trans_9 | And When the Sky Was Opened [open]

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And When the Sky Was Opened [open]

First, he had to hit Engineering to talk to this Billy fellow--and cross his fingers and hope for the best. This wasn't Metrocity, he hadn't saved the day here and worked for the peoples' trust, and while he'd read that Constitution about people not being punished for past crimes that didn't necessarily mean there wouldn't be attitudes of distrust and the like.

There was, of course, the option of lying about his former villainhood, but good guys weren't supposed to do that, right? And with Roxanne not remembering that he'd reformed, all he'd need was for her to mention he was a villain, and then he'd have to explain the whole thing, and then it would get all messy.

It was better people knew ahead of time. It was better that got their judging...thing out of the way ahead of time, especially if he was trying to work under them.

So off to Engineering he went. Now that he was fairly certain he didn't have anyone to intimidate, he wasn't wearing his cape or the collar, hoping to look as normal as possible.

Of course, on the way there, and afterward, he nosed around into many a place on the ship to look around, often blurting out "Incredible!" "Magnificent!" "Do you see that? That is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" and other such exclamations at the wonders he saw. The ship was a beaut, a techno-organic masterpiece!

[ooc: You can catch him poking around just about anywhere on the ship, although his jaunt to Engineering comes first chronologically. Just specify where he ran into your guy.]</font

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Karis was coming out of engineering, actually. She had wanted to make some explosives or tinker or something, but there hadn't been very much of anything to make explode.

Stupid safety regulations.

She pauses as she passes Megamind, eying him over.

"...guess it takes all kinds."

Oh look a zombie, never made one of those before--

Well, okay, he had tried, but that really was a messy, messy business, and the smell alone wasn't worth any of the advantages.

"Yes, it does take all kinds of devastatingly handsome, unparalleled geniuses to properly man an Engineering lab," Megamind said absently, poking his head and looking around gleefully.

"...I won't comment on genius, but it'd take a lot of booze to make you handsome, buddy," Karis replied. OK, he was a bit weird. She folded her arms, armor clanking on armor.

"And yet still probably less inebriation than it would take for you," said Megamind dismissively, as he started poking around the room.

Good guy didn't = nice. He never agreed to nice.

(And she started it).

Edited 2011-01-12 10:28 (UTC)

"I would love to see that energy core up close," said the voice in his ear.

All right, it wasn't exactly in his ear, but it was uncomfortably close.

The Doctor was leaning over the railing, elbows resting on the edge as he gazed over over the huge expanse. One trip here hadn't been enough and he couldn't help himself: he just had to have another look. really, even two good looks didn't do Engineering Justice. The Doctor didn't seem to be fazed by a blue man with an impressive skull size. And really, it's impressive, even with all the heads he's seen over his lifetimes: it had to be the biggest, roundest and -- this was a plus -- the bluest.

He should be proud of it. The Doctor knows he would, if he had a head that big and blue. Or he could settle for ginger, but that one seemed to be a long way off, unfortunately. One of these days he'll get it right. Maybe. The Doctor had the niggling feeling he should probably congratulate his blue friend here.

It was still a very impressive head, even with a second glance.

He still looked out longingly over that gaping pit, "I'm the Doctor, by the way."

Edited 2011-01-12 09:01 (UTC)

"I know, right?!" Megamind enthused. "It's magnificent! If only there wasn't such huge risk of irradiation, vaporization, or falling to a horrible, horrible death! I'd be down there in a second!"

Megamind, for his part, was indeed quite proud of that giant brain of his, of course, but not necessarily happy with his noggin's grand bulbousity. But then who didn't occasionally look in the mirror and think a part of themselves looked a bit too fat? It was only natural. Mercifully, he was getting over some of those deeply ingrained "DON'T LOOK AT ME I'M A FREAK" feelings lately.

He held a hand to his chest and with a somewhat pompous flourish of his wrist, said, "Megamind, master of--" New title. He really did need a new title. "Master of skillfully out-witting all those would do my home city, Metrocity, harm. Or I would be, if I weren't here."

The Doctor. Now there was a perfectly acceptable hero--or villain--title. Megamind didn't even question it.

He tried rolling the name off his tongue. "Megamind". It certainly stood out, even if it was painfully redundant with a beautifully blue head like that. The Doctor couldn't fault him for being a little -- all right, more than little -- proud of it it.

He peered down the gap after him into the core that he still couldn't see from this far up, hands gripping the railings. "No, no, no, that's where you're wrong. Irradiation and vaporization, yes. Falling? No, because you'd hit the core before that. Bit of a long fall though."

