trans_9 | Poking around the ship...

Entry tags:

Poking around the ship...

Brainiac 5 was still uncertain what exactly was going on here (though rest assured that he intended to find out sooner rather than later), as what he had learned so far hadn't been particularly enlightening. But what he did know was that, according to his devices, there were two other Legionnaires somewhere close by. Obviously the most logical step now was to meet up with them and try to organise some sort of plan of action. Hopefully they would turn out to be someone competent and useful, such as Superman and Kell-El, though considering his circumstances so far, he wasn't terribly optimistic about that.

Following the signal brought him into a large hall, obviously designed for eating judging from the number of tables and chairs set around the place. As he entered, he passed by what appeared to be a large eye set into the wall. It must have initiated some kind of scan, as next a tray with some sort of substance he supposed was food was deposited nearby. Though he wasn't entirely hungry - his body was much more efficient at storing energy than those of non-Coluans - he took it anyway, deciding that he may require the extra energy sooner rather than later.

Now if only he could find the signal he'd been following...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is it hot in here? "Great. So now that we're done with comparing the sizes of our big, thick, nerdy brains, let's move on," she says, looking between the two of them. She looks at B5. "And I'm sorry if I've been a bit of a jerk to you. You're new and the ship trusts you and my first reaction shouldn't have been to attack you." She's apologizing. That doesn't mean she'll be all buddy-buddy with the guy.

"And I--I apologize for my instinctual reaction being attack, as well," Brainy says, "I had intended to simply restrain you long enough to answer my queries. After facing the first Brainiac and...and the one before me, I am perhaps overly cautious concerning those that seem to be from the family line. To date, in my universe, barring Brainiac 2--who is, at the very least, ruthless, if not entirely immoral--I am the only Brainiac that hasn't been a supervillain or otherwise deluded and insane."

There is a subtle gesture of his hand, as if to say 'carrying on...'

"In my universe, Coluans are still entirely organic--barring artificial organ replacement, of course, though it's rarely needed with cloned organs. They are, as I've said, rather stagnant, due to an incident with the original Brainiac that occurred in the past."

One he's responsible for, actually, but he leaves that part out.

"Such an incident occurred shortly after Colu was freed from the reign of the Computer Tyrants, inorganic lifeforms that controlled all aspects of Coluan life. They were aided and abetted by the original Brainiac, whose intelligence was upgraded to a level 12 intelligence in reward. His cloned son Vril Dox II, the ruthless Brainiac I spoke of, was his assistant and from what I've gathered in my research of the family and experience with it during my stay in the past, treated something like a slave. Eventually he turned against his father and helped free Colu from the Computer Tyrants, though at a great loss of innocent life. I am descended from his line."

He goes on, "Because of this, and the later incident with Brainiac, Coluans are both highly prejudiced against technological lifeforms, and technologically stagnant. Though our technology is vastly more advanced than that of many other worlds, there is no growth, and they regard things that advance past those constraints...aberrant in nature."

Edited 2009-04-29 03:19 (UTC)

"It's understandable," he answers. "In fact my universe has similar... issues with my family line. Though I must admit that I'm not entirely familiar with my entire family history, so I can't reveal much there. But let's just say that if our situations had been reversed, I would have most likely attempted the same thing."

Particularly considering his last encounter with his ancestor, but he'd rather not mention that here. Instead he tilts his head slightly and asks a different question.

"What about your version of the Legion of Super Heroes?"

"My Legion was founded by Livewire, Comic Boy, and Saturn Girl when they all happened to be on board a shuttle with entrepreneur R.J. Brande. They saved his life from an attempted assassination, and seeing them work together despite differences between their peoples made him devise the concept of the Legion. He provided the original funding and proposed the idea to them and then to the UP government."

He goes on, "Of course, they immediately ran roughshod over his and the Founders' initial concept of the Legion and forced a draft into place of all UP planets. I was Colu's representative, though the prospect of their well-furnished lab lured me in, initially."

