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[indigoblueberry.livejournal.com]

I am Brainiac 8. I am your destruction.

Right now, Roy, when you're dying from suffocation, when the panic has begun to set in, this is the part when you remember... This is all your fault.

I killed Donna Troy to save the future. I suffered humiliation as that sweet, innocent robotic idiot.

No... You will not finish me. I have not crawled across centuries... Millennia... To be hobbled by a gaggle of half-ape mutations. You creatures of flesh! You will feel the fire inside those meat husks you call bodies!

Listening to those words, watching the destruction Brainiac 8 wrought, the pain she was bringing to her friends... Indigo almost can't make it through. She'd read enough on her omnicom about the Sensoriums to guess they might be able to do something like this, show her what should have happened. Stacy had confirmed it for her. But, really, coming out and watching it... It was a mistake.

But she had to do it. She couldn't bear the thought of hurting her friends. Of hurting Shift. But she had, and now she knew the size of it. Indigo hiccups a bit, watching the horror unfold in front of her, and tries to blink away the tears forming in her eyes as she watches Brainiac, Brainiac 8, Luthor, and Superboy tear into the collected Teen Titans and Outsiders. She ignores Superboy's private drama with Wonder Girl, it's not what she wants to know about. It's not her place to know about it.

She flinches with each energy blast thrown, with every punch that connects. The pair of Brainiacs are a fearsome team, she doesn't believe the Outsiders have a very good chance of winning. Indigo doesn't believe her body is that powerful, the true owner must have kept many abilities to herself. Still, she can't help but smile a little as she watches the others gain what seems to be the upper hand, for all of five seconds before Brainiac 8 unleashes some kind of sonic attack. Her face crumples as she watches that, and as the illusory Shift attacks the Brainiac, she covers her mouth with her hands.

"No. Nonono. Not him." She listens to 'herself' take over, begging Shift to kill her. It's like being punched in the gut, Indigo knows that this would hurt him. She makes a tiny, strangled noise as he turns 'her' into flesh, watching his own reaction to it. The way his face crumples as he holds 'her' to him.

"...Turn it off." Her voice is choked, tears welling up in her eyes. She can't help but think about how much that must have hurt Shift. Killing her. As the recording of another reality fades around her, she sinks to her knees. "I can't... Turn it off." Indigo runs a hand through her hair, grasping a handfull of it, and swallows. Hard. She's not used to feeling like this. She wasn't supposed to be feeling like this. How did people handle it?

In this one moment, she's probably more off-guard than she ever will be again.

Comments

[top-teen-38.livejournal.com]

"Not really. I mean, life ain't complicated less ya make it." Slobo said matter-of-factly. "There are always gonna be problems, and if ya think too much, wait too long, the problems pile up. Ya get buried." He was now almost wistful.

"And problems are always easier ta handle with friends 'n family. It's like I said before, problems happen. That's when ya need people around who got yer back. And, let's face it, that constitution thing had a good idea. There always needs ta be people who look out fer the good o' others, even if it means goin' against the government. 'S what keeps ... uh... bills and measures?" Alright, so maybe Slobo had gotten bored and skimmed over learning too much about governments on Earth.

[indigoblueberry.livejournal.com]

"That's what I meant." She doesn't sound irritated at all when she states this. They meant the same thing, after all.

"Checks and balances." She's remained silent throughout the rest of his speech, but she has to correct him on that one point almost immediately. "And many governments already have those in place. It usually works, until someone in a position of power becomes corrupt. In which case, yes. Vigilante action is appropriate." It's not even remotely on the first subject, but Indigo has a bad habit of going on tangents. She'll let the conversation change subject a few more times before abruptly snapping back to the original topic.

[top-teen-38.livejournal.com]

Slobo tilted his head slightly.

"Uh, yeah... Either way, that's all ya gotta know about the Outsiders. We look out fer our own, and everyone else. Ta try ta keep things runnin' smooth. We ain't here ta be liked, just ta keep problems from croppin' up."

[indigoblueberry.livejournal.com]

She mimics his movement, for slight comic effect. "So you're the checks and balances for the ship's commanding team." It makes some sense, if she twists the logic a bit. "I can understand that."

She pauses, wondering where to go from there. There are a few more questions to ask, but she thinks that Slobo might not be the right one for them.