Plastic tubes and pots and pans [Metron's Throne] [endgame] [video]

[googledox]

[Brainy hasn't slept since they retreated to the outpost, because the damn thing is a sprocking mess. Fortunately, he's not the only gearhead the Legion has, but he's still had to work his hardest to make order out of chaos, getting important systems online, retrofitting some of the older equipment to meet their current needs - even playing (sigh) plumber, and troubleshooting a major malfunctioning in the waste processing system.]

[There are many problems that need solving, but they needed breathable air and running water before everything else.]

[Now, he's finally in the pathetic, gutted excuse for a lab, working on Metron's throne. His original plan had been to offset the immense mental processing power it required by creating a vast network of linked minds, from volunteers among the team and staff - but with Legion World gone and most of the staff ferried to other places in the UP - they lack the manpower (mindpower?) for that now. There aren't enough minds to spread the processing of information over.]

[So instead, he does something else: he tries to make one mind temporarily fast enough and powerful enough to process what needs to be process to briefly access the information they need. And of course he chooses his own. Valeria and Merl potentially have the intellect but there's no way he'd ever put their minds at risk like this. Besides, he has something they don't at the moment - outside intereference fettering his full intelligence that's technically removable. ]

[His personality inhibitors are absolutely essential for him to even function, but the whole reason he needs them is that the Anomaly advanced his intellect measurably beyond a 12th level several years ago - causing it to devolve into chaos. So he makes the logical choice.]

Thanks to all the work we've done, the Outpost is "functioning" (and I use the term loosely) at a level that allows the team at least to function on a rudimentary, albeit pathetic, level. Now that I'm no longer being reduced to the role of glorified handyman, I've had time to develop a way to access the information in Metron's throne. We no longer have enough minds nearby to disperse the processing requirements of the throne via a telesthetic network like I'd originally planned, but I believe I've discovered a way to temporarily enhance my own intelligence enough to access the throne long enough to get the information we need.

It's almost certainly going to be...unpleasant, as I'll have to temporarily remove my personality inhibitors, but we've run low on options, and this should allow me to access it without suffering extensive brain damage, so...

[He takes off the little white implants on his cheeks and immediately winces as the mental chaos starts up, then he puts on a ridiculous and bulky looking headpiece covered in strange blinking diodes and wires.]

I'm broadcasting and recording the attempt on the off-chance I relay vital information during the process that my mind no longer has the storage and processing capacity to remember later.

[A pause, and then he adds sheepishly:]

Oh, and also in case I miscalculated and collapse with the resulting stroke and require emergency medical care, but the likelihood of that eventuality is fortunately minuscule, no need for concern.

[And up he hops into Metron's chair. Merl is nearby, sitting in his little hover-chair, manning some controls. "Are you sure this plan should be implemented, father?" he asks, a little nervously.]

Yes, Merl. It should be fine.

[Merl nods, and says gleefully, "Then I'm making a mental note so that I have ammunition the next time I want to engage in a reckless activity."]

How fortunate that it won't matter because I'll still say no.

[Merl pouts.]

Engaging systems in three, two, one. Engage.

[Merl pulls the lever, nearby equipment charges up and...then it explodes, causing the room to fill with smoke. But Merl is at least fine, safe behind a little forcefield wall. And then Brainy suddenly stumbles out of the smoke, weird headpiece askew, and with the lights on it blinking out. He's at least uninjured but...]

-- infinite beyond measure, calculate based on stellar mass, to the order of the Nth power. A microscopic black hole will be required but can be stabilized (it can be stabilized!) but we'll need someone with the ability to control gravimetrics - not Jazmin or Rider, they lack the finesse required, so who else -

Ah! Aha! Yes!

[He starts laughing maniacally.]

I know where they are! I know where they are and how to get to them, the walls can be breached with the right field harmonics -

[He disappears off screen, still rambling, and starts piling equipment into the middle of the room.]

- just need to go to Phelolu, but once we have him again, we can breach into the pocket of the Bleed where Metron hid the Miracle Machine from there -

[Things very quickly start whirring and lighting up and electricity starts arcing through things, and within minutes, Brainy's gone full mad scientist, and he frantically tries to build what he needs before the information fades and before his thoughts get so disorganized he needs to put his inhibitors back on again. ]

[He's so distracted by what he's doing that he, er, doesn't think to explain what he's doing, so someone may need to ask him. Merl isn't, he's just excitedly going along with Querl, helping wreck half the lab to cannibalize components, and enjoying the sheer chaos.]

