AN EYE FOR AN EYE - [modplot]

[relativityspeaking]

I'm also getting word that the Spectre has decided to grace the UP with his presence again -- with the worst timing ever.

Takron-Galtos is under attack, and he's killing many of the inmates inside. Due to the attack and the tech failures, the prison's security team is also failing at securing the inmate population, and need help preventing the uprising that's fomenting.

I'm sending a team to defend the lives of the inmate population and use the Spear of Destiny and trap the Spectre once and for all. You'll also be responsible for securing the prison to make sure none of the prisoners take advantage of the chaos being caused by the Spectre and the Brainiac to escape.

You'll be operating with very little chance of backup. With the mechanoforms, we're already outnumbered several hundred thousand to one on Colu. This team is going to have work independently, with little outside assistance, and may have to contend with emergency t-gate failures causing extraction to be impossible until the Brainiac crisis is over.

Due to the...theological implications and the Spectre's MO being affected by personal history, this mission is going to rely on volunteers.

For those that haven't faced the Spectre before, I'll be sending you a case file on our past encounters and how he operates.

[She draws in a deep breath.]

Releasing him to defeat Galactus was one of our only options, but this is still our mess. It's time to clean it up once and for all.

[ooc: Locked to characters participating in "An Eye For an Eye." All others can be assumed as being on missions. This can be used for IC planning against the Spectre itself and the characters deciding who should wield the spear.]

Comments

[kingtyrantranger]

'This green guy who should be using his powers for good isn't and you need to kick him in the face for us'. Where have I heard that before?

[taumangaria]

Where have you heard that before?

[He doesn't know, is legitimately curious, and is trying really hard not to freak out at the situation at hand. Please throw him a bone.]

[kingtyrantranger]

Oh, uh. I did this hero thing back home and it's kind of complicated, but I had to fight a guy in green who got turned evil by a space witch.

[Short and concise without explaining a whole lot. Jason has a gift.]

...We're friends now. Me and him, I mean.

[headinjuries]

Wow. Seriously?

God's hand of justice or whatever doesn't think, hm, maybe I should go after the robot zombie things that are on the verge of destroying galactic civilization?

Nah, let's go Project Mayhem in prison, that's totally a better idea.

Uh, I'm in, anyway.

[kingtyrantranger]

Well, it's not like the robot zombie things are in control of themselves.

...Do robots even have souls? I mean, does God count as the God of robots if they're made by people?

[headinjuries]

...I dunno.

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

[kingtyrantranger]

I'm told they dream of White Christmases.

...In Southern California.

[the_civilian]

I know, right? What the hell.

I'm in too. Let's take this theological conversation to him.

[headinjuries]

I have no idea if you still go to hell for punching one of God's servants but only because he's being a total douchebag, but you know, I think we can just risk that one.

[the_civilian]

I will face God and walk backwards into Hell.

Nerd jokes aside, any God worth following ought to be more concerned with the trillions of sentients at risk right now than punishing the ones who've done harm.

[goddamnwingman]

Back home, the Spectre probably would have been all over the robot zombie thing. But that's because, normally, the Spectre is bound to a soul, usually somebody good who died recently enough that nobody would blink if they showed up alive again. That person acts as the moral center for the spirit and has enough pull to keep it from just going off the rails entirely.

I'm guessing that releasing it the way it was done this time means that it didn't find itself bound in the old ways.

[headinjuries]

Oh, yeah, I think I remember Hal said something about that?

[ It was months ago, he has a teenage attention span, don't judge him. ]

[goddamnwingman]

[It's okay. Dick remembers being a teenager. It's why he cracks a smile.]

Well, it mostly makes it a bigger pain in the ass for us, honestly.

[thebioticwoman]

[Shepard reads the file with less incredulity than she would have before being de-aged to adolescence a few weeks back.]

Right, I'm in.

[She almost says "Garrus and I are in" before she remembers she technically doesn't get to give him orders anymore.]

Do we have someone "pure of heart" enough to use this spear effectively? It's not like I kill for the fun of it, but I am a special forces soldier.

[If Kubo volunteers she's locking him in his room.]

[goddamnwingman]

That shouldn't count against you, but it's hard to know how this Spectre is going to handle things.

That said. The 'pure of heart' thing has less to do with who you've killed and more... [It's hard to read his expression entirely because his mask covers his eyes, but his mouth is twisted in consideration.] The Spear itself is the problem there. Or, rather, the way it's been used in the past. It's cursed to bring out the most megalomanic impulses that the wielder has. Having killed in the past won't help, but the less likely you are to want to smash the current government and make yourself head of the new one, the better off you're likely to be.

I suppose I should go ahead and say that I'm in, too.

[thebioticwoman]

I had a chance to install a puppet government and didn't take it, does that count?

[She says it in that dry, kidding-on-the-square way that means she's she's not really joking.]

[goddamnwingman]

[His expression doesn't change much, but there's something of an upturn to his lips that might, hesitantly, be called a smile.]

Well. It's a good start.

[taumangaria]

[That is a terrifying case file. Then again, the Brainiac virus is also terrifying, and Sawtooth can't do nothing. At least here he can pick his battles.]

I'm in. I haven't killed anyone, so I don't think it'll go after me.

[prettycoolguy]

I'll go.

[ Not exactly the shock of the century. The Chief's always one to dive in on the deepest end of any mission.

...That said, this is still one of those times where he sure wishes he'd gotten the power to be in two places at once.

As for mission-pertinent personal details... ]

I've killed. I'd like to think it was necessary, given the circumstances, but if I fall on the wrong side of a ghost on a justice trip I don't want anyone too surprised.

[ Read: John's still troubled by some things he learned from his own Legionnaire Legacy. The soldiers he killed in the training gym as a teenager come to mind immediately. Accidents may be accidents, but he's still not alright with that and the Spectre might not be either. ]

[calibrates_big_guns]

I'm in. I might not exactly have a spotless record, but I'll be able to do a hell of a lot more good over there than I would with the computer systems.

[Though there is some part of him that worries he'll be a liability. He's never killed anyone who didn't deserve it, but there was a time he would have pulled the trigger if someone else hadn't been in the way.]

[ghost_bait]

I'll come, too. Just in case someone who is handling the spear cannot handle it.

[the_civilian]

Are you going to contain them in your force field until someone else can take the spear off of them? Not judging, just trying to figure out your plan so I can help.

[ghost_bait]

Or hold it, I remember that there was a discussion the last time we needed to handle it. But if necessary, I'm... certain that it can hold someone effectively for some time.

[the_civilian]

That sounds like a good plan too. I promise that we'll keep you from doing anything too hinky if you lose control due to genocidal asshole ghostface.

[rushing_by]

I'm in.