Phase 4 - The Mastermind Behind it All?

[cityship]

Hal9000 had been defeated, but it isn't quite over yet. After the injured had been healed and Jaime Reyes had stopped blanking out, after they'd regrouped and got their stuff together, it was time to move on. Engineering and Neuropathy had yielded nothing fruitful.

They could, of course, just blow the ship to hell by messing with the engines, but that really didn't benefit them and they were already dead in space right now, the ship stopped in some random dimension. Neuropathy was locked down.

No, they had to make it to the bridge.

And this was one of the places on the way, a wide open area, sort of like a courtyard with something like a open-air cafe. A section tucked away was more like a lounge area, with a viewing window, like the one in Obs.

Here, someone was waiting for them, someone that had watched their every move.

He's not a very nice man. In fact...maybe they don't even have to go to the bridge. Maybe the one in control of it has come out to meet them.

[ooc: The old threads are still open, obvsly, but I'm trying to get everything up to keep things moving along.]

Comments

Introductions

[cityship]

The key to a good introduction is timing.

Re: Introductions

[imperious_lex]

And it's clear that said someone had been watching their every move. Currently playing on the viewing was them, he was replaying the battle they just had with HAL.

Oh, Paco, there goes your arm again, this time in full HD.

He was well aware they were there, and began slowly clapping, giving them a sardonic applause as they got closer. He finally stopped, and turned to get a better look at the group as he raised a martini glass in a toast to them.

"I see congratulations are in order. You all survived, despite your own immense stupidity. You may all prove to be useful to me yet." He raised his glass a little higher, then took a sip.

"Oh, where are my manners? Would any of you care for a drink?"

Re: Introductions

[wolf-that-grins.livejournal.com]

Oh hell. Wags recognizes you Lex. "Rif ris is rabout rand, rime ronna rip rour race roff."

Re: Introductions

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

There's a gasp, among them.

It's not him. It can't be him.

But it is him. Younger, maybe...

Before anyone can stop him, before it occurs to him he should hide or be afraid--and after a moment, when he remembers he's powerless, Kon will be afraid, because this man, as much as he tries to pretend he doesn't, terrified him--Superboy's already broken free from the crowd to go after him.

"LUTHOR! You were behind all this!"

The ship--some weird social experiment? Some plot, some plan--something. Maybe it was all an illusion, even if they were all real.

But for whatever reasons he did this to all of them, he's going to be stopped.

Re: Introductions

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

See this, Lex? This is Mai glowering at you. You're lucky looks can't kill.

In fact, she's already following Superboy's lead, running in step right behind him. Her knives already in her hands, ready to throw as soon as a threat shows up (or she gets in range to plink Luthor). She's had enough of this and there's something about this man which reminds her far too much of Azula towards the end.

Re: Introductions

[theregularguy.livejournal.com]

"Are...um...are we supposed to know this guy?" Sokka has his ridiculous sunglasses back on, and has his shotgun pointed in the fellow's general direction. He's angry, sure. But he wants answers, too...

Re: Introductions

[imperious_lex]

"Clark." The venom in his voice was palatable, but now wasn't the time for fighting them. He had managed to take a moment to swallow down is bile when he watched the fight live. it figured that Clark would be in the middle of yet another mystery.

Lex held up a hand signaling for Clark Kon to stop. Not that he could do anything else, but with HAL out of the way, Stacy was back in full.

"You always were one to jump to the wrong conclusions." Ironic that he just jumped to the wrong conclusion as well.

Re: Introductions

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

The name alone causes him to stop. That he knows that name at all, when he's not wearing the nerd glasses, when he's acting like he would with an S on his chest and it makes him think of that name...

He needs to correct him, but he's not sure how.

No, he won't let this be connected to anything super. Actually, instead of rushing in, he's going to do this...carefully.

"It's Conner. I'm his cousin."

Re: Introductions

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"And this, everyone, is Lex Luthor. He's not a very nice man, and one that usually does bad things to good people. He's from the universe a lot of us are from--" He tilts his head as he looks at him. "--or at least one like it."

It's answers time.

"What's this about, Luthor?"

