My mind returns to that one hill... (Bendytime just before the Mission) [OPEN]

[thewunderkind]

"You look tired," a voice behind her remarked. Lash dismissed him with a wave of a hand as the projection towered next to her.

She had taken to coming to the sensoriums a lot more lately. They offered her a time off from everything; the engineering (which was fun and interesting) and the ranger training (which she might call Morphnominal ...if that didn't sound so cheesy). But something had been bothering Lash a lot more lately, even more so than she liked to admit to herself.

It was already hard to be a growing teenager stuck inside an intergalactic spaceship, yet it certainly had its merits, especially for someone who knew if she had continued to live in her World, would have ended up somewhere imprisoned for her crimes, but...there was worse.

Feelings. Black Hole was very discouraging of them. After all, conquering nations didn't want sympathetic officers, they wanted brutal commanders, something Lash had taken a liking most of her young life. She had been all that Black Hole could have wanted in a child soldier; brilliant, deadly and ruthless even to her own troops. How many weapons of hers had been used to murder countless others? Too much to count. Did she felt guilty about it? Maybe. A bit. Certainly a bit more than before.

And that's what scared her the most. Caring suddenly made you fragile. Her life was suddenly a lot more complicated; even looking at some of the guys on the ship, and that tiny pang of jealousy as soon as she saw them talking to other girls. It made her in turn notice how she suddenly felt, well...alone. Sure she was in a team now, and sure it reminded her of the happier days with Black Hole, but in the end the Rangers couldn't ever replace them and they weren't here with her now. The people she knew, like that tall guy next to her, with his tell-tale mohawke. Just an illusion, like the others around her. Was the real deal in the pods waiting? Each month made Lash less and less hopeful of his return and as her feelings grew and changed, she began to realize how much she missed his company.

"Nah, I'm just thinking of my next move," the wunderkind explained as she clasped her hand under her chin, looking down at the glowing display before her, and an all too familiar scenario. "Fighting against an A.I. is much harder than I thought it would be." All of her data on the other nations she had once carefully stored and kept so she could analyze what had gone wrong that day of the battle, now based mostly on her memories. And yet now she found herself on a very different situation; this time she was letting the A.I. play the role of Black Hole as she played the Allied Nations. As she walked, the scene around her changed. She pushed a few tanks backwards to bait them. Seven days had passed, and the laser fired at her units. Her Laser. The five hundred foot Death Ray she had built for Sturm those years ago. It felt so incredibly ironic.

"Damn it! At this rate I'm gonna lose. OH! I HATE loosing so much!" She pouted, crossed her arms in anger and nearly threw herself down to sit on the ground as the laser hologram harmlessly pass through her. The units behind her were completely obliterated. Well at least she could rest easy knowing how efficient that laser was?

"I'm not worried." Ha! For a few seconds Lash looked up at the man before returning to the puzzle before her. If she hadn't known any different, that could have really been Hawke sitting next to her. Wordlessly, she grinned and shut him off.

"Thanks birdbrain. Wherever you are." Holographic representation of him or not, Lash felt a tiny little better.

[[Open Log! Come bother Lash and talk with her as much as you like.]]

Comments

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

And there was actually someone who would have sympathized with Lash;'s feelings but wouldn't know it: Mindy, after all, was still trying to get used to the wholeneed to make friends so you don't seem like a loner weirdo thing, and that was getting tougher. She found that staying in costume, being Hit Girl, tended to fit her a lot more, and she could be that part of herself.

So dropping in and seeing all of the wanton destruction actually thrilled her a little, but she couldn't show that at the moment. She DID notice the girl though: you didn't really mistake4 a hairdo like that unless you were a fucking idiot.

"Hi," she said, greeting her. "How's it going?"

[thewunderkind]

"Hey," she greeted back, taking control again as she made a bunch of grunts move forward to capture a badly guarded base. She remembered the girl, but not her name. Hrrrgh how annoying. But hey, she wasn't Big Zero, and probably not here to punch her face in.

