Part 1 - The Mirror Turned

[meat_mooks]

There was no sound in the hangar, where the signal could be traced to something transmitting it that was hidden among the ships. The omnicom itself that was in Brenda's possession was transmitting, but there was something else in the hangar that had been amplifying the signal and carrying it along through the shielded depths of the ship back when the omnicom had been in the lab and wirelessly hacked by the strange mental array attached to Brainy's brain, and that was what they were tracing the signal to rather than the omnicom itself, months of hard work finally letting them crack the code.

There were no sounds of running or of someone being chased. That was possibly alarming. Silence, when someone had been running for their lives, was a bad thing.

[ooc: Closed to: the Brainies, Danny Phantom, Brenda, Red Robin, Zuko, Shoutaro, Jeka, and Punchy. Cole-player, I'll give you your cue to hop in and witness the trap going off by email and give you a setup when it's time.]

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Part 2 - Against the Wall

[meat_mooks]

A very sterile smell was the first thing they probably noticed. It wasn't the smell of disinfectants, though, it was more the smell of absolutely nothing, as if the air itself was filtered of everything it could possibly have filtered out of it.

The second thing was likely be the whole power-restraint/strapped-to-upright-metal stretchers thing.

All their powers and special suits and things were nullified, and even if any of them had any natural super-strength, that would be suppressed, all of their muscles made to feel weak.

Though they would have been allowed to keep their clothes, any tools or useful devices had been confiscated, such as Red Robin's little toys, and even devices hidden among their clothes would have been scanned for and removed. Nobody was picking their way out of this with lockpicks hidden in their hair.

The next thing they might have noticed was the bright lights of the sterile, metal room they were in, that would probably play merry hell with the head aches they all likely had from the teleport/stunning.

And last but not least, they might notice they were not alone.

[googledox]

After all this time searching for him, there stood Brainiac 5 in the center of the room, omnicom in hand, scanning them all one by one, seemingly completely unperturbed over the fact that he'd just kidnapped them all. The few of them that had known him before his capture would notice several distinct differences in his physical appearance. He was far skinnier now than he'd ever been in all the time they'd known him, a result of muscle atrophy from his long torture and his tendency to forget to eat while he was working. He was wearing a costume that looked distinctly less heroic, and his head was shaved. The inhibitors on his forehead had been removed and replaced with a new head-piece, one not dissimilar to those worn by other Brainiacs.

"Brenda, the subjects are awake. I need your assistance as soon as you can walk in a straight line," he called back through the doorway of the lab, without looking up from his omnicom.

Brenda had been woken up first and treated for her sedation. She'd made for such excellent bait but he really did find her assistance invaluable. As she was still likely groggy, though, the others would have time to react first before she walked in.

[ooc: Same deal as before. Red Robin, Zuko, Shou, Jeka, and Punchy should all get a tag in in between each npc/brainies/brenda round but you five can do it in any order you want. I'll cap off each npc/brainies/brenda round with a Brainiac 5 tag, so the round always restarts after him.]

[thisclinchesit]

A ragged groan left Shoutarou as he eased into consciousness. Where was he? The hangar - wait, no, this isn't the hangar. Why wasn't he there?

...green light.

Yeah. Green light went off. Then... Then he's not sure what happened after that.

Vision...is terrible, at best. Bright lights that are agitating the pounding in his head, and someone talking.

"...gonna...be kickin' myself for weeks over falling for that," he mumbles.

[nunpunching]

"Called it!" Punchy exclaims, even though he totally didn't call it. Ever. And was in fact the first person to merrily barrel into trouble because la-di-dah heroes never die.

Punchy's muscles haven't been relaxed, but unfortunately no amount of Johnny Bravo-style flexing can break through the restraints. Damn! At the very least, someone's talking to Brenda, so that means the fine-ass shawty is still alive and they haven't totally botched this mission yet.

He squints a bit at his captured comrades, then at the skinny green guy standing in front of him. "Hey, you're the guy I made say 'upside-dizzle'. You gonna loose us?"

Diplomacy. Let Punchy show you how it's done.

[prodigalfirelord]

"What are you talking about?"

Zuko is offended! OFFENDED! That Punchy would take credit for pointing out the obvious which he pointed out first.

"I called it! You were too busy getting an eyefull of that girl -"

That girl. Where was she?

And was that still Brainy?

"You."

He stares at Brainy, trying to catch his eye, looking for a trace of his old ally.

[thisclinchesit]

Okay, Shou gets a chuckle out of that exchange.

"Gotta admit, Zuko's got a point..."

[battorch]

That anyone might have not suspected a trap was basically unfathomable to Red Robin. But as much as he was irritated at the exchange, it wasn't a high priority for him-- the discovery that he was totally unarmed, with a complete lack of tools, was a bigger one.

"I suppose you have us right where you want us," he growled quietly.

They still had to hope for a way out though. His eyes scanned the room from behind the cowl. If he could just figure out something they could use...

He'd rather not admit he may be in over his head here.

[hatngartersnake]

Jeka hung in her bonds silently, watching Brainy -- poor, dear Brainy -- as he scanned her like she was nothing but what he'd called her. A subject.

She's been in this situation before: bound physically and mentally, illegally, under threat of death or worse. But last time, she'd known that the Legion would come looking for her. That Brainy would come looking for her.

"I'm sorry, Brainy," she said quietly. "I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner."

[shes_intense]

"It's not your fault Jeka.""