Re: Introductions

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

Mai isn't waiting to talk. She hurls a volley of knives - not aimed to kill, but to pin him down. She is not a happy camper.

Re: Introductions

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

Those blades? Stopped by an ecto-barrier courtesy of Danny.

"For Pete's sake. We can at least listen to the guy before we beat his shiny bald head in."

Re: Introductions

[imperious_lex]

Lex tilted his head slightly, taking a better look at Conner. His eyes darted briefly towards Jaime, then Mai, then Danny when the knives stopped, then back to Conner. There were certain subtle differences, but the relationship was obvious.

"Apparently so. I'm sure Clark was thrilled to find a blood relative out there." What with Clark being adopted, and all.

He stood up to address the group, and they might notice that he was wearing the same plantsuit as the rest of them. Though he also had an Armani sport coat to go with it. He decided to address the whole group.

"Since my reputation seems to precede me," Lex is looking at you, kid who got half his face shot off, "I think its best we clear up a few misconceptions. I'm not the one who brought you to this ship, but I am the one you'll need to listen to if you want any hope of getting off it alive. Particularly since whoever planned your trip so far seems hell bent on seeing you all dead." A sharp barb, but still an honest evaluation of what he's seen from them so far.

"For the time being, you can get some more rest, further treatment for your wounds, and check your equipment. If you're hungry, there's plenty of food in the storage room there." Yes, food, people. Real food. "Nothing fresh, but canned goods tend to last a while. The bathrooms are through those doors." Yes, a bunch of non-meaty toilets that don't stick you with needles when you exit.

"There's also plenty of alcohol behind the bar. Don't get too happy with it, though. I'll need you at your best, because what you've been through so far is nothing compared to what's up next."

And compared to what you've been through, Lex has been living in the lap of luxury. Which is normal for him, mind you.

"Now which one of you used to be in charge of this group?" Because you all work for Lex Luthor now.

Re: Introductions

[wolf-that-grins.livejournal.com]

Wags reverts to homid form for more ease of communication, a form which may or may not look like someone Lex would recognize.

"Dude, you're flipping Luthor. The reasons for not listening way outweigh any reason to do the opposite."

Re: Introductions

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

"Give me a reason to listen to you."

Mai's still glaring daggers at you, Lex. You're lucky that there's a shield to stop her from throwing more.

Briefing

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

Brainy pulls up multiple huge screens with what the nerdy hacker types have recovered. Some have information, notes. Data. There's also surveillance footage and pictures, as well as monitors that display what's happening in the bridge right now.

"This is what we're dealing with."

On a large screen, they can finally see footage of the bridge, and the bridge is absolutely amazing. Sleekly designed, with the mechanical interfaces integrated into Stacy's biology in a way that makes it difficult to tell the disparate parts apart. Floating scans and holoscreens are all over. There is a pilot's chair in the center of the room, and nearly innumerable stations, where individuals can man weapons systems and the like. Many of them have been opened up and clearly tampered with, and there are devices all over that seem to be what the pirates are using to interface with Stacy's systems and control the ship.

There is a pedestal in the center of some unknown purpose--perhaps a long-distance communications device? The view screen in the front stretches through most of the room, giving a panoramic view of the stars.

Shoved through one of the walls in the bridge, near the front screen is a ship that clearly attached itself to the ship and ruptured the hull to allow the pirates to board. The pirates' ship.

The actual group of them is a swarthy lot. Some are humanoid, some aren't. They are a scarred, scraggly ugly bunch, comprised of multiple species, many of them carrying some insanely sinister-looking alien weapons. There are several of them that ARE weapons, as they appear to be robotic in design.

"Luthor seems to be right is his estimation that we're outnumbered fifteen to one." There are quite a few pirates visible, and there are likely more on their ship.

"There seem to be two individuals of note (http://cityship.livejournal.com/14539.html), and judging from Luthor's notes these are the captain and bo'sun respectively, the pirates' commanding officers."

