Breaking News Update [video] ["Lights Out" plot post]

[legionnpcs]

[Apparently Shellee and Tammee - er, Gertix and Yil - have hit the ground running, because it's the day after they quit at Neutrino News and already they're set up in their new digs at Earthlive News, where they were hired by actual reporter Hannah Wells.]

[The two look different without their glam filters. Oh, sure they have a little makeup on, but their eyes are less enlarged and the flaws on their appearance are more visible. They also don't have a pink and blue glow anymore. And the fake smiles are gone. They have the serious and collected expressions of actual newscasters.]

[The words "Breaking News Update" scroll across the bottom of the screen. The video is a little static-ey, like there's interference, but apparently Earthlive News has invested in some heavy duty emergency signal-boosting tech.]

Gertrix: This is Gertrix Shur -

Yil: - and Yil Bak -

Gertrix: With a breaking news update from Earthlive News.

Yil: According to satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts from all over the UP, strange constructs are warping into orbit around multiple UP planets.

[Grainy video from a satellite shows strange structures floating around Braal, made of some unknown material. They're spiky and have eyes in the middle. The eyes are all directed towards the planet.]

Yil: So far, reports indicate that these constructs have been spotted around Earth, Colu, Braal, Rimbor, Titan, and Imsk, with more appearing as we speak. We'll continue listing new planets as this report goes on.

[New planets continue to be listed at the botton of the broadcast, scrolling across the screen: Daxam, Zuun, Talok IV...]

Gertrix: The nature and origin of the constructs are still unknown, but according to UPgov, they're thought to be related to the threat of Chronoblivion, as they appear to be emanating from the area of space where Chronoblivion has breached our universe. Efforts to communicate with the constructs seems to be unsuccessful, according to UPgov experts.

Yil: Unfortunately, intel about the constructs is thin due to widespread interference in long-range sensors and long-range communications between the Titanet Towers. Top UPgov scientists believe the constructs to potentially be responsible for the disruption. While communication between worlds is still possible, it's very limited.

Gertrix: [Listens to her earpiece.] This just in, UPgov has put into place a full state of emergency for all UP worlds. Authorities are advising all UP citizens to shelter in place, gather up emergency supplies within their homes, and to limit Titanet communications as much as possible so governments and law enforcement can have their vital communiques prioritized on Titanet networks.

[Click here for emergency information and links to official UPgov instructions.]

Yil: While communications are limited, the Science Police, Galactic Emergency Guard, and Legion of Superheroes are reported to now be in communication and will be dispatching to respond to the situation shortly. Authorities are advising UP citizens to remain calm and stay off the T-gate network and public thoroughfares, to avoid mass panic and allow law enforcement freedom of movement.

Gertrix: Here at Earthlive news we will continue broadcasting live to ensure the UP public is informed about ongoing news updates, as well as providing resources on emergency information, and information that will allow UP citizens to safely shelter in place.

[The news report goes on but by now UPgov and the Science Police have finally broken through the interference and managed to communicate with Legion World. Klaxons start blaring on Legion World and they don't have any more time to watch the broadcast.]

Comments

Important info post, do not comment to this

[relativityspeaking]

Attention all Legionnaires. We're now on High Alert for a 10 X 10 galactic threat. I repeat: this is a 10 X 10 galactic threat. I want everyone in uniform and ready to dispatch within ten minutes.

[She was in civilian clothes at the time the call came in, and is already in uniform. She's gearing up in her transuit as she speaks.]

Right now, we're getting reports of constructs in orbit around almost every UP planet.

[She sends a briefing that has a lot more information about the constructs than the news had, including some of Brainy's theories on their construction, possible purpose, and how they're apparently broadcasting data to the anomaly in space where Chronoblivion has latched on.]

Brainy's theorizing these things might literally be Chronoblivion's eyes, which means a full dimensional breach may be imminent.

[She draws in a deep breath.]

Apparently, the guards down in prisoner holding guarding War and the Joker say they're laughing.

We need to -

[The ship takes on an impact that makes it shake hard enough to knock everyone off their feet. Kid Q lands on her butt and calls out a report.]