Comments

Action

[unrecovered]

[The second Brainy mentioned removing his personality inhibitors, Wash made a beeline for the lab and stopped outside the door. A couple of medical personnel with a stretcher arrive a few seconds after him - they may be underequipped, but they're still determined.]

[For now, he keeps an eye on the video feed and waits, just in case.]

[walkingballpit]

[ Robbie will try video first. He's seen Brainy without his inhibitors before, and finds him sort of an asshole. Ugh. ]

Hey, Querl? What happens if you, like, put on one inhibitor while you work on this?

[googledox]

[Sure is a lot of stuff making alarming whirring noises in the lab now.]

[He really does get worse at the social niceties when he's like this, mostly because he gets so interested in whatever Important idea he's fixating on that people tend to just fade into a dull gray background with all other things that are Unimportant.]

[Case in point: he waves a hand at the viewscreen dismissively, when normally, he'd treat Robbie's suggestion with consideration.]

Mm. Heightened efficiency and greater functionality, but even one inhibitor would cause a significant enough decrease in my intellect that I'd immediately lose my capacity to map out the dimensional schema required for this.

Pass.

[He rolls his eyes.]

Yes, my thoughts will eventually become so discordant as to be useless, forcing me to put them back on anyway, but I still have several minutes before my current thought processes degrade and my tracks of consciousness fully decouple and decohere - which is reversible anyway.

Currently manifesting more than my usual 12 tracks of consciousness. Fifteen? No. Sublevels. Twenty-five, not counting intermittent parallels.

I need all of them. Synthesis of ideas, schematics design, mass calculations - multi-track simultaneous processing required.

[walkingballpit]

[ How are today's alarming whirring sounds different from any other day? Every sound, whirring or otherwise, becomes an alarming sound once you've started visiting Brainy's lab often enough that the Legion's legal department requires you to sign an affidavit stating that the party of the first part - you - are aware that A. the party of second part, the Legionnaire scientist hereinafter referred to as Brainiac 5, regards detonation as part standard testing and B. the party of the - whatever, someone decided that the way to handle Querl's weird science was to make the lab ejectable.

Robbie has a lot of questions, and he suspects Brainy would guess all of them if he put a subtrack to it. Most of them are easy, like "where's Lyle?" and "why do you insist on sounding like a computer?" They're not worth the time. ]

If I went and found someone else to help out you and Merl - Val, Lyle, Stark or something - could you give up a few sublevels? I don't think it's healthy for you to be running more than twice as hot as normal. Synapses don't regrow when you blow them.

[googledox]

[Merl frowns.]

We don't need help.

[It's a point of pride.]

Besides, father's more fun this way.

[There's delight in his voice. Even though he's starting to learn to have empathy for others and to guide his more destructive tendencies into positive creations, he still very much enjoys any bit of chaos he can get. His growing sense of tenderness towards others is still paired with the chaotic tendencies of a Brainiac, and the delight of a small child. It's equivalent to how any other child might get incredibly excited by their parent getting elbows deep in fingerpaint and making a mess with them.]

[walkingballpit]

Need and want are two different things, kiddo. All I'm saying is, we have resources. Use them.

[ Robbie would prefer if Invisible Kid or (sigh) Iron Man were in the room to provide sane adult supervision. ]

Besides, if he wasn't so busy, you two could play a game while you worked.

[googledox]

This is more fun than games.

[walkingballpit]

You're playing the wrong games then.

[googledox]

[The funny thing is he doesn't even realize how computer-like he sounds when he's like this. Partly because he simply just is one, at his core. Yes, there's more than just raw data, programming, and calculations. There's also emotion, intuition, instinct...]

[But the interface, the veneer of sociability that lets him interact with others in an effective way, is a constructed one, that he hadn't even had when he joined the Legion. He'd gotten no socialization when he was growing up. He even was deprived of basic physical comfort as an infant and learned to speak his very first words imitating the only words he ever heard in his daily life - the tinny words of his unfeeling robot caretakers.]

[Right now, he's too preoccupied with the excitement of knowledge and discovery to boot his social interface back up and he doesn't want to waste any processing power at all on mere social skills, anyway.]

[So. Mr. Computer it is. Beep beep, insert data. Whirrwhirr: interesting output.]

Preposterous. This data is fascinating, why I would I want to let anyone else attempt to process it? Besides, none of them have the capacity to instantly understand it and explaining everything to them would just slow me down. And I need all of the sub-levels, I do. I know my own mind, Robert, I know.

[He waves a hand again.]