Brainy grimaces and pulls up a conversation Luthor noted. "While I see nothing here to indicate what precisely we were all gathered on this ship for originally, apparently this band of individuals did indeed hijack the ship for piratical purposes and change its course. They've set the ship's course to a specific multiversal nexus, called 'The Chopping Blocks,' where several stations are set up to process all manner of goods, weapons, and sentient beings for the purposes of selling them in a large market area there. They seem to have intended to sell the weapons on the ship in the weapons black market, as well as sell all of us into slavery--whether it be hard labor, as mind-controlled metahuman soldiers, or sexual slavery--or as meat for species that enjoy eating the exotic..."

He looks disgusted.

"We've been double-kidnapped. Stacy likely started releasing individuals from podsleep early after her systems were compromised by the pirates so that we could fight for our own freedom before we were brought to the Chopping Blocks."

Re: Briefing

[wolf-that-grins.livejournal.com]

"I call dibs on the big ugly blue guy."

Re: Briefing

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

I ain't callin' dibs, Jono says, shaking his head. Jus' stay behin' me when the cowlin' comes down. Since, you know, he doesn't want to be responsible for any friendly fire incidents. (Rather literal with the fire, too.)

Re: Briefing

[top-teen-38.livejournal.com]

Slobo reads the report on the captain and bo'sun quickly. He was sticking by Batman, wary of what the rest would do once Luthor woke up.

"Says the captain here's got kids. I might be able ta round 'em up, use 'em as leverage." He shrugged. "It's a gamble, but it might end things quicker than later, get you guys off the ship sooner than later. If it don't? I can knock 'em out and that's a few more members o' the crew outta commission."

Re: Briefing

[hatngartersnake.livejournal.com]

Jeka narrowed her eyes at the information on the screens.

"Chief, I am a member of the Legion Espionage Squad," she said. "I am fully capable of sneaking in and sowing chaos among the pirates without them even knowing I'm there."

Re: Briefing

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara's heart went a little cold when she heard the "sell for sexual slavery" part. It wasn't that being a slave wasn't bad enough, but Katara knew full well that there were attractive women on the ship that this would promptly be moved as slaves. She didn't even want to think about herself being that kind of cargo: that idea simply refused to come into her mind.

"I'll go wherever Chief wants us to go," she said, her voice strangely quiet. "These pirates have to be stopped."

Re: Briefing

[mrsarcastic003]

Tim nods a little in agreement. Meat? Eew. And none of the other prospects for the living cargo sound especially appealing either. They need to get the pirates off the ship. They can deal with their internal strife later.

Re: Briefing

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

""Plans within plans... " Sheeana mutters. It's almost like being back home.

"I will assist Slobo. I have...ways to keep captives in line that don't involve pain-compliance."

Re: Briefing

[prettycoolguy]

The Chief watches the screen for a moment, picking out all the important features of the bridge and the relative positions of the pirates.

It doesn't look good. Especially with that ship breaking the hull like that. When it moves...

But first things first. Pirates. Bridge.

He looks over one of the screens where a map's been pulled up. There are many hallways leading into the bridge, it's a very important place. Lots of different ways to attack.

And ways to push their enemy.

If they can squeeze them into a narrow enough area, the disparity in the size of forces can be dealt with, and the threat of friendly fire might cut down on the threat of the enemy guns.

The Chief has an idea.

"The sensors here should be like any sensors on the rest of the ship," he says. "If we can trick the pirates into thinking we're in one location and get them to charge it, we can come around from the side halls and ambush them in a smaller space."

"Jeka, and anyone else who can, any confusion you can sew would be very useful. Especially if you can convince them we're somewhere we're not."

"We'll also need people dedicated to keeping the doors open after the rush to keep them from shutting them again once they've figured out what's happening."

Re: Briefing

[unsc-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Hearing her CO's plan, Kelly nods. It seems sound enough. Specially in light of the abilities these others seem to have. For awhile she'd almost felt redundant. But regardless of that, she would serve in whatever capacity she could. Hearing the last part of the plan, she raised her hand.

"Sir, permission to lead the force that holds the doors, sir."

Re: Briefing

[gangstageek.livejournal.com]

They definitely SOUNDED like pirates. Even if his mother said it was lie ninjas made up...

It was just a habit. There was a pirate. He had to screw them over. And they were acting like normal pirates.

"I can go cause chaos, yo," Dark Smoke Puncher immediately volunteered.