trans_9 | Adjustment Period [Open]

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Adjustment Period [Open]

He'd been deliberately avoiding people since they returned from the mission and Leela had been safely transported to the MedBay to recuperate from her injuries. Brainiac 5 didn't like to admit it, but even he needed some time to process things if the events were significantly large and life-changing enough.

And finding himself here, in this bizarre ship with no idea how he'd come here, then meeting an alternate counterpart of himself who was similar enough to be disconcerting, but different enough to make him more than a little jealous and defensive, and topping the entire experience off with suddenly having to be involved in a mission that he didn't understand his role in and with a group of people he didn't know? It was enough to make even his considerable intellect need a break, if only for a short while. Particularly when he factored in the... unfortunate circumstances before his arrival.

Fortunately Stacy had more than enough room for him to find a place to just take time to work things through in his head without being distracted by the presence of others.

And he'd since resolved to try and avoid sleeping in the 'bed' provided by the ship at all costs.

But experiences with the sleeping area aside, he's now feeling a little more accepting of what's happened so far. He's far from happy about being here, but there isn't much to be done about that - and it's not like he's particularly unique in that regard either - and he'd rather do something productive with his time, so he heads down to the laboratory in Special Weapons his counterpart had shown him around earlier.

After checking that the area is indeed currently empty by cautiously elongating his neck until his head could peek into the room without being too noticeable, Brainiac 5's body follows the rest of him into the room and his neck returns to its normal length. He's alone in what passes for a laboratory, and therefore feels a bit more at home.

And also free to poke through other people's projects.

It's not meant to be rude or anything. It's just that he's not used to having other people working in his lab back with his Legion and while he reminds himself that this lab is a shared space, he can't help but occasionally make a note on someone's equation or a footnote on a diagram to suggest a different idea.

He's just trying to be helpful, really. It doesn't really occur to him that others might not see it that way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"In the future, it would perhaps be...prudent to inform your fellow engineers that you're going to go through their work before you make additions, corrections, and changes."

Christ, B5, he's supposed to be the socially retarded one.

Admittedly, lab etiquette is something he picked up while working with Lyle. Amending one of Lyle's formulas when he thought Lyle had made a mistake in making a solvent would have turned out disastrous if Lyle hadn't noticed the change in time before making the final product--which turned out NOT to be a solvent.

No one wanted bleach-flavored ice cream.

"I made the notes in such a way that you could ignore them if you wanted," he answers, sounding a little annoyed.

It's not like he erased the originals this time, so he doesn't see why his counterpart is complaining. But then again, he hasn't had the experience of having to share a workspace with anyone; if it's in Brainy's lab, then it's Brainy's work as far as his Legion is concerned. While others might help out on occasion, there's a difference between that and having to work things out with other scientists.

"Besides, you already gave me permission." In a round-about way, but it counts as far as he's concerned.

"Yes, but for some of these, I wasn't finished my own plans or triple-checks. It would be more advantageous for you the correct the near-finished product, don't you agree?"

He adds.

"And some of these are shared plans, ergo, you didn't have permission from the other engineers involved. I find they prefer to be kept informed, and to have open discussion about possible changes--usually because they're somewhat innovative when they're 'brain-bouncing' as Allen calls it."

He fumes silently for a moment and asks himself what Superman would want him to do. Unfortunately he's pretty sure that the answer would be 'apologise'. It's not something he really wants to do because it feels like admitting his counterpart is better somehow, but they can't argue forever. ~~Well it wouldn't be feasible at any rate.~~

"I'm sorry," he says eventually. "I wasn't thinking. I'll remember to ask for permission next time."

"No apology is necessary. Merely the latter," says Brainy, sitting down to concentrate on his work.

"There simply needs to be a basic modicum of etiquette when sharing the lab with so many others. Admittedly, it took me some time to learn to share my own lab with Invisible Kid back home."

"It's polite to apologise," he says coolly. And also to consider leaving people alone while they're working but he doesn't know if he has a workspace here yet and he's curious about his counterpart as well.

