to their elbows. They're conscious now, being forced to kneel there in their torn and bloody formalwear, though they all look woozy, most of their faces beaten and bloody. Karate Kid looks especially worked over, as if someone thoroughly enjoyed their chance of hitting him while he couldn't hit back. Ferro and Babbage have dings and dents on their metal bodies and even more complicated-looking restraints meant to compensate for how organic their strength is to their forms. There are villains in the shadows behind them all, hidden by said shadows, some of them holding up hands or weapons that are clearly trained on the Legionnaires from behind.]
[The blonde woman with a face tattoo that KOed Dreamer steps forward.]
Saturn Queen: Saturn Queen here. Listen up, United Planets, we're the Legion of Supervillains, and we have something to say. Well. More like something to show you. Isn't that right, Cosmic King?
[Dyrk steps forward, on command.]
Cosmic King: The Legion's days of limping along are over. It's time that the UP learns that no one can protect you anymore.
[Mekt, Lightning Lord, steps up.]
Lightning Lord: Just like they couldn't protect the dead Legionnaires. [He kneels next to Kid Q.] Could you, Kid Quantum? You couldn't protect my siblings. Livewire and Spark died because of your leadership and Brainiac 5's mistake. [He shakes his head miserably.] I was finally getting my life together. I left the villainy behind. I was finally starting to understand what they were trying to do... I wasn't a solo anymore, because all this time, they wanted to let me in. The way they looked at me was like we were triplets, like I was a twin, too. I finally started to understand that and then, just like that, they were dead.
Kid Quantum: Mekt, Garth and Ayla aren't dead. We found out from Chronoblivion's Herald that the missing Legionnaires are alive --
Lightning Lord: Liar! [The scream is hysterical.] The Legion is a joke and the people that were the best of it are gone.
Timber Wolf: So, you're doing this because you blame us for what happened to your siblings, I get that. But what about you, Saturn Queen? With how much you hated Saturn Girl, I'm surprised you don't want to shake our hands, if you blame us for what happened. You hated your sister.
Saturn Queen: Oh, I'm doing this for kicks. To make the galaxy as afraid as they should be. From now on, we're in charge, and the sooner the galaxy understands that, the better. [She turns to the camera] That's why, in exactly one hour, we'll be executing the Legion live.
Timber Wolf: The rookies'll--
Lightning Lad: Your rookies won't stand a chance if they try to fight us.
Timber Wolf: [grins a wicked grin] You're gonna eat those words, pal. 'Cause the rookies are gonna forcefeed 'em to you.
Brainiac 5: I have to say, a public execution has quite the dramatic flourish. Not exactly your style, Sharn Nux. I thought all your actions were for the betterment of Colu. Removing a force that routinely protects the homeworld from conflict seems counterproductive, wouldn't you say?
[The green Coluan woman's voice is filled with loathing.]
Mastermind: It's 'Mastermind' now. And of course I joined with them when they offered -- it gave me a chance to get to you. Because of you, machine life has been allowed to flourish and I accidentally merged with that filth you called an AI, Computo.
[Brainy looks up at her, having difficulty hiding the almost parental concern on his face.]
Brainiac 5: Where is he? Where's Computo? Are you still bonded together?
Mastermind: I ripped the disgusting thing out of me and destroyed it. Admittedly, the augmentation of my intelligence that it left me with isn't a bad consolation prize for having been infested by it.
Brainiac 5: [A snort.] Amusing.
Mastermind: What's so amusing?
Brainiac 5: The prospect of you being intelligent enough to have destroyed my creation. Very droll.
[She slaps him across the face. He doesn't react.]
Saturn Queen: Brainiac, Brainiac, always so aloof. Always above it all. Isn't he, Emerald Empress?
[The Emerald Empress walks out of the shadows. The Persuader is with her. The other members of the Fatal Five were captured in their fight with the Legion, and the Emerald Eye was destroyed and disbursed, but these two had escaped before they'd been taken into custody.]
Emerald Empress: He's always floating around, untouchable, with that smug little look on his face above every fight. Hiding behind that shield of his.
Brainiac: You mean...this look? [He suddenly looks smug.]
[Several things happen very fast. First, his restraints click and fall off his arms, due to him using the pin of one of his cufflinks to disarm the device from the inside. Then he jumps to his feet and elbows Saturn Queen in the face, knocking her back. Then he lunges for Mastermind, snagging a device off her belt that he apparently guessed the purpose of, from her use of it, and dives off the stage.]
Mastermind: The power suppression device! Stop him! Or they'll all get free!