The Doctor had been smiling at the description of Megamind's...job. There were worse things to aim for. And he hadn't heard a more apt description for that kind of job in quite awhile. He liked it. The Doctor finally turned away from the core, gave Megamind's head an appreciative look, and then dropped his eyes back down to his face.

"Mind if I ask what species you're from?" the Doctor added, "It's quite nice," he amended, without bothering to clarify what the "it" was. It seemed obvious to him what it was.

"If you love the ship so much, just ask her out already, for Magog's sake!" snapped the book as it passed by, followed by a few vacuous minions who were quite clearly plundering the department for anything that wasn't nailed down or in use, to judge by the sacks they held (which were clearly labeled LOOT).

"Find anything interesting?" She's leaning against a wall near the crew quarters when he passes her, arms folded loosely over her chest and a brow lifted in the typical, no-nonsense Roxanne fashion. Roxanne is one hundred percent certain that yes, Megamind has indeed found many things about and on this ship interesting (because she herself had so far, too), but it's a conversation opener, anyway.

Besides - at least she's talking to him now. After that first day, things had gotten awkward for her, fast. While he was the only person awake (alive?) from her home, he was still a villain to her. He was the person that had destroyed a hero (her assumed boyfriend - even if he wasn't really), sent a city into ruin, and had tricked her for no other reason than pure selfishness (of course, this is an assumption). The first week she’d kept her distance, holding him at arms length and only speaking to him when necessary. Things still smarted and while he was trying, it was still tense for her.

But she’s making an effort, at least – an effort to believe him, trust him. That’s part of the reason she stopped him now, called his attention to her instead of letting him pass by and continue on to wherever else he was going.

Edited 2011-01-12 15:24 (UTC)

Billy heard some amazed exclamations echoing down the hall. He'd been that enthralled with the ship once, and it was still somewhat awe-inspiring---when not pain-inspiring. The pain portion seemed to be especially prominent lately, but Billy pushed those thoughts aside, ever-dutiful to new engineers.

"Hey," he greeted with his usual polite smile. "Welcome to the Engineering department. Would you prefer to talk in the back office?" It's fairly quiet overall at the moment, but he's sensitive to privacy concerns.

"Probably," Karis granted, "Most people don't like dead things, good-lookin' or not."

She tossed her arc spanner from hand-to-hand. So far, there hadn't been much. Maybe she should actually ask around instead of just rifling through everything. "You an engineer?"

"Hello? Is Kaylee-" and then Anwei ran right out of words. All this time she'd been assuming that this ship was an organic layer laid over a standard shipbuild - if an improbably huge one - but looking over the organic controls made it obvious that this ship was an organic, through and through. She took all her calculations about how much this thing had cost to build and chucked them out.

Definitely not somewhere she wanted to go blundering around. She straightened her denim shirt (still worn loose over her plantsuit), wished that she could do something about her hair, and tried to think Respectable Thoughts. Then she noticed a familiar blue figure, and her lips thinned.

Oh of course. Let's let the lunatic who fired an energy weapon (that he probably hadn't even field-stripped and tested after it had been handed back to him by mysterious aliens who had abducted him) into a crowd - let's let him stroll around the core of the ship!

"Have you seen anyone in authority yet?" she called to Megamind. She wondered which answer would upset her more, Yes or No.

"Among many other things, yes," Megamind said, as he prodded around at a console.

His head was nice? That was...new.

Well, okay, he did like having such a massive brain, yes, but it was rarely admired.

"Well, you see, I don't actually know," he said, dithering about awkwardly. "I was sent to Earth as my home planet was being destroyed by a black hole. My parents must not have had time to send any sort of archive of information with it, or even so much as a note, and Minion--he's a superintelligent fish that was sent to help care for me--he was so young that he didn't know much either. I grew up on Earth, and I've always known I was an alien, of course, and I remember my parents sending me off, but I know nothing about my actual species other than that they were clearly intelligent and significantly more technologically advanced than humans were."

This part was embarrassing.

"In fact, I don't even have a true name. I was only eight days old when I was sent away, and my earliest memories are a bit sketchy, so I'm not sure what my parents called me. I was assigned the name John Doe by the pri--by the US government, for the sake of records, and that's hardly a name at all, so Megamind is the closest thing I have to an actual chosen name."

Edited 2011-01-13 02:15 (UTC)

"If I didn't have my eye on someone else..."

Yeah, he'd consider it. He's weird like that.

"Wait a moment, what are you doing?"

Edited 2011-01-13 02:15 (UTC)

"Yes, privacy would be...yes. Thank you," Megamind said.