"A bit better I guess," she admitted, shrugging. "Just letting off a bit of steam and reminiscing about the past..." She turned around and...

BAM! There went one of Sturm's city bases, as the solid structures fell down in one swoop. Lash couldn't help but grin wildly as it exploded (probably because it was filled with dynamite or something. Okay maybe she had made the sensoriums exaggerate the explosions.)

"Got him!"

"Area secured, Commander Max!" She looked at the speak in slight disgust for a few seconds. Oh right. She had picked the large, tall, blue haired mcbiceps for Orange Star's forefront CO. It felt really weird, but even stranger when another voice broke in the speaker.

"Oooh how DARE you break one of my bases! I'm gonna SMASH YOU GOOD!" Herself. Insulting herself for capturing a city that used to be hers, but now wasn't hers because she was playing Max, but technically she was grabbing one of her bases for herself and...

"Man, this is so bizzare," she told the other girl. "Sooo not used to trying to be the good guy in any situation." Well with that all over, maybe it was a good time to attempt to be polite. "How are you doing?"

Boom! And there went another building right behind her.

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

Ok, this? She could have watched all day. She knew that she didn't have the first bit of training when it came to an operation quite like this, but she had no problem seeing it unfold, and learning from it. She was a little confused about something though: the girl who was fighting, and the voice yelling about blowing sher stuff up sounded exactly the same.

And good guys? What did that mean?

"I'm dealing," she said, though she was more than dealing at this point: she seemed to accept most of the insane things here at face value. "I like the light show though. What's the story behind all of this?"

And then after a moment, it occurred to her she might want to know her name. "Oh yeah. I'm Mindy, Mindy Macready."

[thewunderkind]

She'd remember that name probably.

"Name's Lash. No last name, we didn't have those back home. And these..." she began explaining, turning around so she could move her hands in all directions, "...are the final moments of the so-called glorious army of Black Hole in Macro Land before Sturm was killed, scattering her forces." Wow that almost sounded pretty important too. Hawke would have said it was very poetic. "As you may already have guessed, I wasn't part of the Allied Nations back then."

Black Hole's turn. It sent out a few bombers at the Allied Nations, but it was a lost cause, really. They were overpowered from all sides, guns and death rays or not.

"You see that gigantic tower over there?" Well honestly who couldn't see it, it was almost five hundred feet tall. "I built that on Sturm's orders." Ahh gloating. "Oh and about half of all the weapons being used in this war, teeheehee!" She hit one of the nearby fake neotanks with a clang. "I still can't believe they had stolen my plans and built their own too! Well, that's what happens when the other fractions have no bright inventors like me. I guess the only reason they really won was because they had brute force and we had run out of resources by then." She knew she was lying, but heck, old habits died hard.

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie had found himself a wee bit peckish and had procured a tray of slop with the intention of going to the Sensoriums and turning it into something more edible. Having caught a few words from outside, he guessed this particular pod was occupied when one of the voices grew loud enough he could make out who it was. "Lash?"

Curious, he poked his head in - just in time to see the laser obliterate some sort of military unit. His eyes widened quite visibly as he took in what little was left after that attack.

He set the tray aside on a nearby handy surface and wandered over, craning his head slightly so he could get a better look at the simulation, completely managing to miss the fact Lash was on the floor in the process. "Hey, would ye look at the size of that thing?"

[thewunderkind]

She waved at him with a wide grin. Despite all the havoc that it had cause, Lash would always be immensely proud of that death ray. Her greatest building achievement...so far.

"Yeah I know!" She watched as the tanks from the opposing teams engaged hers in a battle. "Despite how far we are, you can still spot the Death Ray. I build that in just a few months too, teeheehee!" Okay so it wasn't perfect and required massive recharging but...Jaime didn't need to hear that. Nope. IT WAS A PERFECT DEATH RAY.

[bonnypiperlad]

Ah, so Jamie was right and he had heard her voice in here. He turned his attention away from his fascinated staring at the death ray and over to his fellow Ranger. "Wait, ye built that?"