No need, no need. Because it's working.

[Something beeps when it's supposed to beep and after flipping a last switch, a spherical device in front of him starts glowing with a glow similar to an arc welder. Brainy still at least has the wherewithal to put a tiny set of goggles over Merl's eyes, and then another set over his.]

Reznov's constant! I should've considered it before, to find the proper field harmonics!

It's for the Miracle Machine, you see. A device - correction, metaphysical construct, or... no, there are no proper Interlac words for the concept (self-note: develop a new term, submit to Livic's Scientific Etymology Journal). Passed between the all the different Metron's - his dimensional alternates - it grants its bearer a "wish," the temporary ability to alter reality at the fundamental level. Then off it goes to another dimension, to find another Metron, who allows it to be found and used by the sentients of his own universe, and so on and so forth, with each new Metron availing himself of the collected data before re-gifting it to the next Metron, the next dimension over.

An aggregate! An aggregate of sociological, psychological, and anthropological knowledge, a hundred thousand dimensions full of sentients, all reduced to a single set of data points: their hearts' desire. What he hopes to discern from it, who knows, but the concept is fascinating; a complete reduction of all the sentient species in a universe down to the greatest desires of a single individual. Just one. He also studies the resulting reality alterations for a greater understanding of spacetime and interdimensional dynamics.

[The light is growing brighter and brighter with a voooom vooooom voooooom.]

I know how to get to it now, how to access the Miracle Machine's hidden pocket dimension in the Bleed.

I just need one simple thing. [He says it very enthusiastically, genuine emotion leaking back into his robot voice, but the next words are possibly are just alarming in that perky, casual tone.]

A micro-black hole.

Caveat: the only gravimetric wielders on board lack the finesse to create a micro black hole. Solution: Using the throne's data on dimensional rifts, I am...improvising. And solving another one of our problems at the same time.

[Which possibly makes it sounds like he's trying to create a black hole on the inside of the Outpost, whuh oh. He's not, but in his current state, he doesn't realize he should maybe clarify on that.]

[walkingballpit]

[ Robbie's face, and voice, are blank and hard when he gets done mentally wading through that as best he can. He doesn't understand much of the science, but he's learned that he can grasp the basics if he concentrates on nouns, ignores words than end in -al, and generally anything that starts to sound too much like Dr. Frankenstein poetically describing the creation of life.

He's gotten a hold of two basics right now: Brainy is working on something to do with a black hole, and he's not factoring in his teammates enough. ]

It's Robbie, Querl. You know that I hate getting called Robert. What else are you getting sloppy about while you waste 25 mental levels on processing data oh-so-carefully?

Because the gravimetric wielders have the finesse to remember my damn name.

[googledox]

My attempt at an arch and slightly sardonic tone failed. Difficult to maintain coherent social folkways. Social skills are currently irrelevant.

[Robbie's upset, he can tell that much. He tries to reassure him, but it's not easy when his voice sounds so distant and distracted and the effort to make it sound different seems insurmountable.]

I need to be this right now. I'll be my other self again later.

[No. He can't just leave it there. One little track of consciousness tsks and reminds him that relationships are not magically in stasis when he's in this state.]

[He makes more of an effort.]

This is for all of you. Just ten minutes of chaos, but then - it's for all of you, and for them.

[He nods towards the light.]

No gravimetric wielders with the proper powers control, yes, but they do exist. He's had to work hard to control his powers, because for years, he was an utter imbecile that could barely keep himself from launching head first through walls.

[It occurs to him that he hasn't dropped a name or given enough information.]

We don't have what we need, ergo I've discovered a way to obtain someone that can help us get what we need.

[The air in the lab starts to shimmer.]

[It's not a black hole. The light is expanding, opening some kind of entrance in spacetime. Beyond it, there are vague silhouettes. It's like looking at a group of people through frosted glass.]

[This isn't a true portal that will let things pass through, just a window, just something that will tell him it can work. If it can, if he gets it right now while he still has the capacity to, even if he forgets how he got there, he can still recreate it on Phelolu.]

Robbie, I found them. I found them, and if I can save them it'll help me save all of you. I need to test it before the knowledge fades. I can reconstruct it from my notes again later, on Phelolu, but I can only make adjustments on the base design right now.

[walkingballpit]

[ This is not reassuring. Robbie peers at the shapes through the portal on his view screen. He doesn’t like how obfuscated they are. They could be anyone, and it nags at him that he can’t put words to his concern. They could be anyone. Brainy could be opening up the outpost to anyone. ]

Brainy, what are you doing? I don’t know who you're talking about, and we don’t have a backup backup outpost.