Ops, report. What was that?!

[legionnpcs]

[Timber Wolf has Monitor Room duty right now. He braces himself against a console as there's another impact.]

Boss, we've got company.

[He patches through video of something that's warped into place near Legion World, right into Earth's orbit - Apokolips. Even worse, there's something lashed onto the war machine planet with strange energy traction beams, like they're keeping it trapped.]

[It's a terrible thing to behold, the creature they've captured. Massive, almost as big as Legion World itself. It's covered in spiky protrusion and masses of swirling tentacles that keep forming and reforming themselves into something non-Euclidean. Something made of swirling organic parts shouldn't have that many angles.]

[It cuts a silhouette against reality that suggests its mere existence is digging into the edges of it a little bit, like it's too solid for this universe but at the same time it looks like something ethereal, like it's barely solid at the same time. It hurts to look at for long, and the longer one looks at it, the more strange, alien, paranoid ideas fill their heads.]

[Wherever The Penitant, Chronoblivion's Herald, dredged up this creature, it wasn't from the material universe. The munitions bombardment stops as the tentacles reach towards Legion World and then inside it, passing through solid matter like it's not even there. While the actual structure of Legion World itself is unaffected (for now) the unfortunate Legion staffers that are the path of the massive tentacles are unfortunately vaporized on contact.]

[Fortunately, for most of the ship, the main areas some of them pass through are current;y uninhabited. Engine areas that don't have much staff or that are automated and the Hab deck, which is large enough that not every inch of it has people at any given time.]

[It's a close call, though. The Labs, Medbay, and Crew Quarters are all missed by less than 20-30 meters. Sheer luck saved them.]

[The tentacles apparently have more of an ability to intrude than the rest of the creature, like a jellyfishes tentacles sting more than its body does. Though its got a solid hold, as it presses the rest of its body against Legion World in an effort to consume all organic matter on the ship, the shields fortunately hold, preventing it from doing so. But still, it's got a solid grip and isn't letting go, and the shields aren't going to hold up against it forever. If they can't get those tentacles loose, it'll break through the shields and be able to scour through the entire mass of the ship.]

[googledox]

We're getting reports of multiple fatalities in areas where the tentacles managed to reach through the ship. Apparently despite the fact the tentacles are mostly intangible, they're caustic to organic material on contact.

Sensors are indicating that - sprock, they're not indicating anything. It's all junk data and nonsense, they can't get a read. Whatever that thing is, it's highly unlikely that it's from the material universe.

The tentacles have a solid grip on our power core, but its main body seems to have less of an ability to intrude. But our shields aren't going to hold against that much pressure for long. We have to remove its hold or it'll breach the shields and be able to phase its main mass into Legion World. If the rest of its body is as toxic to organic life as the tentacles, it could vaporize every living thing on board.

Landing Bay 4 - Fighting Outside the ship [action]

[relativityspeaking]

Everyone get ready for decompression.

[When as many of them get there as are going to get there in time, Kid Q hits the airlock and they all get launched outside. It's not going to be easy even getting to the tentacles, with Apokoliptian boarding ships whizzing around them and laying down fire. Before long, Catastrophists - styled as parademons - start directly attacking while zooming around on jetpacks, too.]

[Kid Q calls out orders as they move, directing certain groups and pairs to work together to target certain tentacles or the attacking ships.]

[ooc: Team up into any groups or pairs that you like. You can god that Kid Q has given them orders on who to team up with and what to attack.]

[walkingballpit]

[ Robbie is assigned to the external team on a technicality, but he's fine with that. He'd never object to saving Legion World, only... ]

Tentacles?! Again?! Why can't it ever be fifty foot hotties?

ota

[unspeakablyevil]

[Being a bit of a tentacle-space monster himself, this is where Aku belongs. Plus he has the added advantage of not being organic, for whatever it might be worth. He takes aim at one of the oncoming ships with his laser eyebeams and gives it a quick zap. There's a flash of red as part of the ship's side explodes.]

If only I were at full power! I could destroy ALL these ships!