That's impressive. A little scary, but impressive. "I'm glad you're on our side." It's meant as a compliment. He's had experience with (much smaller) lasers before, and doesn't really care to imagine the Ohm having giant death rays. Much better this way. Even if the Doctor would be dismayed.

"Is this your world, then?"

[thewunderkind]

Haha no matter how you had said it, Lash was going to take it as a compliment anyway.

"Yeah!" She stood up and waved hear arms at..well everything around them. "Welcome to part of Wars World, more specifically, the last bastion of Black Hole Territory in Macro Land before we were defeated." Just as she finished her speech, another building fell into the dust and exploded.

"Commander Max! Base secured!"

"I'm just..." Trying not to be a typical sixteen year old with issues, confused about everything and feeling lonely, so I am distracting myself with wartime activities, so I can feel closer to home "...learning how the Allied Nations actually managed to beat us that time." A very short pause before she added, raising her right index finger. "Cause um...you need to learn from your past mistakes and all that." She probably didn't really mean that part but it wouldn't be so bad to pretend she did, right?

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

Beastboy wandered in at just the wrong time as a powerful explosion went off sending him flying through the air flapping his arms madly as if he was trying to fly but hadn't shape shifted yet.

By the time he did shift into a duck he had crashed to the ground in front of Lash.

[thewunderkind]

Of course Lash was going to be completely mature about this and....okay no.

"Teeheehee!" she giggled at the greenish Anatidae. "So nice of you to...drop in!"

If Beast Boy were to look up, she would be putting on a pair of classes as a theme song started to roll, okay not really.

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

Beastboy sat up laughing and his eyes were rolling in his head, "You know I was thinking of taking a trip in the fall."

Ok not as funny.

"What's going on fluffy?" He asked smacking his head till his eyes settled back into their proper place...if not a little crossed.

[thewunderkind]

"Reminiscing," she explained, pointing to her brain. "Gotta keep it nice and sharp or else I'll just loose myself in..."

HOLY CRAP SHE REALIZED SHE HADN'T TOLD HIM YET!

"I FORGOT TO TELL YOU!" she screamed, as joyfully and excitedly as those caplocked words they were written with, "YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!"

[morphitudinous]

Ah, rough training. Billy knew that all too well. He smiled at the sight of Lash's native skills in action, then approached her carefully when there was a pause.

"Hey," came Billy's call. "So you're one of our best tacticians, then?"

[thewunderkind]

"Hey!" She called back enthusiastically, just as another explosion happened in a nearby warehouse.

"Well I don't mean to brag but...yes, teeheehee!" She idly twirled some of her hair before looking around, pondering her next move. "Well...okay, so maybe one of the best in my world. I still need to learn more about the Ohm."

Lash? Being humble? Surely Billy had misheard that.

[morphitudinous]

Lash sounded...happy. That brought a smile to Billy's face as he moved closer. So this was her element, huh?

"We all need to learn more. I've reviewed everything I could get my hands on and practiced, but I worry about us being overwhelmed again. I have to prepare for that somehow, and I don't think it will involve steamrolling them with the Megazord."

Although it would be awesome if it did. He glanced at her. "Were those your friends?"

Are you ready for a TL;DR

[thewunderkind]

"Well..." Lash trailed off. "I...kinda....guess?" How could she explain this better. "Okay so, I used to be part of Black Hole right? The bad guys and all that. When Hawke took us away from them becaues Von Bolt was a meanie-stupid head, Jake of Orange Star saved us. I guess I would consider Jake a friend. Sonja of yellow comet too, but that's more because she's nearly as smart as me!" The image of nerdymcnerd popped in her head and she couldn't help but giggle. "Here let me show you!" She waved her arms and suddenly the war disappeared in a cloak of black, replaced by what seemed to be twenty or so people lined up like soldiers, to the right and left of them.

Technology was a wonderful thing.

She pointed to the first one.

"See her? That's the girl I just told you about, Sonja! She's not just a commanding officer, but also the Emperor Kanbei's daughter over there. Real nice and smart, I bet you too would get along well, teeheehee!"