[ He hates himself for doubting his friend, but Robbie’s making his way through the narrow corridors of the Legion Outpost as he finishes. He’s not sure if he’s going to stop Querl or help. He’d just feel better if he were on hand. ]

I trust you, but I don’t like trusting mystery people on the other end of magic mirrors! They could be Heralds, for all we know –

[ Wait. 'I found them. I found them. Something about the repeat, and the way even an uninhibited Querl can’t contain the emphasis. There’s only one them that Brainy blames himself for losing.

But Robbie doesn’t believe in endings that happy – it was a fricking miracle two of them made it back. He tries, and only half fails, to keep the hope off his face. ]

Querl, when you say them, are you sure? This is an open feed.

[googledox]

[Brainy holds up his omnicom and then taps on it to share the screen, screen-in-screen with everyone else.]

[Signals. A cluster of Legion flight ring tracker signals, all somehow clustered in the lab, even though Brainy and Merl are the only ones there, and even though it can't be picking up on them from elsewhere in the outpost. The ring signals from everyone in the rec room are clearly clustered elsewhere on the screen, so it's not picking up those. The ones in the Mess can be seen elsewhere on the screen, too.]

[The signals are growing stronger, the clearer the figures become on the other side of the dimensional wall. Every Legionnaire has a unique symbol on the Mission Monitor board and on any programs that show their positions - and these Legionnaire symbols haven't been on the Monitor board in close to two years.]

[Brainy nods frantically at Robbie, his eyes glassy.]

I'm sure.

[It's almost a whisper, like he has to hold his breath to contain all the joy inside so it doesn't burst out in a bigger explosion than any that's ever blown up the lab. He turns back to the figures, there's a sudden burst of mist and frost and condensation and then...]

[Then there's a sheer pane of what looks like glass or crystal - the wall of the dimension the missing Legionnaires are trapped in. It's blocking them from walking through, the walls are still too strong here, but it's clear enough to see the figures through it, like a window.]

[They're young adults, around the ages of the native Legionnaires and they clearly represent a large number of (familiar) species. They all look weary and gaunt. The crystal dimension is making it so they don't need to eat or drink or go to the bathroom, but it's not exactly maintaining them at the best possible health, especially since they have no room to do anything like exercise. Muscles have still atrophied, and they've all gotten skinnier from losing muscle mass.]

[Oddly enough, their hair and nails have continued to grow. Some of them have found ways of clipping it with the meager supplies they have, or their powers. Many of the others have given up and have a year or two's worth of hair and/or beard growth left untouched.]

[Most of them are sleeping right now, because they don't have to do it to survive, but sometimes that's all there is to do. It helps break the endless hours apart into something less maddening.]

[But they're alive. They're all breathing. And for those who have never met them before, or seen their pictures, it's still obvious who they are. Their durapreen uniforms are torn from two years of constant wear and the colors are slightly faded, but the faded colors were obviously once brighter, and they're clearly Athramite designs.]

[And then there are the belt buckles and the flight rings, completely unmistakable.]

[Brainy looks at them all, oblivious to him standing there, draws in a deep breath -- and then lets it out in a gush of disappointment. He sounds very put upon.]

I accessed an ancient and terrible power for forbidden knowledge, did all this work, and none of you even have the good grace to be awake so that you can be impressed?

Ridiculous.

[He's not actually that upset with them for missing this. (Only a little.) But it's a very "Brainy" thing to say to wake them up and therefore a good first thing for them to hear from home.]

[legionnpcs]

[One of them, a redheaded young man with a blue uniform that has lightning designs on it, who seems to be nodding off where he sits, suddenly spots the window into another world, and darts all the way awake.]

[Then he jabs another young man in a black and white uniform who's sitting up as he dozes, too.]

Thom, you were supposed to be on Brainy-watching duty!

[He climbs up to his feet, looking a the figures beyond the glass, like he thinks he's hallucinating - it's happened before. They all kept a very tenuous relationship with reality these days.]

Please tell me I'm not just seeing things...

[legionnpcs]

[The other young man jolts awake.]

You're supposed to be on duty, too!

[His jaws drops.]

I think it's real. [He runs over to it and presses his hands against the glass-like dimensional wall, sees the mad science going on on the other side, and immediately starts crying when he realizes it's not a joint hallucination.]

Garth, it's real! It's Brainy!

HEY, EVERYBODY WAKE UP! GUYS, IT'S BRAINY! BRAINY FOUND US!