[What a delightful fellow.]

semi-closed, see ooc

[thebioticwoman]

[ooc: I'm travelling starting tomorrow, so I'm planning all my threads. Hit me up at greenanddying or via PM to plot something.]

[Biotics definitely count as energy-casting, and guns are long-range, but Shepard refuses to go out in the cold in just a transuit, and has donned her own hardsuit over the thin layer. It's just a Legion copy of her old set, but it's the principle of the thing. Marines wear armor, dammit.]

Why do I always end up fighting endless hordes of implacable enemies in a vaccum on the outside of a perfectly good space station?

[Once, Shepard. It happened once.]

ota

[hallaifyouherd]

[ She has to try and conserve enough mana to keep up a steady barrage. Lightning splits and forks out between the flying foes, and walls of flame rush up to block the path of the incoming tentacles. If she sees anyone about to take a hit, she can quickly throw a shimmering spirit barrier around them, but they don't last long.

She's also reaching for her belt, where an assortment of grenades and potions sit at the ready. Reaches with both hands, because she's got a gleaming metal arm attached where there had once been an empty sleeve.

Tugging the cork out of a bottle with her teeth and slamming down the luminous blue liquid inside, she smashes the bottle downward and lets her power replenish itself, before diving back in again. ]

ota

[auramatic]

The weird and horrible tentacle monster is deadly to organics, but it doesn't seem to thebe able to hurt Drift -- whatever it is must only affect organic matter. So when shit hits the fan and it comes down to it, there's no reason for Drift to stay inside Legion World. He doesn't need air to breathe, and the damn thing can't hurt him, and energy casting? That he can do -- or at least he's pretty sure that what he can do with his Great Sword is close enough. A Cybertronian's spark basically is energy, and channeling that through the Great Sword might just do the trick.

For once, he's using the sword strapped to his back -- the really big one -- and the blade is crackling with bright-white energy, and while the sword itself seems to do nothing, the spark energy clearly affects it. A twenty-foot-tall robot swinging a giant sword seems to have his bases covered, especially when the tentacles can't deal any serious damage to him, but he's never opposed to a little teamwork, and he'll be jumping in to help any fellow Legionnaires who look like they're in a bind.

closed to megatron
It's getting to be an uphill battle, the situation only getting more dire, and it's wearing even on Drift -- the slicing and dicing isn't nearly as taxing as the constant drain on his spark. He doesn't let it slow him down, but there are so many of these kind of freaky tentacles and he could probably use a hand -- even an unwelcome one.

Open Action

[araignee_du_soir]

[ooc: absolutely no tentacles allowed in this thread.]

[This was not the time to play nice, to play law enforcement officer, to pretend to be a hero. This was it and Widowmaker was going to do what she did best: kill.

Gone were the attempts to fake the emotions she couldn't feel. Talon was gone, but she had purpose - one of her choosing - and right then she needed to be the death machine she'd been made to be. Lethal rounds, visor down and Widow's Kiss at the ready, Widowmaker set herself up at the breech point where the most Catastrophists were boarding. She had a bone to pick with them anyway.

Long-ranged shots rang out from up high, taking out enemies with headshots when possible, hitting environmental objects like pipes venting hot steam or freezing coolants, when not. Maybe an enemy went down mid-engagement with you, targeted by the sniper, or perhaps that Catastrophist that sneaked up behind without being noticed was stopped before landing a debilitating blow. Either way, Widowmaker didn't stay in one place long.

But her fellow Legionnaires should know who had their back. She was still contactable over comms.]

[steelandtemper]

[Cortana has a problem and the Chief is pinned down over on the other side of Legion World. That cuts the number of people she trusts to do anything right down by a substantial fraction.

Still, she has options.]

Widowmaker. Got a sec?

[Cortana's voice crackles across the comms, more staticky than usual in light of all the interference.]

Indoors; OTA

[unrecovered]

[Wash has just come on active duty, fully armored and armed, when the attack starts. He has the bad luck to be near one of the tentacles when it sears through the hallway he's standing in; he has the good luck to only be near it - it's maybe fifty yards away when it impacts, and the force throws him away from the point of impact instead of towards it.]

[Well. Fuck literally all of this.]