He adds, honestly, "...That and the prospect of imprisonment for draft-dodging were enough to make me join. Eventually, we managed to get the draft abolished and maintained autonomy. We're a recognized power in the UP government, although certainly independent from it, called in to assist for issues beyond the Science Police's expertise, dedicated to the preservation of peaceful sentient life."

He adds, with certainty, "I would imagine the function of your own Legion is probably similar, if not identical--we have encountered alternate Legions during crises in the past, and most, despite differences, seemed to be dedicated to the same cause."

Edited 2009-04-29 05:40 (UTC)

He raises an eyebrow. "Yes, very similar. But without the draft part. While the Legion and the UP government rarely see eye-to-eye, we've never had quite that much of a problem with them.

"Codenames appear to be different as well. Our Legion was founded by Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl. And as for myself, I ended up joining the Legion after I..." He glances away for a moment. "left... Colu. I've been a member of the Legion for several years now."

He directs his attention to Kara now. "Actually, I'm curious about your origins as well. I'd always thought that Superman was the only survivor from Krypton."

My father sent me to Earth to kill Kal-El.

"Well, my parents sent me to Earth after Kal-El to take care of him. He was only a baby and I was the age I am now. But, Krypton exploded, and I got stuck in a chunk of the planet and just orbited around until I landed on Earth like thirty-some years later..." She smiles uncomfortably. "No one except Kal and Diana and a couple of others believed I was me though. Except for the bad guys. Darkseid and Luthor both wanted their hands on me."

"It's entirely possible your version of Superman simply never had a cousin, or she died during Krypton's destruction. You also met Kon-El, who is indeed Superman's clone. Well, perhaps I should be more accurate--he's his half-clone. Half of his DNA comes from Superman, the rest was grafted human DNA to stabilize it. He was an honorary member of the Legion for a time, and when he was trapped in the future, he was made an active member."

"I suppose that's understandable, seeing as it was widely believed that Clark was the only survivor of Krypton." He seems a little relieved though, he was worried there might be some difficult questions about Kandor.

Clones are an easier topic however. "Yes, one other Legionnaire, Kell-El, is also a clone of Superman, though he comes from the 41st century. However his DNA was augmented to also include immunity to kryptonite, giving him a slightly different set of abilities. Visually, he's very similar to Kon-El." He smiles suddenly. "He does spend more time scowling though."

"Great," Kara says, "they made a Super-Bat."

Brainy actually laughs. He has met Batman, after all, when in the past.

"Superboy is... rambunctious. Unpredictable. But he's been invaluable, at times. Kara here is much the same. I never had the chance to work with her before our stay on the ship, but she was of tremendous benefit to the crew during the Yeerk crisis."

He carefully avoids looking at her as he says that.

"There are actually quite a few heroes from our world, or others that are similar, like your own. Most of them are rather young, which is an odd trend. Blue Beetle is one of them, then there's Terry McGinnis, who seems to be some incarnation of Batman who was just as invaluable during the previously mentioned crisis, as well as Robin, one of Superboy's team-mates from the 31st century, is also a very effective hero. The Legion's worked with him and the other Titans, and he was a great assistance in the past when we were trying to stop C.O.M.P.U.--er, trying to deal with a conflict then."

Edited 2009-04-29 07:35 (UTC)

"Bat?" He looks understandably confused, not much of Superman's history survived to his time, let alone other superheroes of the 21st century. He feels like he's missing the joke somehow.

It doesn't help when his counterpart starts talking about the other superheroes and their teamwork either. It feels a lot like when he first joined the Legion, having to try and prove his place on the team again and not being certain how to...

Wait. "C.O.M.P.U.T.O.?"

You could practically see the cartoon bubble hearts dancing and popping around Supergirl's head. She preens a little bit, and flicks her hair over her shoulder. "I rock sometimes. I do. It's hard not to when you're me."

