"Going where I list, my own master total and absolute" (Part 2 - Diplomacy, Tourism, and Processing)

[cityship]

The trip down was uneventful. The view was gorgeous when the viewing window shields were raised again when they were through the atmosphere, especially as they passed down to Megalopolis, the simply-named giant city that was this world's capital. To the Earthlings there, the continents of this world would look vastly familiar, but that didn't mean anything, did it?

Eventually the sparkling city spires of the mega-city, interspersed with flying traffic, rose up to meet them, and Obs Deck, attached by its massive shielded umbilical cord, deposited them at the Council's private spaceport. It retreated back up to Stacy after they'd disembarked.

This world was a gorgeous world, that much they could likely tell while standing there on the landing pad, looking at the rounded curves of the beautifully designed spaceport. Buildings rose up above them in shades of white, paneled with multi-colored glass, in creative architectural designs. The air traffic weaved neatly in endless lines between buildings, and the overcast sky was in shades of orange and pink, with occasional slips of a bright blue peeking through.

The Council of Five was waiting for them in person, clearly glad to see them all, dressed in resplendent clothing.

"Welcome to the Megalopolis, our capital city, and welcome to Galilee. We are the Council of Five, and we're honored by your presence."

[ooc: The first subthread is now open. They have split into groups! All subthreads are now open! Please do not set up new subthreads. The plot-runners will set them up as needed as we go.]

Comments

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Oh. Well, that explained the smell, at least. And Jeka's comment about the red sunlight.

Zouichi had to give them credit; whatever technology they were employing to keep all of them immobile was remarkably effective. But like hell was he going to stand around and just let these people brand them without trying his utmost to prevent it. Though his face remained carefully blank, he put all his not-inconsiderable strength into attempting to reach for his sidearm.

It was funny; Zouichi had never actively tried to hide that he was a Synthetic Human. And ever since he'd gotten here he'd heard nothing but comments about how human he was, how he deserved the same rights as everyone else. He'd almost started to think that maybe his world was more unique than he'd thought in how it treated artificial life forms.

Guess not.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

Superboy struggled, but even though he was built like an ox even without his superstrength, he didn't stand a chance. Even with his superstrength, he wouldn't have stood a chance. These were Brainiac 5 level shields.

"You're not going to get away with this."

Stock hero line, but it was true.

"Do you think the rest of our party will do the diplomatic crap with you treating us like this?" Not with Nightwing leading. "We're recognized as full sentients on our ship, with full rights. They won't just take you treating us like farm animals!"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

"I can tell you now that many of them are going to be very unhappy when they find out what you're doing to us!" Fate's voice, which was normally soft and calm, was sharp, the anger she was feeling quite clear when she spoke.

"You don't want to make enemies of our crewmates, believe me."

[cityship]

Kanner continued to frown, unhappy with having to be on this detail. Complaints he was used to; clones rarely realized how this process was to protect them, on a world where everything ran based on one's status as a naturally created or artificial. With the upset, chances of them being accidentally eradicated on detection before the diplomatic back-up kicked in for the patrolling Sigmas were too high to be risked. Sigmas were amazingly efficient fighters. Unfortunately, they sometimes followed too true to their programming.

Kon has been brought up to the machine, the restraint around his head slipping away into part of the overall structure he seemed to be centered in. A bright, golden light buzzed into existence, focusing on his forehead, as a different sort of head restraint extended forward from the machine. Amusingly like 20th Century optometrist appointments, with the chin rest, if the similarity ended there. Thickly padded sides adjusted to Kon's head for a snug fit.

The implantation of nanites began after a spritz of tailored numbing agent was applied. No reason to make this painful on top of difficult. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a rapidly administered tattooing. A faint glow, a hologram, was already flickering to life. Branded.

"The misconceptions I'm hearing you operate under are distressing." He motioned to Kang, restraints coming to life and repeating much of the same process from Superboy moments before. Kang had an additional one around his snout.

