Talk About Timing...

[cityship]

While chaos was going on in the city, a level below the Living Areas, the rest of the ship was functioning normally. Stacy, apparently oblivious to goings on in the city, likely do to her malfunctioning sensors there, carried on with ship business.

||Pod Release Protocols Initating,|| Stacy's familiar voice sounded out to the upper levels, though no one was there to hear her. They were all downstairs, fighting for their lives against giant cockroaches.

In the Pod Caverns, there were the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

The usual condensation and mist sprayed out from cracks in the pods, they ripped open and the people inside slid out onto the floors, covered in slime. One of them, due to his mechanical nature, slid out covered in a sort of oil mixture, in a smaller body than he'd once had.

Pop. Poppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiissss.

There was no one already freed from the ship to greet them, only Stacy herself, and the empty silence of a ship caught in the middle of a crisis.

Comments

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

Z5 slid out of the pod, and lay sprawled on the floor for a few moments, caught between sleep and consciousness. Slowly, the creature stirred, and shakily sat up in what could be described as a squat - though it's anatomy didn't quite correlate with a human's version of the posture.

The slime was not an immediate concern for Z5, as it could not smell nor taste it. It felt uncomfortable on it's skin, of course, but not important at the moment.

The alein flexed it's long ears, trying to detect some sign of life. The room was so large, so quiet. There was a sound somewhat like breathing, but even that felt strange. Timidly, with the strength of just a weak, passing thought, it projected into the void a single thought. 'Hello?'

[kindofscary.livejournal.com]

With a wet splooge noise, the Master found himself hunched over on the floor. Muggy headed from sleep, a biological necessity that he wasn't particularly accustomed to, he stared lamely at his crotch.

"Hello genitalia," he sighed woozily. Shaking the murk, he attempted to get to his feet, only to slip on the film of goo that coated him. "What the hell is going on?"

[cityship]

||Hello DEC Z5X9-YQ4.||

[cityship]

||You have been Chosen--|| And she said his real name.

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

The DEC stood up, surprised. It knew the difference between spoken word and mind-speech, and that was clearly mind-speech. As far as Z5 knew, only two other species had that ability, the first being its own. It instantly put the creature at ease.

'Ah, hello.' It projected, this time louder and more relaxed, 'Excuse me, but would you mind telling me were I am? Is this a training session? This wasn't too far off from the old military training the alien had received on its home planet, and it would explain why the voice knew its name.

However, Z5 hadn't been to DEC in years... why would they want the experiment now?

[kindofscary.livejournal.com]

In his haze he attributed the voice to the only being in existence that could know his name, "This is a new low for you, Doctor."

He rose to examine the pod from which he was birthed, slipping once more, "Esoteric disguise, candid use of a discarded title; imprisoning your rivals in some sort of- is this an incubation booth? Honestly, it sounds like something I'd do."

Yes, yes he made a note of it for future evil.

[pridebeforefail.livejournal.com]

Post-sliding out of his pod, Starscream only noticed one thing at first as his mind slowly cleared out of his haze. It wasn't his surroundings, or the oil-like muck coating him, or any of the others in the same predicament; instead it was one very simple thing.

"I have a body." He laughed suddenly, then crowed, "I have a body! No more staring into that pompous, scrap-worthy tyrant's face! I'm free! I have a body! I'm-"

It was at that moment he finally began to take notice of his surroundings, particularly the fact that he wasn't towering over everything, as he'd gotten used to.

"...I'm short."

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

Javert, once he had fallen the tumbling, slime-covered slide of the newly released, jumped up immediately- and immediately looked rather disgusted by his current state. Slime. Wonderful.

And somewhere he didn't recognize-- either the bottom of the Seine was far more interesting than he'd known, or he was in hell. Both, possibly, as they did not seem mutually exclusive.

[cityship]

||This is not a training session. You are here.||

Very helpful, Stacy.

[cityship]

||The Doctor is one of your fellow pod-mates. The Doctor not here; he is currently not on this level. I am STA'C K'LTRRB'TXFT, though many refer to me as Stacy.||

With her name cam a flurry of emotions. Caring, motherly love, all those things.

||You are the Master. You have many names. Which would you prefer to be identified by?||

[cityship]

||Your consciousness has been transferred into a humanoid sized body. It has the same functionality of your previous one, merely a smaller size,|| came a voice.

[cityship]

||You seem distressed. Would you like a mild sedative?||

The needle-arms came out of the walls, probably not helping with the whole 'I'm in hell' thing.

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

Sploooooosh!

Kara Zor-El fell to the ground, covered in slime. Ew. Ew ew ew. Slime? Seriously? She pushed locks of ooze-covered hair out of her unnaturally blue eyes and scrambled to her feet. It's then that she realized that she was naked. ... Brainiac? Did Brainiac do this? Is he now just collecting people and freeze-sliming them?

She's too confused to be angry or scared.

That'll kick in in a few moments, she's sure.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

That depends on the Brainiac you're talking about. If it's Brainiac 5, he's just as confused as Kara is.

