trans_9 | Part 1 - The Mirror Turned

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Part 1 - The Mirror Turned

There was no sound in the hangar, where the signal could be traced to something transmitting it that was hidden among the ships. The omnicom itself that was in Brenda's possession was transmitting, but there was something else in the hangar that had been amplifying the signal and carrying it along through the shielded depths of the ship back when the omnicom had been in the lab and wirelessly hacked by the strange mental array attached to Brainy's brain, and that was what they were tracing the signal to rather than the omnicom itself, months of hard work finally letting them crack the code.

There were no sounds of running or of someone being chased. That was possibly alarming. Silence, when someone had been running for their lives, was a bad thing.

[ooc: Closed to: the Brainies, Danny Phantom, Brenda, Red Robin, Zuko, Shoutaro, Jeka, and Punchy. Cole-player, I'll give you your cue to hop in and witness the trap going off by email and give you a setup when it's time.]

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The omnicom was transmitting to an amplifying device hidden somewhere in the vast hangar. If they couldn't find Brenda herself, but could find the device, it might allow them to trace where she'd sent her last omnicom transmissions from.

[ooc: Keep it in one thread. No posting order to let people jump in when they can, but make sure all the characters get in one tag per round. That means that Red Robin, Zuko, Shou, Jeka, and Punchy should all get a tag in in between each npc post but you five can do it in any order you want.]

Punchy's on this like auto-tune on a Li'l Wayne ballad.

He's rerouted his omnicomm to allow him to trace what he was formerly doing on his laptop. It took a few hours, but until the last channel post he wasn't getting anywhere. And it seems like he's done so just in time - it seems like the chase is finally on. Finally.

Punchy tossed and turned his way through so many short nights thinking that just by sleeping, he was letting innocent torture victims down.

His omnicomm makes a beeping noise as he, fully-costumed, runs into the hangar with the subtlety and grace of a hundred three-legged elephants, or possibly Missy Elliott's dance choreographer (oh, burrrrn).

Red Robin, unfortunately, hadn't had a whole lot of time to prepare-- he hadn't taken it, because as soon as he had heard the message, he had grabbed what he already had on hand and started on his way there. Time was of the essence, after all.

The silence was unnerving, to say the least, but he was quiet himself, blazing in, in desperation to find her.

Sensor flew -- literally -- through the door into the Hanger and took off upward to get over the tops of the ships so that she could find Brenda, and from there find Brainy. He's been in his mother's captivity for so long now, Jeka's afraid to find out what's been done to him.

She's afraid, but that's not going to stop her. And whatever's been done to him, she's going to see to it that it gets repaired.

Other people have showed up to help as well -- presumably they'd answered Brenda's call. She notes their positions and directions and keeps looking for the Millennium Falcon that Brenda mentioned so that she can direct them to it as well.

The roar of a motorcycle's engine fills part of the hangar as Shoutarou drives along the main path of the hangar - he's not familiar with the Millenium Falcon, but he's got his eyes out for anything out of place. And as he told Brenda to be on the lookout for black and purple armor, he's already transformed. The girl was being pursued, and whoever was doing this to Brainy and Brenda was obviously some kind of threat, so it was best to be prepared.

Zuko appears too, still slightly damp from the tunnel he was searching when he got the message.

He glances at the others who clearly have the same idea as him - some of them on faster vehicles than his - and hurries to keep up.

The signal led to where a small device that looked a bit like a skull attached to tentacles, was very obviously fixed on a random ship, the tentacles digging into the ship's hull. That was transmitter that had been boosting the signal. On the floor was a discarded omnicom, where it had fallen from someone's hand.

And next to it...

Brenda was sprawled face first on the hangar floor, barely clothed and barely breathing, thin bruised limbs flailed out like the points of a starfish.

The sound of footsteps clanging toward her jolted her enough to make her open her eyes a crack. Panic gripped her as consciousness began to restablish itself. Something was wrong, something was so wrong, but her groggy mind was too clumsy yet to put a name to the danger...

She tried to lift her head, fighting the sleepiness brought on by the drug in her system.