Kanner didn't feel like dealing with potential repeats of lightning vomit. It was damnably difficult to clean up.

"In landing planet-side, you've already consented to this process. Your Captain as well, in sending you. It's unfortunate that your databanks are apparently well out of date, and it doesn't change the reality. There is nothing to get away with. There is only the body of the law. If the rest of your crewmates are as ill-informed as you've been, I can only imagine the disquiet they'll feel in learning the extents of their ignorance."

He spoke so genuinely; Kanner believed himself. It wasn't an act. It wasn't calculating. He looked -- tired. Sad. Unsettled. Tense, after Kon and Kang's antics. "Branding is a necessity, for your safety, as well as ours. It always has been. Even ignorance cannot excuse one from being held to the letter the law. If you're implying negotiations will fall through before beginning, then it's clear the GIA didn't use the careful consideration in selecting their response team we'd been assured when contacting them to open up the possibility of negotiations."

[governorkang]

The muzzle wasn't really necessary, as Kang had figured out he could only do the lightning trick one time a day, so it only served to further enrage him. He struggled against his bindings, giving Kanner a look that clearly said he had every intention of giving the man an extremely painful death.

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Was Kanner used to death glares? Because Kang wasn't the only one providing one. This was bad -- the entire planet was like this?! Even on Vartas, where he was created and raised, it was only the Yuriev Institute that dealt with the U.R.T.V.s and their training. And though the circumstances were slightly different from one another, the same underlying views were there. They were less than humans. They were tools meant to be used however their creator wished to use them.

"Your so called laws are crap, you know that?! Now I'm not surprised at all that you bastards are getting attacked!"

It made sense now. Those who opposed this sort of thing, as well as clones who wished to be free, they were the ones resisting and fighting, causing this so called 'unrest', weren't they? Regardless of where they ended up after this, Jr. knew he - and he could tell from the reactions and expressions of his crewmates - weren't going to be as keen on helping these people out.

Jr. would be next up on the branding line following Kang. And he was hard-pressed to move, even though he unfortunately didn't have a choice. Once those restraints took a hold of and began to move him, Jr. snapped. Were these brands going to be permanent or not? It was bad enough that he already had a constant reminder of what he was, what he did in the past on the palm of his hand. "Don't touch me!" He yelled venomously when the restraints tightened, and it was a survival instinct. One bright flash of red flared up around him, trying to free himself. If any of the others around him had a good sense of power, they could feel that what erupted was powerful - something always detectable on the boy but more subdued as it stayed more or less dormant. He never liked using the power - he feared having the power, but it was a power he obtained as part of his creation. And this was one of those times that surviving, that escaping was a top priority, so it had been a reflex for that cause.

Of course, whatever power was keeping them all down was still too strong. Not even the power of the Red Dragon could fight it. There was no getting out of this. They were going to pay once the opportunity presented itself.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi wasn't one to make threats, not when he wasn't currently in a position to carry through with them. So he remained silent on that count.

He had no real framework for understanding the idea of branding itself; in a way, he'd been branded since his creation, by the very nature of his existence. Certainly, it was easy enough for someone used to dealing with Synthetic Humans to pick them apart from the humans they were designed to resemble.

But being held helpless, forced to acquiesce? Forced to watch as they did the same to a boy he considered a friend? He felt the old, familiar wrath building in him, the one that sang in his ears, that --

He crushed that line of thought swiftly and viciously. Later.

"Not Jr.," Zouichi said, on impulse. He didn't think it work, not when this man so obviously considered them all property -- and he was pretty sure Jr. wasn't exactly a normal little human boy, either. But he still had to do something. "Or are you in the business of branding children as well?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Let him go! Let him go!"

He was a kid for all Kon knew. He struggled even more against his restraints, and had he had his powers, his eyes would've been glowing a fierce red.

The brand burned brightly on his forehead, and felt--he felt disgusting after receiving it. Dehumanized. Watching the others go through the same degradation, especially someone as young-looking as Jr., turned his stomach.