[He has enough time to send out a brief ping to anyone else in armor with his location and a request - please bring him any extra ammo if they have it on hand - and to draw both his pistol and his knife and get in position before the first of the Catastrophists land in his hallway.]

[This is his house. These are his people. And if these apocalyptic assholes think they can take it from him, they have another thing coming.]

If you're looking to die, you found the right person.

[The first of the cultists goes down from a perfectly aimed headshot, and the rest don't hesitate before they rush him. Fuck the nonlethal rule; he'll worry about the court martial once they come out the other side of this battle.]

[prettycoolguy]

En route.

[ A friendly blip comes sailing in on Wash's sensors, and more Catastrophists start dropping. They may be nonlethal rounds (the Chief doesn't exactly have the time to change that) but they're still enough to put people on the ground and "nonlethal" doesn't mean nobody's getting hurt.

Cavalry's here. ]

[toldyouso]

[Like any good hero, Pete runs towards the explosion, skidding around a corner and arriving behind Wash just in time to hear him make the standard badass threat. It's pretty good. Solid B+.]

Can I take a rain check on the dying?

[Yeah, he knows Wash isn't talking to him, but smartass isn't just a pastime. It's a way of life.

Pete fires a single round from one of his pistols into the cluster of attackers. It lands center of mass on somebody in roughly the middle of the group, seemingly an indifferent shot at best...until the grenade-sized explosion goes off a fraction of a second after impact, thoroughly breaking the charge.

Explosive rounds, hell yeah.]

[orbislife]

[ Wash may feel a sudden warmth flow through him as an Orb of Harmony attempts to attach to him.

Then a dark purple Orb of Harmony attaches to one of the cultists. A volley of omnic energy follows, hitting the cultist in rapid succession; the cultist crumples to the ground. The Orb of Discord switches targets. Zenyatta arrives but keeps a distance. ]

I shall watch your back. Proceed without fear.

[ How did Zenyatta know where Wash was? It's a mystery, but it should be noted that he's ready to fight. ]

Brainy's Lab [semi-closed, see ooc note]

[smarterthandad]

[ooc: I'm travelling starting tomorrow, so I'm planning all my threads. Hit me up at greenanddying or via PM to plot something.]

[It's not Val's first time at the interdimensional invasion rodeo. It's not even her second. Or third. In fact, depending on how you classify some things, she's up to the double digits. So, when the alarms go off and it becomes clear to her this is probably going to end up as an everything's-on-fire, abandon-ship kind of a day, she finishes her juice and begins shutting down the lab. There is way too much stuff here that could rip a hole in the already fragile fabric of reality, or be turned against the Legion if the lab were to be captured.

She's not the only one with that idea. A vanguard of Catastrophists has targeted the laboratory, and the massive security doors...slide aside for them in what is much too obviously a trap. The group hesitates, squinting nervously at each other and into the room. It gives the makeshift teleportation system Val tossed together the few seconds it needs lock onto them and trigger. She didn't have time to calibrate the transit algorithms, so Uatu only knows where they end up when the green-white glow of superscience fades from the now-empty corridor, but Val doesn't care.]

Chronoblivion needs to hire smarter lackeys.

No response needed, unless someone wants Cos

[rokketmann]

[ Outside, Cosmic Boy is trying to repair damage to a section of the hull, while not getting vaporized by tentacles. He’s busy trying to manipulate the torn strips of hull back into position, in hopes that they can be made airtight by staff once again, when it happens.

Out the corner of his eye, Cos sees several cultists paf into existence in the vacuum of space. He turns his head to get a better look, but a tentacle swings through them before he can act.

The tentacle misses the bowl of petunias, however, which continues to drift out towards the darkness of space, and Rokk Krinn spares only enough time to wonder where the petunias came from.

The bowl of petunias spends several glorious seconds flowering in delighted relief before it is returned to its universe and abrupt fate by the Time Trapper. ]

[paxpertyrannidem]

[Megatron was far more at home in all-consuming battle than pretending to play nice on an organic ship. The moment they are alerted to hull breaches he makes his way towards the lab with one thing on his mind.]

