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

[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.

[thebioticwoman]

I'm probably not the best choice, in all honesty. I'm used to making unilateral decisions that affect an entire galaxy. Technically I was always within my legal authority, but if you have to start justifying things on technicalities...

[Shepard trails off with a shrug. She's not power-hungry, but she is absolutely okay with power.]

[kingtyrantranger]

Why don't we just have everyone stand in a circle with stun guns and have one person at a time grab the Spear? If anyone cackles, we zap them.

[thebioticwoman]

[Shepard laughs, because clearly he's joking to lighten the mood, right?]

[kingtyrantranger]

[Hear that awkward silence, Shep?]

[thebioticwoman]

...If the spear's powerful enough to be a problem, stun rounds probably aren't gonna cut it.

[kingtyrantranger]

I guess...

[Well, he had thought it was a clever idea. But with people shooting it down, eh.]

[thebioticwoman]

Scott, a plan that requires you to shoot your own is something you're generally gonna want to go back to the drawing board on.

[She's treating him like a dumb but eager Marine recruit...which is about right, to be honest.]

[kingtyrantranger]

Yeah, I guess it'd be a little hard to keep from taking that kind of thing personally.

[It's not inaccurate.]

[goddamnwingman]

Not exactly something we have time for. And, honestly, I'd rather not expose people to the curse for long enough for them to start cackling, anyway.

Probably would have been a good idea to try uncursing the Spear, but it's a little late for that one as well.

[calibrates_big_guns]

Whichever way we cut it, I think we'll need one of us without a bodycount if they're going to stand much of a chance.

[prettycoolguy]

Sounds like our best option. That's you, me, and Shepard out. Sawtooth says he hasn't. Who else?

[the_civilian]

I haven't killed anyone. Unless my running into a burning building counts.

...I'm also mixed race which might piss the ghost off further, but I don't know if that's a pro or a con.

[goddamnwingman]

Hard to tell, but it's probably something to take into consideration. Still, I wouldn't let it hold you back if you get a shot. If nothing else, we can play hot potato among those of us who have the best chance of wielding it.

[headinjuries]

[ waiting for the earth to swallow him up and save him from this conversation, tbh. ]

[goddamnwingman]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Just as a gauge of how bad this thing is, Superman back home can't even hold it for very long. And he's one of the best people I know of in my world.

I mean. It's possessed by the spirit of Adolf Hitler. It's probably not a good idea for anybody to have hold of it for very long.

[thebioticwoman]

[Her face stays blank slightly too long at "Adolf Hitler," at least by the standards of Dick's time. They measure things against newer atrocities when Shepard's from, and the connection's not as reflexive for her as for someone from the early 21st century.]

Can't someone equally powerful just...kick him out?

[Everything she knows about ghosts comes from bad movies other guys in the barracks watched.]

[goddamnwingman]

[Dick waggles his hand back and forth.]

Probably not impossible, but not something we can do with our current timeline. Probably should have thought of it earlier, honestly.

[prettycoolguy]

Stick a pin in that for when we're done with it.

[thebioticwoman]

[She's pretty much conceptualizing it as getting hostiles out of an entrenched position, and that's what explosives are for.

Shepard would either make an amazing or horrible sorcerer.]

Okay, sure, we stuff one evil ghost back in his box, then deal with getting rid of the other evil ghost.

[calibrates_big_guns]

[Garrus can't help but shake his head.]

Nothing here can ever just be straightforward, can it?

[thebioticwoman]

It's not like anything back home was straightforward, either.

[Seriously, Garrus.]

[headinjuries]

That's...pretty much the plan that got us into this in the first place.

Except instead of evil ghost it was a dude who eats planets, but you know. Close enough.

[thebioticwoman]

Granted, I only have the mission report, but it seems like the plan started with "let the evil ghost out of its box."