[legionnpcs]

[It's right then, that the other native Legionnaires come pouring into the lab from the different places on the Outpost they'd been in when they'd looked at their omnicoms to see the hub-hub.]

[Most of them had been just about to comment when... well. A miracle happened. The exchange is a completely unintelligible blend of voices.]

-- Green Legion! I missed you so --

-- Shikari, make room, I can't even see Kid 'cause of your wings --

-- missed you too, Wildfire --

-- Vi, Vi, it's really you! --

-- Oh Ferro, don't cry, I wish I could hug you right now --

-- Jo, Tinya, grife I thought - for a while, I thought --

-- It's okay, Brin, we're here --

-- took such good care of Cub, we saw everything, we couldn't stand watching you both --

-- knew you and Cos would make it, Lyle --

-- couldn't have done it without all your help getting out, Cham --

-- Rokk, without you around, Garth and I have felt so --

-- missed the companionship of other non-humanoids on the team --

-- good ol' Gates, we really missed you too--

-- Brainy, we knew you'd figure it out. I kept telling that stupid brother of mine that he was getting all depressed and cranky for no reason--

-- wasn't getting depressed for no reason, Ayla --

-- uh, yes, you were, Garth --

-- nuh uh --

-- yuh uh --

[There is a sudden clanging sound behind the Kid Quantum, meant to get their attention. They all shut up.]

[googledox]

We have very little time before the device powers down, and as you can all see, the crystal dimension hasn't been fully breached.

[Brainy immediately holds up a hand and yells:]

Jo, don't!

[Ultra Boy, who'd been winding up to punch the wall with his superstrength, freezes in place, fist raised.]

If it was possible to break down the dimensional barrier by brute force I would've already told you to do it. Punch that with superstrength and the resonance might make you all go deaf.

[He holds up his hands in a placating way.]

I'm perilously short on time and since I had to remove my inhibitors to process the data that allowed me to build this, I'm also short on coherence. I need you to all to listen.

[He scrapes for just enough social skills to add:]

Please.

[legionnpcs]

[They all go quiet and listen. The orange guy with antennae says:]

Ooooh, Brainy said please. Truly these are desperate days.

[A few of them titter but they all behave and go quiet again after.]

[googledox]

[Brainy gives Chameleon a flat stare, but otherwise ignores it, and stands up on a chair so even the ones in the back can see.]

This is a beta test of the device. I'm going to need to put my personality inhibitors back on, try to make sure I can still reconfigure it while sane, and then take it to Phelolu to successfully breach the dimension you're in.

This shouldn't take more than a day or so -- stop cheering! Stop your mirth! Stop it right now!

[They were about to start, but they stop mid-cheer at because of Brainy's death glare and frantic waving.]

We need you all prepared for a fight. It's highly likely that Chronoblivion will strike while we're weakest, after the fall of Legion World. The displacee Legionnaires will need to take point in the fight, none of you are in any condition to face the Heralds, but there are still waves of Catastrophists we're likely to deal with. I'm sure you're all aware, given the voyeuristic nature of the crystal dimension's walls.

And Thom. I don't care how you get there, but by the time you're extracted from the crystal dimension I need you to be capable of making and controlling a micro black hole.

[legionnpcs]

[The guy in white and black, Thom, aka Star Boy, stares with his jaw hanging open.]

Uuuuuuuh.

See, the thing is, it's too cramped in here to practice with my powers safely, so it's been a while, and --

[googledox]

By the time I get you out.

The fate of existence is at stake. The displacee Legionnaires made it possible for the team to procure Metron's throne and restore it to functionality, and that's allowed me to find you, but there's still one more resource we need to gain to have a chance.

And I need a micro black hole.

[Thom opens his mouth.]

And no, Kid Quantum, nor do any of the newer Legionnaires with gravimetric powers have the fine control required to make one. You're the only one.

[Thom closes his mouth.]

By the time I extract you.

[legionnpcs]

[He squeaks:]

Okay.

[His shoulders sag.]

No pressure or anything...

[relativityspeaking]

Brainy doesn't have his inhibitors right now, so I'll say what I know is under all of...this.

[She waves at his current frowny demeanor.]

It's so good to see you all again. We need you to hold out for just another day or two, okay?

[She waves a hand.]

Now you can cheer.

[They all do.]

Once you're out, we need you ready for a fight. I won't waste time trying to pump you up for it, because you know we have a job to do and that you'll have to prepare yourselves however you can.

So make it happen, Legionnaires.