~~it a trap!!!!~~

As if Punchy could ever resist helping out a pretty redhead in distress. In fact, he's kind of imagined himself rushing to the aid of pretty, distressed redheads since he was still young enough to be sticking paste up his nose and putting forks in the lightsocket. The siren's pull of HEROISMTM and VALOR(c) is simply irresistible.

He galumphs on over her and kneels next to her, holding a hand out to help her up. "You okay, shawty? We can get you to the Med Bay." He glances around at the others - don't you dare steal his spotlight, you jerks.

Red Robin really didn't care about Punchy's desires for the spotlight, right then, but he was already assisting Brenda-- there wasn't much more that he could do on that particular front, not when there were other things to worry about.

Like making sure that she wasn't being chased any longer.

Tim sent a silent signal to the others he had already seen in the hangar, and stepped closer, cautiously. He held his staff weapon in one hand, looking for any signs of anything amiss. If nothing else, the booster was worth investigating.

Jeka hovered overhead, looking around for any sign of Brainy or Brainiac 4 -- one still needed to be rescued, and one needed to be neutralized until they could get her into a holding cell where she belonged.

Sensing Brenda's rising panic, she used her powers to 'throw' her voice, leaving Brenda with the impression that she had just heard Jeka speak: It's okay, Brenda, we're here. We'll protect you.

Zuko was not the most careful person when it came to thinking out a mission of any kind, whether it was a kidnapping or a rescuing, and he usually counted most on his ability to think on his feet.

He had time to think on his feet now, with three other people already attending to Brenda, and a notion screaming at the back of his brain.

"This is a trap."

The Brainies were too smart, and this was too easy. Nothing was ever easy.

He looked at the others, wondering which of them knew the Brainies best, and could predict their methods closest.

"We should be watching for something. What should we be watching for?"

Shoutarou pulls up, and cuts the engine on his bike before dismounting. Zuko's comments get a sigh of frustration. "...yeah, it can't be this easy after this long. I don't know what to look for, though," he answers, moving to stand behind Punchy, arms raised just a bit. Right now, he was more intent on protecting Brenda.

Sensor concentrated, reaching out with her mentalism to try and locate any sign of either of the Brainiacs.

"We should be concentrating on getting the sprock out of here," she answered Zuko. "Brainiac 4 likely has access to something like Brainy's force-fields now, and she's a sadist who's just as smart as he is. We're going to want to fight her somewhere we choose, not some place she chooses."

Brenda takes Punchy's hand but she's too shaky and drug-dizzy to actually get her feet beneath her, out of breath and weaving back to the tile.

She makes the most emphatic nod she can manage to agree with what Jeka says but it comes off as more of an attempt to pick up her head before dropping it back to the tile.

They were all screwed.

Of course the moment she's seen them she hadn't expected anything less...

Of course it was a trap. That was why Brenda was there at all, because the Brainiacs knew they wouldn't be able to keep themselves from running up to her to see if she was okay and they needed to be in close to the boosting device attached to the ship near her for the trap to be sprung.

When they were all in close enough to Brenda, the eyes in the little robotic skull suddenly opened, green light poured out and enveloped them all, and they would all find themselves falling into a sleep like ice as they were teleported away.

Cole had been in another part of the ship exploring when he had gotten the message, and ran over to the hangar bay as quickly as he could. He knew he'd be a few minutes late, and that others would already be there, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to add support.

Little did he know that the lateness may have just saved his ass.

As soon as he was just thirty feet away from where the girl and the group again, he saw the green flash vanish everyone away.

Nothing was left.

"What the hell?"

He walked over to where the group had been and tried to look for any sort of sign of abduction and saw none. (OOC: Right?)

"Hello?!?", he called out.

A very sterile smell was the first thing they probably noticed. It wasn't the smell of disinfectants, though, it was more the smell of absolutely nothing, as if the air itself was filtered of everything it could possibly have filtered out of it.

The second thing was likely be the whole power-restraint/strapped-to-upright-metal stretchers thing.

All their powers and special suits and things were nullified, and even if any of them had any natural super-strength, that would be suppressed, all of their muscles made to feel weak.

