Peering into the Crazy

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

The city.  After what had gone down here earlier, the near bloodbath that the crew had barely survived, Lyta hadn't expected to find herself back down here this soon.  But, here she was.  She was not, however, alone.  She--like much of the crew--had learned learned her lesson during the battle with the roaches that wandering off alone in this ship (despite Stacy's 'protection') wasn't something to be done if you wanted to stay alive. 

So, here she was, standing--with companions--in front of the strange gravity-defying building that the Doctor had referred to as Escher.  It was definitely just as creepy-looking as it was fascinating.  Stairs hung upside down from the ceiling and led to doors to rooms that looked as if they, too, were suspended from mid-air.  Part of her wanted to turn around, go back the way they'd come and pretend the bizarre building didn't exist.  But the Doctor had said there was something inside.  Something telepathic.  Something powerful.  And being a powerful telepath herself, Lyta knew full well what that kind of power could do if wielded by something sinister.  

Going poking around was one thing, but leaving something that powerful unexplored and potentially free to take control of the mind of anyone who passed by was too much of a risk to take.  Besides, if she was going to find the entity that had been possessing the captain and get answers out of it, she would have to start looking.  And who knew, whatever the being inside the Esher building was might have some of those answers, too.

"Everyone ready?" she asked, giving each of her companions a look.


**open to anyone. i left it free for multiple companions (preferably at least two) to jump in, but i'd prefer that this stay as one continuous thread of one group rather than a series of subthreads**

Comments

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

"Just...just set her down," Lyta answered, motioning to a spot on the floor. "And give me few minutes. I'll see if I can get it out."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"I can see the end. The end of all things. The Darkest Night. First in one world, then in all worlds."

That presence is FIRMLY in there. And it's strong, vast and powerful.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan carefully laid her down on the floor, and then stood up again, his arms folded in front of him.

"I take it I don't have to say work fast?" He remarked to Lyta, though still keeping an eye to Leela.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Lyta cast a hesitant look toward Nathan before sucking in a deep breath to steel herself for what was about to come. She was going to try to get it, whatever IT was, out of Leela, that was for certain. But first, she was going to try to get some answers, the answers she'd failed to get when she'd hastily expelled the presence possessing the captain.

Satisfied that she was ready, Lyta crouched down on the ground next to Leela and gently placed her hand on the side of the girl's head. Then, she pushed.

What are you?

[cityship]

Lyta is greeted with images. Images rather than words.

A bat-winged monster. A man with skin as dark as the darkest night, like its very own void, sucking in and killing all light.

She sees a pharaoh wandering worlds, being trailed by legions of followers, wild-eyed and crawling over the bodies as they fall from exhaustion, dehydration, and hunger.

She sees worlds fail and die, thrown into chaos and madness. She sees the deepest depths of sin and depravity, and the chaos that results of them.

She sees horror. She sees madness. She sees chaos that crawls like some slick fungus over the surface of planets.

And from this, she can likely realize that this is far, far beyond her.

She's only being shown this because It enjoys it.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan was just watching the two silently, his arms still folded in front of him and tense. He never liked enemies he couldn't see, or had no way to stop or control them.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Her head jerked back as she was inundated with images of death and destruction. But she was not giving up...at least, not yet. It--whatever IT was--wanted to show her horrifying pictures. Well, two could play at that game.

Mustering up her memories, she pushed back, broadcasting the horrors she'd witness into Leela's mind for the thing to see.

A tank. Filled with fluid. Inside, an unconscious Lyta floated, naked, with a breathing apparatus over her mouth and nose. Her red hair fanned out around her head.

Her eyes flew open. All around her were identical tubes. Each filled with fluid. Each with an alien inside of it. Some growing. From fetus, to child, to adult. All being 'altered'.

Space. A large fleet of ships travels in formation. Some are identical. Yet the differences between those that are make it obvious that it is fleet of allies. Several worlds, several species united under one banner, for one cause.

From nowhere, tens...hundreds...thousands...tens of thousands...of massive, black spider-like ships shimmer just off the fleet's flank. They attack. Purple beam weapons slice through the fleet. Tearing the ships apart piece by piece.

A planet. From orbit. A multitude of large, blue funnels of energy form. Jump points from hyperspace. A saucer shaped ship the size of a continent emerges, escorted by hundreds of other, more oddly shaped ones.

The Vorlons. A blue strip along the front of the primary ship begins to shimmer. Then to glow. The energy begins to form into one point on the strip. Then it bursts outward. Targeting the planet. The beam burns through the atmosphere. Slices through the crust. Tearing it from the mantle. Screams. Millions die as their planet is torn to pieces.