[cityship]

They'd been programmed to believe so much of themselves. Kanner hated working with clones like this most of all, because they were almost like people. What kind of sick mind thought it was okay to give something that much autonomy when they were ultimately going to be put into their place?

Why needlessly create unhappiness?

The two standing guard watching impassively, inured to any such cries. They knew the order of things, knew the purpose and necessity. The clone operating the console didn't flinch as he went about his work. These were good cogs in an organic machine.

These five would have to be recorded in the security database if their owners -- or perhaps Guardians -- couldn't keep control of them. Unfortunate that only one genetic match had been determined in the group as a whole. Kanner preferred turning clones over to their proper owners, and having to walk into it blind was annoying. He liked things to make proper sense. Situations like this rarely did.

Kanner moved them each up to the machine, branding them one by one. He looked pained, distraught that they were given such equality on their ship only to be sent here unprepared for the reality.

"I'll be transporting all of us to the Hotel. I had hoped..." he trailed off, shaking his head solemnly. "We'll wait for the rest of your crew there."

The wall singed by Kang's little fit of lighting groaned as it opened, causing Kanner to grimace. "So unnecessary," he said under his breath as he moved them onto a different sort of platform. "Don't worry," he said quietly, "We almost never have particle reassembly issues using the teleportation platforms anymore."

It was his only (maybe even humorous?) warning before the platform activated. Welcome to Galilee, Clones! We hope you enjoy your stay!

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

This process was, for all intents and purposes, the most humiliating experience Zouichi had ever experienced. He'd been struck before, shoved through who knew how many concrete walls, stabbed, shot, poisoned, and impaled, but none of those experiences quite measured up to this: held down while some faintly apologetic, sad-sack, shrinking violet accountant-type embedded the world's most idiotic holographic sticker on his forehead.

The worst part of it was he was still left paralyzed after the process, unable to simply tear it off himself. Though it was probably his imagination, he thought he could feel it; the thought rankled more than he had ever expected it might.

Zouichi watched grimly as the others were branded as well; he owed it to them not to look away, at least. He wrestled with a black, all-encompassing fury that threatened to choke out all reason -- now was not the time or place -- but the longer he had to keep it under wraps, he thought, the worse it would be when it was finally released. He knew. It had happened before.

Outwardly, he was utterly still; his eyes held the only real sign that he was anything other than perfectly calm.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate had never felt so humiliated. Oh, she tried to fight back like Jr. did; being a mage with a magical affinity to lightning, one rare skill she had at her disposal was the ability to send shockwaves out from her body. So, even frozen in place and restrained like she was, she concentrated all her mana in that one attack. If she couldn't hit anyone, maybe she could at least short-circuit the machine...

It didn't do anything, of course, so she could only lay there as the brand was pressed into her forehead.

The whole thing hurt almost as bad as when her mother so viciously rejected her over a decade ago. Because, even though Precia was her mother, she was still only one person. This brand just drove the point home that there was an entire planet full of people who saw her as nothing but an object.

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

When Zouichi and Kon had spoken up for him, Jr. couldn't help but slightly calm down and let out a miserable scoff - they were all in this together, weren't they? "Don't worry about me," he replied, voice strained and barely containing the growling anger inside of him. And then before the actual branding, he looked back to Kanner and the others. "It's these guys who should be worrying." Threats? Oh yeah, Jr. was long past the point of caring about diplomatic matters.

He didn't remember being branded when he was born, even though it still stuck with him. He remembered the standard units, calling him a monster, people who knew of his secret bringing it up just to enrage him. The condescending way they called him U.R.T.V. He was content in not knowing what it felt like, either. It was degrading, not just the way he felt it press into his forehead, but the way he knew people would look at it: the same way those who saw his 666 brand and gave him odd, confused looks. Only those on this planet knew what this mark meant, and were going to use it to view and treat him like a tool, something ultimately unimportant. Something he'd felt so strongly as a child and fought his best to ensure that he wouldn't have feel again.