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

[unrecovered]

They might. If the Herald or any of her half-formed creatures show up, get the fuck out of here, because that is not a one-person fight.

[That warning imparted, Wash is off, flying as quickly as he can to the armory. There's a chunk of hallway open to vacuum at one point, but between the flight ring and his armor, it doesn't slow him down. Neither do the small number of Catastrophists he runs across on the way - he slows down enough to make sure his speed doesn't affect his aim too badly, and that is that.]

[The armory is small but fairly well stocked, and Wash works quickly, maglocking extra rounds to his armor and shoving them in his soft storage. There's not much in way of explosives, sadly, and most of the rounds are stun instead of live - this is Legion World, after all, and live ammo and explosives tend to kill people. Still, he manages to unearth a few grenades, along with rounds that look like they might fit Pete's gun, and heads back to the hallway.]

[All told, it's been about four minutes. Hopefully the hallway hasn't gone completely to hell in his absence.]

[toldyouso]

Yeah, I read the mission reports.

[Pete only acts like a flippant goofball. It hides the hardened professionalism. He waves Wash along, the Kree voice of one of his pistols informing anyone who's listening that Pete has selected incendiary rounds as Wash's running footsteps recede and disappear under the sound of klaxons and groaning metal.

It's really turning into one of those lifetimes, isn't it?

Without an audience, Pete is quiet and methodical, stripping the undisintegrated corpses of equipment and piling them into a gruesome roadblock to break any future charges, studying the glowing tentacle from a reasonably safe distance, firing a variety of rounds into it to see if anything has any effect. You know, space war stuff.

When the next wave comes, no stronger than the first, he waits for them to advance to the point he'd identified, and fires a single incendiary into the leaking conduit in the ceiling, resulting in a gout of flame and screams that rapidly die away. Gotta watch out for that venting plasma.

When Wash returns, Pete's leaning against the wall in a noticeably warmer corridor, inspecting one of his guns.]