Space. A ship. A probe fires, soaring through the vacuum toward a black moon-sized cloud. Fuzz. Static as it is hit from an electromagnetic wave. The static fades, the video becomes clear. Nanites. Millions of them. Tens of millions. Billions. Sweep across the planet that is shrouded by the cloud. Devouring all life. Molecule by molecule. Plants. Animals. Amoeba. Sentients. All consumed.

Missiles. Launched from the cloud. Soar toward the planet. Burrowing. One mile. Two miles. Five. Ten. Twenty. All the way down to the core. Explosions. Nuclear. Thousands of megatons. Thousands of missiles. Thousands of megatons times thousands of missiles.

The planet killers.

Try again!

[cityship]

All of those things back, all of those things across worlds and worlds and worlds. Ships and ships, planets exploding, worse things than ships crawling out of the deep dark between universes.

It thrills in it all, in the things she sent.

It helps cause things like what she's sent.

Everywhere.

And it shows her.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

For Leela, having all these things funneled through her head and back, it's devolved to incoherent screaming.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

More and more chaos. More images of death, famine, pestilence, and slaughter fill Lyta's--and Leela's--head. Lyta prepares to send another volley of horrific images back to IT when Leela's hysterics draw her attention.

She won't be able to take it. Any more of this 'one-up-manship' and the girl will most likely go insane. It would take Lyta months to wipe the images from the girl's memory.

All right, I think it's time you left, she said to IT, realizing she was just going to have to push IT out just as she had the thing possessing the captain.

[cityship]

It's big. Whatever it is is big, it's vast in scope...

But it's weak. At least right now.

Next time.

It's likely an intense, tremendous effort on Lyta's part, but the tentacles release, even if they leave something slick-black and oily behind--but then that image fades as they withdraw into the dark.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

Leela's eyes turn from black back to the dull, glowing white, back to normal, and then she passes out, still sobbing even as she loses consciousness.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Damn. Better get her to the medi-bay and hope her brains didn't get too scrambled.

"You done? Can we get the hell out of here now?" He asked, his voice still in that low gruff growl it gets sometimes.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Lyta muttered, feeling incredibly weak after having battled whatever that thing in Leela's head was. This was going to get old, quickly.

"Get her out of here, I'll be fine."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

He eyed her but that was up to her. He carefully picked up Leela into his arms again, and then shot into the air and away.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

She blinks her eyes open, trying to get her head to...to work. Trying to forget the...the things. Now that it's not in her head, she's quickly regaining her usual hardassossity and glibness, and perhaps slightly embarrassed at the crying. She's still doing it a little, as she flickers in and out.

"Tol' you. Not. A good. Idea."

It's all a fog. A fog of painful mental images.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. You did. Take it easy, we're almost there." He simply said as he flew them out and toward the Medi-bay.

[cityship]

No one else is there. The Emergency Medical Hologram flicks on. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Thingy...in my head. Check to...make sure I don't got a stroke. Or something," Leela says to the Doctor.

To Nathan, she says, "Go. Get Lyta out quick. I'll be--okay."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan nodded, and turned. He took long strides back out before flying back to find Lyta again.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

While Nathan flew Leela to the med-bay, Lyta crouched on the floor, regaining her strength from the exhausting effort it took to drive that thing from Leela's mind. Whatever it was, it was strong. Incredibly so. Much stronger than the thing that had possessed the captain. And there was no disputing that it was malevolent. Whatever it was, it meant them harm...

She felt her gaze pulled back to the darkness that lay down the hall. Swallowing a lump that had built in her throat, Lyta pulled herself to her feet and narrowed her eyes at the blackness in front of her.

"I suppose you think that was pretty funny?" she said, speaking aloud to the creature that lay waiting in the distance. "Invading a young girl's mind like that. Showing her things that no one should see. I suppose you think you're pretty clever. Playing your little tricks. Torturing her like that."

Lyta took several steps forward, moving toward the darkness with a confidence she didn't know she had nor did she know where it came from.

"Well, I don't care how clever you think you are or how powerful you might be. The Doctor told me what you want. I know you're trapped. Locked away like a caged beast in a zoo. You want out. You want to be free. Free to, what, kill us? Use us to kill for you? To fight for you? To set the universe on fire?"

She stepped closer.

"It's not going to happen."

Step.

"Not now!"

Step.

"Not ever!"

Step.

"I will do everything in my power to stop you."

Step. She was just a five or six paces outside the doorway of the citadel.

"You will not use them!"

Step.

"You will not kill them!"

Step.

"You will never be free!"

Step.

"Do you hear me?!"

Step.

"They are NOT FOR YOU!!"