[She smiles and looks like she might cry at the same time.]

[The walls of the crystal dimension starts clouding over as the gap closes up. Alien hands all press against the clear pane one last time as both sides watch each other slip away yet again. But this time...this time it's different than the last time it happened, when the group left behind saw their friends ripped away from the universe and thought they'd maybe perished.]

[One more day, that's all...]

[It fades and is gone. Kid turns to Brainy.]

Brainy, you got your proof of concept. Get your inhibitors back on. Now.

Then get this ready for deployment by tomorrow if you can.

Our friends have clearly been knocking for a while now. Time to get the door.

[googledox]

[Brainy puts his inhibitors back on and winces as he does. It's the mental equivalent of having his brain doused in ice cold water.]

Unpleasant.

[He winces more.]

Obscenely unpleasant.

[Merl pokes at the equipment as it powers down. "Father, we really should manipulate the dimensional fabric more often. That was very exciting."]

Audio

[unrecovered]

[Through all of this, Wash has remained outside in the hallway, at one point using his flight ring to press himself flat against the ceiling to get out of the way of the Legionnaire stampede.]

[He watches with a smile. It's a hell of a moment, and he's not about to interrupt it.]

[He waits until everyone's back to business before chiming in.]

What can the rest of us do?

video

[relativityspeaking]

[She briefly puts a hand on Brainy's shoulder.]

Good work, Brainiac 5.

[She turns to face the viewscreen.]

As for all the rest of you, make sure you're prepped to dispatch by 0500 tomorrow - and get ready for the worst. Our friends look the worse for wear but even at their worst, some of them can crack planets. We're making a play that could almost double our numbers, and multiply our combined firepower tenfold, and we have to go back to Phelolu to do it. Getting Star Boy back also might let Brainy get this "Miracle Machine" that could let us win this.

I really doubt Chronoblivion's going to make it easy on us.

And as far as I'm concerned, destroying Legion World and moving to the Outpost only got us a brief respite. Let's try to stay ahead of the curve and get back on our feet and on the offensive before Apokolips does.

[She has something else she needs to say, more than just 'get mission ready.']

I know things have been rough lately. For many of us, the choice to self-destruct Legion World was a difficult one, for a multitude of different reasons.

[Some had moral compunctions, given the nature of the Catastrophists' recruitment and their feelings towards the preservation of life. Some were upset over losing a place that had become at least close to home. Some were shaken just by the transition, when they'd already had to adjust to a new world. Some felt a mix of all these things.]

To a lot of us, it had become home, or at least a temporary refuge from all the chaos. And now we're stuck in these glamorous new digs that barely meet our needs. [She gestures to the wreck of an outpost around them.] I think we'd all be lying to ourselves if we pretended it hasn't felt like we've taken a fall.

But it still left Aokolips dead in the water and the only reason Brainy was able to find our lost friends and possible way to end this, the only reason we've come this far was because of all of you. If not for you displacee Legionnaires, we would never have found Metron's throne in the first place. We never would've stopped the Spectre or Galactus, captured or killed any of the Heralds, been rescued from the Legion of Supervillains, or routed out the corruption in the UP.

Among many other things.

Grife, some of us might not even be here. When the Time Trapper first started bringing you here, ten of us had been stuck doing the job of over two dozen for over a year. We were at our breaking point.

But thanks to all of you we're still here, and we're still gaining ground even if there are days like the other day where we lose some, too.

[She draws in a deep breath.]

Making this team work hasn't been easy, especially with us all coming from so many different background. But here we still are. Whatever happens next, you should all be proud of yourselves.

So aside from getting ready for the days to come, I also just need you to keep doing what you're doing and continuing to be sprocking exceptional.

Action

[walkingballpit]

[ Rather than be bowled over by the rush of Legionnaires that arrived simultaneously, Robbie went in the lab with them, but he hung back, staying out of the way until the commotion had passed. The missing Legionnaires are his teammates in name, but these are their friends. He’s still the newb in the room, but he’s giddily grinning for them. It’s the dream outcome to a nightmare.

When the room clears somewhat, Robbie takes a couple steps further in, mindful to not get near anything critical. ]

Hey, Querl. You already know you’re a genius but nice work, man.

[ He winks to emphasize the deliberate understatement. ]

You remember I volunteered to be a lab monkey if you helped my friends? I just wanted you to know it’s in effect for yours, too. You want fake coffee, sweet potatoes, someone to out their finger on a knot – I’m on call. I figure your hands are full, so you’ve got mine for the things so stupid a human can do it.