[He tucks into a roll down on the audience floor, lifts the device up to smash it on the ground and then -- then an invisible force tries to whisk it out of his hand. He refuses to let go and is dragged back on the stage in the process, until Lightning Lord shocks him. For a second, he just clenches his hand harder because of the muscles freezing up, but after the shock is over, he lets go and drops back onto the stage, his body twitching and smoking.]
Bouncing Boy: Brainy!
Saturn Queen: Tsk tsk, Brainiac 5, I guess that makes you our one-hour-long example.
[She walks over and pins Brainy's arm down with one foot and stamps down on Brainy's hand with the heel of the other, making him scream in agony. Once, twice, three times. He tries to curl the other hand out of reach but she's too fast, pinning that one with a foot next, and stomping on the other hand until it's a broken mess.]
Saturn Queen: Let's see those clever fingers work against us now.
Ferro: Stop it! Stop hurting him!
[Timber Wolf starts to climb to his feet but someone behind him calls out "Move and the audience dies!" He grits his teeth and roars in rage.]
[Saturn Queen lifts Brainy up to a sit, and stands behind him. By now, sweat is streaming down his face and he's shaking.]
Saturn Queen: I'll make this easy for you. Let's play a little game. Let's play 'Brainiac wants to be one of us, deep down inside.' Because the idea of you being a hero is a joke. Everyone knows it, Brainiac. Everyone knows what you really are. If you play along, the next hour will be pleasant. If you don't, it'll be painful -- and when things are painful, an hour is a long time.
[Saturn Queen holds a hand up and touches a few delicate fingers to the back of his head.]
Saturn Queen: You can feel it now, can't you? I can't intrude into that complicated Coluan brain of yours, but I can still project into it. How much everyone hates you. So many people, so much hate. Right now, some of them are even thinking 'I want him to die first.' Or 'If any one of them dies, I hope it's Brainiac.' You can ignore it most of the time, but not when it's right behind your eyes. Now you're choking on it.
[Brainy shakes, trembles, tries to resist, then cries out, his eyes going wide and blank. For a moment, they stay that way, open and unseeing, and then a few tears start to roll down his face as she makes him drown in the hatred of millions.]
Umbra: Get away from him, filth!
Saturn Queen: I can make it stop, Brainiac. All you have to do is say that you hate them. That you hate the UP public, the little peons that look down on you. They need to see that it's all over, that the Legion isn't going to protect them anymore. They already hate you, so tell them how much you hate them back. It'd be so easy.
[He shudders and closes his eyes.]
Saturn Queen: So...what do you have to say?
Brainiac 5: I have...only one thing to say. [He opens his eyes. His jaw trembles as it sets, and then his expression sharpens into one of pure defiance. His nose is twisted by the snarl on his face.] Long Live the Legion.
[Saturn Queen screams in outrage at her telepathic torture failing and smacks him on the side of the head.]
Saturn Queen: [she turns to Emerald Empress and Persuader.] Hurt him. Don't stop until I say so.
[If they have any hesitation over her ordering them around, it's quickly overwhelmed by their chance at Brainiac 5 when he's sans shields. There's a sickening crack as Emerald Empress kicks him in the ribs, and then she and Persuader start to mess him up. Badly.]
Kid Quantum: Brainy! So help me, if you --
Saturn Queen: [reassembles her face into a pleasant smile as the beating goes on in the background. Timber Wolf has to be restrained by one of the villains, trying to fight even despite the risk to the audience.] One hour, UP! Tell your friends to tune in!
[The video cuts out and cuts back to a horrified Hannah. It takes her a moment to collect herself.]
Hannah: Y-you saw it for yourself, ladies and gentlebeings! The senior members of the Legion have been captured and the villains involved claim they'll kill them in one hour. One can only hope that the displacee Legionnaires are prepared to muster for a rescue!
[ooc: You can use this post for reactions and IC planning for the rescue.]
no subject
no subject
Either way, I'd hate to cause any [Ugh.] PR problems.
no subject
no subject
It's not Kid Q's gone, take 'em offstage and ice 'em. If you can't promise that, stand the hell down
no subject
no subject
If you can't see the difference between an absolute no-choice situation and talking about it in advance, that's a problem. I'm putting a pin in it, but we are so coming back to this.
no subject
no subject
Just stop talking to me before I lose all respect for the space military.
no subject
[The CO voice comes out. He doesn't whip it out often, out of recognition that he's not the general of a big space army; he's rank-and-file now, just like everyone else. But at times like this, it just bleeds out of him.]
I'd like to remind everyone that whether she's explaining it while it's in high def instant replay on a screen behind her, or whether she's trying to explain how the cameras "conveniently" kicked out right when a Legionnaire killed someone, Kid Q is going to be the one standing up in front of the entire UP having to justify your actions either way.