"Invisible Kid? I'm not aware of any Legionnaires by that moniker. I suppose it's another difference between our dimensions." He hesitates a moment, then continues. "What are they like?"

Brainy actually looks up in surprise.

"You have no Invisible Kid? Lyle Norg? That name is unfamiliar to you?"

Brainy's taken aback by his counterpart's surprise and shakes his head. "No, I've never heard it before. They're not an active Legionnaire, nor any of our previous members. Why? Is it important?"

"Simply surprising. Lyle Norg, codename Invisible Kid, is a Legionnaire with invisibility powers derived from a serum he developed himself. He has a genius level intellect--for a human, at least--and is rather inventive, and a gifted chemist. He leads the Legion's Espionage Squad, and served competently as the Legion's leader for a term, largely due to his experience as a spy for the UP before his tenure in the Legion."

A pause.

"He is, ah, a friend of mine, I suppose. One of my closest acquaintances. We often work together in tandem on scientific matters."

He looks back to his work.

"Quite frankly, I'm hoping he's in stasis and that he'll be released soon--or that I can locate him, if possible, and forcibly release him. He's somewhat...innovative. Able to find new and unforeseen applications for technologies, and he'd likely have a great deal of success finding ways to create what we need out of such limited materials. Lyle would be a significant asset here."

Plus, Brainy would just like to have one of his best friends around.

Innovative, intelligent, and close friends with his counterpart? ~~The last was actually possible?~~ It sounded like Lyle would indeed be an asset in more ways that one, and would also be something else in the other, organic, Brainiac 5's favour. So he'd have been here longer, have friends to support him, and have already proven his worth.

As much as Superman had encouraged them to work together, it's hard not to take that idea a little personally.

"I see," he says after a moment. "I suppose that would be nice for you." He can't resist adding, "I hope if you do find him here, we get to meet. Maybe we could become friends as well."

There's a strange sort of eye dart as that thought occurs to him.

B5 is somewhat...better at social interaction. He seems to have an edge with his machine intelligence.

It's a completely ludicrous thought, but Brainy can't help but wonder it anyway: If Lyle were to show up here, would Lyle like his counterpart more?

"Perhaps."

That admission's enough for him and Brainiac 5 smiles slightly. He knows he shouldn't feel so pleased at possibly upsetting the other, but at this point it's difficult not to feel jealous and anyway, his counterpart was the one to raise the subject in the first place.

Still, he's pretty curious about what else might be different about them, beyond the obvious physiological aspect, and asks in a slight forced off-hand voice, "do you have many friends in the Legion?"

"There are a few individuals I spend some time with. Lyle is one, Ayla is another, and Gates is another of my closest friends."

He pauses.

"There's also Shikari, Kid Quantum, Wildfire, Chameleon and several of the others. After a disaster with one of the stargates, we were all part of a small group of Legionnaires was displaced to another galaxy for a time, and we bonded somewhat during our struggle to get home to UP space. I wouldn't say we're all very close, but after having to rely on one another for survival, and the...trying conditions we found ourselves in, the comradery between is as a subgroup is somewhat deeper. We found we had to rely on another in ways we hadn't ever had to before as Legionnaires, sheerly to survive and to survive psychologically intact. It was an extremely desperate situation."

"Ayla? Garth's sister?" he says in surprise. "Isn't she a little young to be around the Legion? I would have thought her parents would want to keep her at home."

Most of the other names aren't familiar. In fact the only other one he does recognise is Chameleon, the 'boy' on the end apparently having been dropped for some reason. But the event his counterpart alludes to sounds... complicated. He's curious about what happened and why, but can tell it's probably a sensitive subject.

"It sounds like it would have affected you all significantly," he says after a long moment.

"They're twins, like most Winathians are," Brainy says. "Ayla is the same age as Livewire."

He averts his eyes to the project he's working on.

"It...did affect us, yes. Not counting Apparition, who was exactly her namesake--Imra unwisely constructed a sophisticated mental illusion of her to keep Ultra Boy from being distressed and then maintained it for far too long as she was afraid of our reactions when we found out Tinya wasn't really with us--and also discounting Shikari, a native who joined us on the return trip, ten Legionnaires were cast into the Second Galaxy."