Not far away, he splooshes out of his own pod and stands up, immediately alert, although it takes a few moments for the other six tracks of his consciousness to reboot again.

The first thing he notes--besides his lack of clothes and belongings--is that he's no longer lost in time and space with the Legion, as they'd been after their team-up with the Teen Titans in their fight against the Fatal Five Hundred. The second thing he notes is that he doesn't remember how he's gotten here. Which leads him to the third thing he notes: his memory's been tampered with.

This infuriates him. Something has tampered with his mind. More than that, they had the gall to think that he, a twelfth-level intelligence, wouldn't notice anything out of place?

But (for once) it's time to shove the arrogance aside. He doesn't see any of the other Legionnaires in the pods around him. This is also alarmingly similar to when the Blight had taken over Earth. It's entirely possible he's in a hostile situation, by himself, without a flight ring--or even clothes. He needs to be on guard.

And he is on guard when he hears someone moving and slowly peeks a pod around to see...

To see a goddess. Even covered in slime, his eyes pop wide at the sight of the blonde beauty there and his jaw drops. An involuntary noise comes from his throat, giving him away.

"Guh."

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

Kara turns at the sound of the "Guh" to see a very naked, very blonde-haired, very fit male specimen staring at her openly. Now, had she been wearing her costume, she might have been okay with this. As things stood now? Hell no.

Instantly her hands move to cover herself up. "Hey! Keep your eyelids closed, Greeny!"

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

Brainy shifts so his lower body is behind a pod because he's, um, kinda naked, too, and immediately closes his eyes and clamps a hand over them.

"My profuse apologies. When I heard a noise, I was expecting to find my captors, not--not--"

A naked hot chick apparently in the same situation as him.

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, because clearly you're the only person who was kidnapped for whatever nefarious deal we've...both been kidnapped for." She frowned. "Or something." She pauses and softens. "Umm. I'm sorry."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"The likelihood of encountering our captors now that we're free is just as likely as encountering other people kidnapped. The only reason we're free from whatever form of stasis this is might simply be because of some sort of malfunction--meaning whoever put us here could be coming for us any second to put us back," is said back somewhat snootily, despite her apology.

So there.

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

"You're assuming - pretty snottily, I wanna add - that we were kidnapped just to be preserved in slime to be used as, like, jam or something. Don't be stupid. For all we know, we've been kidnapped to be, like, drag queens or something." She looked down at his legs. "You certainly have the gams for it, and the bitchy attitude to boot."

[kindofscary.livejournal.com]

Stacy's psychic imprint hit him like a wall of thoughts. All at once welcoming, comforting, nursing the parts of his brain that would allow him to accept her. But no, no he couldn't let her do that- he locked all of the doors in his mind that she was trying to pry open, lashed back out with his own psychic profile, and still he couldn't quite extricate Stacy's presence from his mind.

"You seem to already know which," though he mused, there could be people here. People he could use, "Harold Saxon will do. Now, to business. Who are you, Stacy? Where have you brought me?"

Apparently he'd forgotten about some of the more pressing concerns, such as his state of nudity.

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

Z5 wrinkled its snout, a tad annoyed by the voice's vagueness. But not being told what was going on was normal to the alien, so it let it slide for the time being.

'Well, would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?'

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"...What?"

His voice is a little shrill and he retreats farther behind the pod, so she can't look at his "gams," especially since while he thinks that's a 20th century term for 'legs,' he's not entirely sure--and thus isn't sure exactly what part of him she's looking at.

"Are you brain damaged? Because your manner of speaking and vacuous logic certainly suggest it. If you are, that's quite all right. Where I come from, society is socially advanced and we're taught to be rather tolerant; I'd be more than happy to find you a protective helmet and explain things very slowly."

Of course, he's proving her right about the bitchy attitude thing...

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

"I'm invulnerable. I'm about as much in need of a helmet as you are of any more bleach on your hair," she snapped. She looked him up and down. "And trust me, cabbage-butt, where I come from, we're pretty damn advanced socially and scientifically too." Or at least, they were...before they were destroyed. But she wanted to win this argument dammit, without any pity points.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

Argh, she keeps peeking around and looking at him--but then the only reason he knows this is because he keeps peeking through his hand. He retreats even farther behind the pod so she can't see his (apparently) cabbage-colored behind.

Hmm, she has invulnerability. Daxamite?

"First of all, my hair color is natural and quite common among my species. Secondly, stop looking at me enough to note the color of my--my gluteal region, when I'm trying to pay you the same courtesy--I'm sure there are many physical attributes I could notice about you if I decided to be less polite. Thirdly, this bickering is tiresome and getting us nowhere."

Never mind that he kinda started it.

"We need to find out more about our current predicament. What's your name?"

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

"Looking at - I am not! looking at you! Just because you're blandly, vaguely cute does not mean I'm suddenly going to be going all ga-ga over you."

Did...did she just say that?

Oh hell.

"Besides, the glimpse I did get was mostly green. I assumed your bottom would be too, or are you built like a baboon? Is it purple back there?"

A beat.

"You started it, Snot Boy. I'm Kara. Who're you?"