They walked on a little bit before she continued.

"That's Max. He's an Orange Star commanding officer. The heavy hitting guy, kinda dumb, but got the job done. He and Flak got into turf wars all the time! Flak was one of the Commanding Officers in Black Hole before Von Bolt took over. Flak was great! I never knew what happened to him actually..."

Next, a very beautiful woman stood saluting proudly. Even Lash seemed a tiny bit in awe of her. "That's Nell. Current head of Orange Star. Well was the current head, I don't know how it works anymore. ANYWAY. Nell could, get this! Manipulate luck. It was so frustrating sometimes, you thought you'd won a battle and then BAM! She'd use her powers and even one guy could puncture a tank with just one shot. The world's must luckiest shot, but she made it happen. Much like her sister there, Rachel." She paused. "Uh sorry, I kinda went off there for a bit!"

[dared-to-love.livejournal.com]

Last time she was here, this place was a Halloween party. Ophelia had a feeling it was going to take her a while to get used to this sense thing. The weapons and vehicles were far more advanced than anything any of the warring factions in the Age of Metal had used, but she could recognize what was going on here. Instead of flinching away from the noise and explosions, she found herself observing each side, trying to discern which one had the upper hand and what they had to do to ensure victory. Old habits died hard.

"Can they hear you?" She asked the girl with the strange hair. All she knew about the people in the Sensoriums is that they weren't exactly real, so to speak.

[thewunderkind]

Who was this girl? Why did she have so much makeup Eh, it didn't matter. Lash gave her a small wave.

"Well for all intense and purposes, they currently think I'm Max," she explained. "Since I'm playing the role of the good guys today. So I guess they kinda hear me, but it's not real, you know?"

She let something explode before continuing.

"Name's Lash!"

[dared-to-love.livejournal.com]

"The good guys." Ophelia repeated flatly. This person had a strangely... cheerful approach to battle. "I'm Ophelia. So you're a tactician?"

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Renne isn't a stranger to the sounds of battle. Indeed, in the right circumstances, he could get a thrill out of the fight itself -- hanging around a pair of Viking brothers and visiting Valhalla itself might do that to you. Shaking off the memories of several years ago though, the anomaly treads carefully to this Sensorium chamber.

He doesn't trust this ship.

He knows enough to understand that here, there is a potential of actually getting oneself hurt -- badly or not isn't the point.

So Renne listens quietly; skin occasionally giving off flashes of things. Emotion is something he all too easily responds to.

[thewunderkind]

And what a spectacle Lash was giving him! Explosions everywhere as she orchestrated her own countries demise from the safety of her own vintage point. She hadn't noticed the watcher quite yet, completely engrossed by the simulation, as her fingers moved in accelerated actions, selecting her next targets.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

For a while, he listens.

While thankful he cannot see the explosions -- and thankful that this is merely a Sensorium simulation -- he still has a prickling of mild fear. Flashes of amber and brown race across his skin and before he can stop himself, the anomaly lets out a chirp.
Nervous. Questioning.

"Wha-t do?"

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Tavros hadn't known the sensoriums were occupied. He started to reverse on out of there while stumbling over an awkward combination explanation/apology for the intrusion, when he noticed Lash was playing out some sort of war scenario and stopped.

As much of a misfit as he was among his warlike species, he liked this sort of thing. Testing out strategies, figuring out the enemy's weaknesses through trial and error even if it was mostly through card games and he was too much of a softie to exploit anyone anyway. He watches for a moment, fascinated, before looking up uncertainly at the girl.

"Is this, supposed to be some sort of battle strategy, uh, to use against the ohm?"

[thewunderkind]

Lash laughs at the idea. "Unless they are creatures who can morph into our very selves, naaah." The idea sent a small chill down her spine. "This is just me enjoying a bit of downtime by making things blow up." Cue explosion, right on time!

"Teeheehee! I got his base!"

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros smiles a little at the explosion and her reaction. Okay, so she's probably a little unhinged. He can deal with that.

"So you, blow stuff up a lot?"