[In the chaos outside the doors, a group of reinforcements are flung rather violently through the air with the swipe of an arm. Megatron's arrival is preceded by a lot of crunching of Catastrophists on solid metal, but he eventually makes it to the security door with the grime to show for it.]

Valeria.

[Humans have such strange names. But no matter, he had more prudent issues at hand.]

ota

[agnominal]

[ His invisibility no longer relies on the suit. But it no longer lasts as long as he would like.

For a time it's easy enough to take up an advantageous position and simply snipe the cultists that attempt to make their way down the hall. But eventually the cloaking fades. Locus appears in his dark armor, and for a time he remains where he is, distant enough to clear the hallway without significant risk.

Until their numbers become too much for the relatively slow rate of fire the rifle provides. Shouldering it, Locus reaches for the energy sword on his hip and leaps down from his perch. Blue light sparks and flares to life beside him as he takes a breath and stares down the advancing forces.

This is going to be a long day. ]

[unrecovered]

[Several of the advancing forces go down in quick succession and a spray of blood. If Locus looks over his shoulder, he'll see Wash, rifle at the ready. Look who rounded the right bend in the right hallway at the right time.]

I'll cover you.

[Now tear them apart.]

[lovernotafighter]

[Well, this was unexpected.

The fact of the matter was that Tucker didn't want to admit that training with Locus was forcing him to get better; giving him credit wasn't exactly on Tucker's current life agenda. Granted, if this current situation went on for too much longer, well, that particular Life Agenda was about to be a hell of a lot shorter. They had been waiting for this shit, though; that's what all those days spent in the training rooms with their swords had been for.

Tucker smirked, even as he snapped his wrist once and felt the sword hum to life, the familiar power of it filling his hand. Cultists, huh? Could be worse. It could be pirates.

Tucker bounced from one foot to the next.] Think you can keep up, Locus?

[No bets. No offers of keeping count. Tucker didn't get off on it like some-people-who-shall-remain-nameless-and-in-the-past; he just had to make it through. It was easier to do that when he was making fun of the guy next to him, who knew.

Time to get this shit going.]

[goddamngrenades]

[ At least this is familiar. Suited up, ammo clips on his belt, gun at the ready. He patches through his external radio now and then to call out a 'hold up' or a 'stand still', 'freeze' and on occasion a 'hold this for me?' for whoever's close enough to get handed off a flashbang or whatever he's charged in the moment. It's not much to thin the heard but facing off a swarm is...

distressingly familiar.

But he's got this. They've got this. Rattling like a ball in a shell game he rolls to the next available bit of cover, patching to Locus. ]

Reloading, watch your three, got a flashbang off there due in point five.

ota

[shapedthecentury]

[ Should have known the peace wouldn't last. It never does.

It always ends in a fight.

Still, there are people who need protecting. He emerges from his biome to see technicians running down the hall from a group of cultists, and instinct pulls him in front to shield their escape, holding up one arm to block fire before darting forward to land one solid metal fist into the first cultists jaw.

Disarm, arm himself, and keep the halls clear for people to get to safety. He can do that much. ]

formerly brainwashed assassins teamup, go?

[whereabout]

[ Joshua, on the other hand, works better from the back, so he'll gladly take a distraction where it's already provided.

When he hears footsteps moving past the nearest junction in the hallways, he gives them a few seconds to pass before he moves in to round the corner and fall in behind them. And as they open fire, focused on the threat ahead of them, he moves in low, knives flashing as he slashes the hamstrings of the ones lagging farthest behind.

Because, you know, that's just how you say hello. ]

open

[truefaceofthelaw]

["10 X 10 galactic threat" sure sounds like GP and AP rounds to the head and heart to him. At least he's got free reign do deal with threats as he feels is necessary. His hand is a blur as he fires and reloads, barely pausing before he's off to the next breach site.]

[Which he's enjoying an unexpected mobility in. Rico flits in and out of reflections, flickering window by broken window onwards, bypassing rooms filled with smoke and containment doors in lockdown. If he sees a legionnaire needing help, he'll even take a moment to quietly step out of the reflective surface behind their enemy, finger held up to his curve of his smile in a shush gesture.]