He doesn't look up from his work, but his expression grows somewhat darker.

"Only seven of us returned home."

"They are twins, but Ayla is significantly younger than Garth due to the affect the accident that gave them their powers had on her. But I gather things turned out differently in your dimension." And by the sound of it, in a way that Garth would have preferred.

But it seems it would have come at a terrible cost. "Saturn Girl did- but... What happened to Phantom Girl?" A dark feeling creeps over him and he's almost too afraid to ask, but feels like he has to know.

"Who else?"

"Tinya, fortunately, escaped the rift accident with the rest of the Legionnaires back home."

A deep breath.

"We lost Monstress, Garth, and--" There's an odd pause in his voice. "--Element Lad. We found out later that Garth had survived in a rather unorthodox and unusual fashion, and he returned to the Legion, but Candi and Jan..."

Yep, those plans really need him concentrating on them, yeeep.

The conversation's suddenly turned awkward and he doesn't know what to say. It's especially difficult as he's not entirely certain of the fate of his own Legion prior to arriving here. He'd calculated a 83% chance that defeating his ancestor would restore all the digitised information automatically, but there's still a 17% chance he was wrong. That there won't be a Legion to go back to. And as this other Brainiac 5 with his other Legion shows, there are no guarantees that things will work out well for everyone.

"I'm sorry. I was only curious about your friends there and the differences between our realities. I didn't intend to bring up something so... painful." A pause. "Maybe we should talk about something else?"

Brainy simply shrugs.

"My own version of the Legion has been through a significant number of trials and tribulations, and we have lost several members over time. When discussing service as a Legionnaire, these things come up in conversation."

Buut subject changes are good.

"As I was saying, the group that was lost is somewhat closer. We may not all like one another, due to personality clashes, but there's an almost familial tie due to us all having to depend on one another for emotional support during that time. But then over the years, the entire Legion has grown rather close as a whole. Unless your Legion is different, you likely know what I'm speaking of--the Legion looks after its own."

He looks over at his counterpart.

"What about your own Legion? I'm curious who you've become friends with as well, especially as it seems the team roster is somewhat different for you."

"Yes, the Legion does look after its own..." It's almost like he's having to remind himself of that fact.

"My friends in the Legion," he pauses for a moment, thinking about those he knows and his relationship with them.

"There's Superman, obviously." As if his reaction to seeing the Kryptonian hero here hadn't made that clear enough. "Both of them, though Kell-El and I didn't exactly get off to a decent start.

"Tri- uh, Duo Damsel and Saturn Girl were both very helpful when I first joined the Legion, if a little over-protective, and I also get along well with Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl, Lightning Lad, and Timber Wolf. Shrinking Violet has proven to also be somewhat adept at technological matters..."

He thinks for a moment longer, then concludes with, "I believe I get along reasonably well with most members of the Legion, though I do have more experience working with the core team. I suppose it depends on your definition of friendship and how much trust is required."

"Ah, trust is a different issue entirely. Of those I mentioned, the ones that I trust with more...personal thoughts and opinions are Lyle, Gates, and Ayla. And even then, I prefer a measure of privacy."

Even then, he's mostly a closed book.

"That we can both agree on." He's closest to Superman - to the point where the other Legionnaires have made a few jokes about it - but even then there's too many things that he knows he can't trust with others, no matter how close he might be to them.

But this is another version of himself. There are some things they have in common that he normally wouldn't discuss with anyone, but he finds himself suddenly curious about.

"The other Brainiacs," he says carefully. "Have you met many of them?"

"One, Two, and--and Four," he says. "Of course, they're quite different from your own, all of them being organic in nature."

"My own information on my ancestors is patchy," he admits. "Much of it has been sealed away by the council. I suppose they hoped that no one would find out about the... less pleasant parts of our history."

A pause, and then, "what were they like? Beyond the obvious."

"Brainiac 1 was...the obvious," Brainy says. "Unimagnably evil. Ruthless. Callous. Arrogant. He used me against my will to infiltrate the Sleepnet for his schemes and I nearly had my mind fragmented in the process."

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