That's Brenda, moving sluggishly to stand at Brainy's side, but her eyes are downcast. She still feels dizzy but hates the vulnerability of just laying still and reeling.

"What do you need?" She asks Brainy, voice tired and resigned.

[level12jerkass]

"We do have you right where we want you. Why do you sound surprised at all? You knew you were facing Brainiacs," said a voice off to the side, as sinuous and cold-blooded as a snake. "Then again, it's almost unsatisfying how easy it was to play to your sympathies. Empathy is a weakness that's disappointingly predictable."

Brainiac 4 walked into the room and stood by her son. Her clothing was simple, a skintight suit in drab grey and purple. The expression on her face was, if at all possible, more cold and emotionless as Brainy's, though there was just the smallest hint of satisfaction in her eyes as she watched her son work, knowing what he was preparing to do.

"Fortunately, it's a weakness my son has divested himself of." There was the smallest of smiles. "With my help, of course."

[googledox]

"Brenda, prep my surgical equipment and the medical scanners."

That probably was not a good sign.

[ooc: Your round, guys!]

[nunpunching]

Punchy's got a really snarky comment for Brainiac, and then Brainiac Four walks in with those legs up to here and Punchy's already-meager common sense completely shuts off.

So he wolf-whistles at Brainiac Four, then, to Brainy 5, says, "daaaayumn, son, you didn't tell me you got a MILF in this joint!"

There is no way this could backfire.

[thisclinchesit]

Punchy, Shoutarou is going to pray that your commentary is part of something bigger and clever like what you did on the comms before. Really.

There's a scoff, and just the slightest bit of a smirk on his face as he peers through his bangs at the Braniacs. "I'd call it a boon. It's certainly given us the break we needed to get to the bottom of all this." Unwavering confidence can do one of two things - unsettle the bad guys enough to make them screw up, or make them focus on him long enough to hopefully give the others a chance to do something.

He just hopes his usual good luck holds out in this situation.

[prodigalfirelord]

"Are you crazy?"

Zuko really ought to have the restraint to ignore Punchy but . . . Punchy.

"Brainy. You know this isn't right. You know this isn't you. Let us go before you do something you'll regret."

[hatngartersnake]

Whatever Jeka had been about to say or do was momentarily lost as she choked on her own spit. She's not completely certain what a "milf" is, but she can hazard a guess from the context. She can only hope that Brainiac 4's lack of empathy extends to not caring particularly about what a sentient says about her in her presence.

Her eyes flicker between Brainy and his mother as she quietly tests her bonds in the hope that Brainy had left her an opening -- whatever his mother had done to him, surely she couldn't have crushed out his compassion. Of course, Brainy's mother knew that she was a Legionnaire, so it was possible that she'd watched him restrain her very closely. She switches tactics, glaring at Brainiac 4.

"More people than us saw the posts on the omnicom system," she snarls. "Are you sure you got everyone? You're not special, you sprocking squaj, you can get taken down by a knock upside the head just as easily as anyone else!"

Hopefully, Brainy left the weakness in someone else's restraints, and they can find it while Jeka's trying to keep Brainiac 4's attention.

[shes_intense]

Brenda moves away to the cupboards and starts assembling a standard compliment of surgical tools, though she cringes midway through the task hearing Punchy pipe up about Brainiac 4.

She comes back to Brainy's side and sets the tools on his workstation, sighing as she slides between Zuko and Jeka's bodies to power up the scanners she was asked for.

"Don't waste your breath trying to talk him around, guys. Believe me, I've tried it."

She'll probably get some kind of reprimand for trying to give the captives advice but screw it. It was just one more reprimand in thousands by now and voicing negative thoughts about B4 was very worth it...

"And trust me Punchy, you can't possibly be masochistic enough to want to tap that."

[level12jerkass]

Brainiac 4 didn't actually seem horribly incensed over what Punchy said. She was, after all, a sociopath and while anger came to her naturally, shame and embarrassment didn't. That said, she didn't suffer fools lightly.

"Kill the mouthy one first," Brainiac 4 said to her son calmly. "Painfully. But then, you're going to kill them all painfully. Be sure to record it, won't you?"

[googledox]

"Naturally. You know I prefer to have records of my work."

[level12jerkass]

"That's my boy."

Reaching out, she lifted his chin, delicately, and then appeared to grip it just a little too tightly, her nails digging in, leaving a scratch that started to ooze green blood just lightly.

When he didn't react to the pain, she looked even more pleased.

"Look at how I've broken you, at what you've become. I'm so proud. It's my best work, I think."

[googledox]

"The Coluan psyche is fragile, mother," Brainiac 5 said, not even bothering to attend to the cut that was now on his face. Unless it dripped, it was irrelevant. "While it was a significant accomplishment, certainly, it was also an inevitability. Now, may I get to work? You're distracting me."

[level12jerkass]

"Of course. I'm also distracting myself. I have to attend to my other plans in the meantime--I'm almost through Stacy's defenses. Make sure you're finished with your toys in time for the grand unveiling, my dear."

With that ominous proclamation, she turned on her heel and walked out.

[googledox]

"I don't want the lab crowded. Helper-bots, leave these two with me, put the others in holding."

Some of the robots that were performing minor tasks around the lab started to move, pushing three of the hovering containment units with the captives into another area. Punchy and Jeka were to stay with him and Brenda in the lab. Shoutarou, Zuko, and Red Robin were going to be put aside for now.

"Brenda, hand me my omnitool. It's time to get to work."

The goggles he flipped over his eyes were meant to protect from blood spatter.

[ooc: New part!]