So if you need to take a life, it damn well better be justified and better not be an action that needs any denying, plausible or otherwise. If not, you'll be looking at the ass-end of the apocalypse from the sidelines as a civilian, because if anyone breaks protocol, Kid Q's gonna bounce them off the team so fast their goddamn heads will spin.
no subject
Thanks, Rich. You said it way better than me, but... yeah.
[ It's nice to not be the only voice in the crowd, and Robbie doesn't know how to explain his objections without mentioning Stamford or trying to explain that it's the Legion of Superheroes. A superhero serves at the pleasure of the public.
It's too much to delve into, in a time crunch. ]
You'd think the teacher left the room.
[ Banter is faster and comes with smirks. ]
no subject
But everyone has to readjust for the role we're in. We're not soldiers at war -- just like we're not vigilantes outside the law like me and you would be back home on Earth.
There's a different standard in law enforcement that doesn't completely match normal superheroing or warfare.
no subject
[ Robbie is quiet, and angry. He stops even trying to make it sound snappy with fun, juvenile word choices. ]
Stop making excuses for them. This is a barely cohesive team with shaky motivation rushing in without enough information against a team of super powered villains of unknown strength. On tv. And if they fuck it up, the team gets shut down - or worse. And they're openly discussing how to best screw it up. There is nothing you can say that's going to make me okay with that.
[ He doesn't look at Rich, but he doesn't walk off. Robbie's too worried about the other Legionnaires- Brainy is probably dead by now - to risk being left behind. ]
forgot to note this moved to actionspam since they're in the same place
The way you're arguing this is going like this for them.
[He makes a hand pass over his head. Far over his head.]
Whoosh.
Because you get rewired. You have to be, to survive that. Then all you have is a hammer and every problem starts to look like nails. To even get them to understand the change, we can't treat it as a morality thing, we have to find a way to explain not killing the bad guys as a functional thing.
no subject
[ Robbie cuts himself off, shrugging so hard it throws his shoulders back. He looks over the assembled Legionnaires, and the worry seeps into his expression. He doesn't say: I'd leave them behind if we didn't need more people. Or: you used make moral stands. Or: I'm probably going to get myself killed paying more attention to what my teammates are doing than the Legion of Supervillains.
He thinks it, and it's pretty clear from the headshaking and slight scoffing sounds that he is not thinking polite things. Then he shrugs again.]
And Babbage thinks I'm the one that should rethink being a Legionnaire. [ And then, more loudly. ] We should get going.
no subject
[But he at least knows where it's coming from. Robbie doesn't want to see another team turn into something reviled and feared by the public. He doesn't want the Legion to become the poster children for superhero excess. ]
[Especially not when the very people they're saving worked so hard for so long to make it into something more than that. They're not just rushing out to save them today, they also have to save what they made. To do that, they have to make sure the Legionnaires, audience, and Legion of Supervillains all make it out alive.]
[So he puts a hand on Robbie's upper arm.]
I already talked to York.
After this, I'll talk to Kid Q. We'll figure out a way to get through to them. Unfortunately, we don't have anymore time to do it now.
no subject
It's just so much easier to focus on the people that he can shout down. ]
Did you put him in the corner?
[ Smirking, Robbie slips away from the touch as naturally as he can. ]
I'll let it go.
no subject
no subject
[Rich takes a deep breath because everyone's driving him nuts, and even Robbie's not excluded from that. He agrees with him, but he also thinks his friend isn't making the right arguments. He's been a soldier, he understands "eliminate the threat" being the objective, and his own body count is staggering.]
I know it seems impossible, but you're a superhero now. That's our job, doing the impossible, and those of use that do this for a living, as long as we've got the right team at our backs, we handle situations like this three times before breakfast. With just a handful of fellow Novas, I've cleared a supervillain hostage situation in 1.86 seconds. No civilian casualities, no villain casualities. With teams that moved slower, and back when I was less powerful myself, it took a longer time, but we never had to kill a villain to save all the hostages.
I've been a soldier. I know where it is you're all coming from on this. In war, elimination of the threat is an ultimate goal. But we're not soldiers here, we're superhero law enforcement. Maintaining the public's trust is essential to the job.
Instead of wasting time thinking up ways to weasel around the consequences for doing this wrong, focus on what has to be done to do the job right, and start trusting that you have the tools and powers to actually pull it off.
no subject
[ Not entirely off topic but not at all a point that needs making: the public being so against putting down super villains that will only ever keep coming back and doing more terrible shit is fucking stupid. You put a bullet in them, they're done. You put 'em in prison and they just inspire more idiots like them to be dumb and violent or they escape and be dumb and violent but-
Fine.
Christ on a bike he's a super cop. North would laugh his ass off. ]
Optimism isn't really how we did things. We planned for the worst and ran with that. I'm planning for the worst and running with it.