She gets a long-suffering look from Brainy at that, as if oh, he just cannot stand her Kryptonian ego and primping, but it comes off far more affectionate than anything. These two definitely seem to have some sort of comradery between them.

"C.O.M.P.U.T.O... was, hmm, somewhat unbalanced when I originally created him."

Oh, this is embarrassing. "I had used a vital component borrowed from another scientist in his creation and after he opened the portal back to the future so the Legion could return home, I had intended to dismantle him to return that component to its proper owner."

He goes on. "C.O.M.P.U.T.O discovered this from someone else opening their big mouth, possessed one of Triad's bodies and then Cosmic Boy's and went on something of a rampage. He started taking over the electronic infrastructure of 20th century Earth..."

Embarrassing.

Edited 2009-04-29 07:56 (UTC)

He seems, understandably, surprised. "A rampage? It seems our C.O.M.P.U.T.O.s are indeed very different. Mine is the main operating system for the entire Legion headquarters, for the most part. Unfortunately the system will need some modifications..." he mused, thinking of how Imperiex used it to attack him indirectly. "...provided we ever find a way to return."

Something else draws his attention and he glances between Kara and his counterpart, smirks, then, with a raised eyebrow, comments: "Are you aware that your body temperatures have raised by a slight amount?"

"What? It's...the temperatures fluctuate in different areas of the ship," Brainy says dismissively, "and the suits adjust automatically."

Quickly, he carries on, "C.O.M.P.U.T.O was young then, and not in control of his emotions. I hadn't yet understood the degree of his sentience, and my dismissal angered him, and perhaps even left him feeling betrayed. While he was attacking others, he was trying to lash out at myself by doing so, like a recalcitrant child lashing out at a parent that had emotionally wounded them."

"Right. Temperatures fluctuating." She smiles. "Either that or..." blinking again. "It's a Kryptonian teenage hot flash. We get those. You know. For...puberty...and stuff." Wiiiiide, winning smile. They don't know anything about Kryptonian women. She can lie to put things in her favor.

"Superman never experienced any hot flushes," he points out. And he would have noticed something like that. "And I would have detected a change in the air temperature."

Annnd the robo-smug is back in full force. Did you miss it?

"One, you've apparently paid an overabundance of attention to Superman's bodily functions, two, he's a male. Female mammals have hormonal changes with far more frequency."

He coughs into his hand.

"Now, we were discussing C.O.M.P.U.T.O?"

Kara blinks.

Had...Brainy just...insulted her?

She couldn't tell.

"That's not true!" he snaps, a tiny bit too defensive. "I'm constantly aware of the status of all in my immediate area. That's all. And besides, while that may be true, it doesn't explain your temperature fluctuation."

He's not letting his counterpart get away that easily.

STOP IT, ROBOT BRAINY.

"Embarrassment. I was ruminating over my past failure with C.O.M.P.U.T.O. As a scientist, failed experiments can be somewhat embarrassing, yes?"

Another temperature rise, because, y'know, he's totally lying.

It probably isn't possible for his smile to get any more smug right now.

"I see," he agrees. "Yes, that would be embarrassing. I would suggest a different topic then, if that one is upsetting you."

A pause. Then... "Perhaps you could explain to me exactly how invaluable Kara is to you then? Seeing as you do seem to have first hand experience with working together?"

Oh wait, it turns out he can look even more smug.

"C.O.M.P.U.T.O is not that embarrassing a topic. I can certainly discuss the subject objectively."

Is it getting hot in here? Yes, temperature fluctuations, must be...

Edited 2009-04-29 08:54 (UTC)

"Perhaps, but ultimately it's not as useful to our current situation as knowing how we can all work together, don't you agree?"

It's not that he isn't interested in the other C.O.M.P.U.T.O., just that it's more entertaining to needle his counterpart.

"She is... effective."

At getting him riled up in just about every way possible.

"Many of the others are. For instance, the Doctor seems to be somewhat experienced with situations such as these..."

Poking around the ship...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)