Then privacy would be had. Billy guided him through the labs, past various shiny things in various stages of creation, and to their lovely back office. Which consisted of a chair, a desk, two other chairs, and not much else in the way of space. He set out the 'Do Not Disturb' sign, closed up, and gestured for Megamind to settle in the front chair with more leg room.

"All right, what's your concern?"

Long, spindly legs crossed as he sat, he looked the picture of professionalism, other than the way he was steepling his fingers and twiddling them together.

"As I said, I would like a job. With the Engineering Department."

He twiddled his fingers together.

"As I understand it, the ship's Constitution provides for past crimes to be forgiven on board--which would be a moot point anyway, as I was pardoned--but I do have...something of a history. Of--" Slight cough. "-- that would make most employers rather hesitant to hire me. Throw in the fact that the only other person from my world that's here with me was pulled from before I reformed--even though she's giving me the benefit of a doubt as I was never really one to commit violent crimes--and well, I just thought it would be prudent to be honest about my background before I started working with your Department."

Edited 2011-01-13 02:35 (UTC)

Ah, that was the problem. Billy thought back on past precedent as he talked, considered the person in front of him, then...hmm. Maybe it could work.

"You're right about our constitution. We make judgments on what your intentions and motivations are in the present, not what occurred on a different world in other circumstances. That the other person is giving you the benefit of the doubt helps too."

Billy was always ready to give second chances. "Thanks for telling us. We might be slightly wary due to our technology being used against us by a previous crew member who was possessed by a god with ill intentions, but we welcome everyone willing to work with us. We're fighting for ourselves and countless planets."

Yes, Engineering was a perfectly welcoming place. They'd put Big Zero in, and so far this person seemed far more cooperative than her.

"Hey." There's an odd noise from behind Anwei, and a hole in reality appears in the doorway. There's some sparks as a ruined chunk of machinery gets shoved through first, and a pair of large hands grasp the edges of the door. A large man, filling the entrance, steps through the portal. It shuts behind him.

He crosses his arms in front of his chest, offering the two a friendly grin as a halo of sunlight flickers into place around his head. "Did I hear someone call for the Authority?"

Apollo has a way of filling a room, just by standing up all the way.

Sigh. Of. Relief.

"Good, good. I promise you, I have no ill intentions for anyone. The way I see it, even if I were still a villain, it'd be in everyone's best interests--my own included--to cooperate with the rest of the crew. But if you want to talk to a Roxanne Ritchi as a reference, even, she'd likely tell you that--well, I was never especially good at being a villain in the first place."

It's not like he'd ever actually won, you know?

"If you even want to have some limitations in place, not allow me access to certain vital systems or technologies until I've demonstrated my character, I'd certainly understand. Especially since it sounds like you've had some untrustworthy individuals abuse the trust of the Department and the crew in the past."

It'd be annoying, but he understood.

"No, no, just a authority figure. Not the," Megamind quickly corrected, eying the stranger with great suspicion.

The Authority sounded like a superhero or super-team name. He didn't like it.

Then again, he'd never liked authority much in general. Authority liked to toss him in jail and had this thing about banks being robbed being a bad thing. He knew all he'd done was wrong, but really, authority figures could be a lot less insufferably smug when dealing with villains, in his opinion.

"Greetings, fellow sentient," Anwei said - up - to the new person. Demigod. Whatever. She cast a longing eye at the ruined machinery, but this was not the time to start pouncing on it looking for parts she imagined.

"I was concerned that Megamind here might have lost his way?" Her tone was just barely snide.

Billy was relieved to hear it. Should the over-cooperation be a warning sign? He wondered, but decided it would be best to talk to Ms. Roxanne first.

"We'll talk to her, thank you. It won't be an interrogation, just casual checking, but I'm inclined to believe you." If Roxanne told a story that matched and it turned out that they were lying to gain the crew's trust, they would have to be co-conspirators. That would be difficult to coordinate.

"There's not too much that we'd have to restrict. Weapons development has slowed down, we're largely focused on communications and infrastructure now. We should have you cleared if not by tomorrow then the day after."

Of course, he'd consult the others once he had further information from Ms. Roxanne. There might also be an interview for Megamind in the future, but that wouldn't take too long. Billy would try to trust again.

"Might be hard getting her into a restaurant. She doesn't have much in the way of taste, though, so probably a cheap date."

Unless you wanted to get her drunk...

"Scavenger hunt," he said without missing a beat, smugly enough that he didn't expect to be believed.

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And When the Sky Was Opened [open]

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