Though they would have been allowed to keep their clothes, any tools or useful devices had been confiscated, such as Red Robin's little toys, and even devices hidden among their clothes would have been scanned for and removed. Nobody was picking their way out of this with lockpicks hidden in their hair.

The next thing they might have noticed was the bright lights of the sterile, metal room they were in, that would probably play merry hell with the head aches they all likely had from the teleport/stunning.

And last but not least, they might notice they were not alone.

After all this time searching for him, there stood Brainiac 5 in the center of the room, omnicom in hand, scanning them all one by one, seemingly completely unperturbed over the fact that he'd just kidnapped them all. The few of them that had known him before his capture would notice several distinct differences in his physical appearance. He was far skinnier now than he'd ever been in all the time they'd known him, a result of muscle atrophy from his long torture and his tendency to forget to eat while he was working. He was wearing a costume that looked distinctly less heroic, and his head was shaved. The inhibitors on his forehead had been removed and replaced with a new head-piece, one not dissimilar to those worn by other Brainiacs.

"Brenda, the subjects are awake. I need your assistance as soon as you can walk in a straight line," he called back through the doorway of the lab, without looking up from his omnicom.

Brenda had been woken up first and treated for her sedation. She'd made for such excellent bait but he really did find her assistance invaluable. As she was still likely groggy, though, the others would have time to react first before she walked in.

[ooc: Same deal as before. Red Robin, Zuko, Shou, Jeka, and Punchy should all get a tag in in between each npc/brainies/brenda round but you five can do it in any order you want. I'll cap off each npc/brainies/brenda round with a Brainiac 5 tag, so the round always restarts after him.]

Edited 2012-04-16 07:44 (UTC)

A ragged groan left Shoutarou as he eased into consciousness. Where was he? The hangar - wait, no, this isn't the hangar. Why wasn't he there?

...green light.

Yeah. Green light went off. Then... Then he's not sure what happened after that.

Vision...is terrible, at best. Bright lights that are agitating the pounding in his head, and someone talking.

"...gonna...be kickin' myself for weeks over falling for that," he mumbles.

"Called it!" Punchy exclaims, even though he totally didn't call it. Ever. And was in fact the first person to merrily barrel into trouble because la-di-dah heroes never die.

Punchy's muscles haven't been relaxed, but unfortunately no amount of Johnny Bravo-style flexing can break through the restraints. Damn! At the very least, someone's talking to Brenda, so that means the fine-ass shawty is still alive and they haven't totally botched this mission yet.

He squints a bit at his captured comrades, then at the skinny green guy standing in front of him. "Hey, you're the guy I made say 'upside-dizzle'. You gonna loose us?"

Diplomacy. Let Punchy show you how it's done.

"What are you talking about?"

Zuko is offended! OFFENDED! That Punchy would take credit for pointing out the obvious which he pointed out first.

"I called it! You were too busy getting an eyefull of that girl -"

That girl. Where was she?

And was that still Brainy?

"You."

He stares at Brainy, trying to catch his eye, looking for a trace of his old ally.

Okay, Shou gets a chuckle out of that exchange.

"Gotta admit, Zuko's got a point..."

That anyone might have not suspected a trap was basically unfathomable to Red Robin. But as much as he was irritated at the exchange, it wasn't a high priority for him-- the discovery that he was totally unarmed, with a complete lack of tools, was a bigger one.

"I suppose you have us right where you want us," he growled quietly.

They still had to hope for a way out though. His eyes scanned the room from behind the cowl. If he could just figure out something they could use...

He'd rather not admit he may be in over his head here.

Jeka hung in her bonds silently, watching Brainy -- poor, dear Brainy -- as he scanned her like she was nothing but what he'd called her. A subject.

She's been in this situation before: bound physically and mentally, illegally, under threat of death or worse. But last time, she'd known that the Legion would come looking for her. That Brainy would come looking for her.

"I'm sorry, Brainy," she said quietly. "I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner."

"It's not your fault Jeka.""

That's Brenda, moving sluggishly to stand at Brainy's side, but her eyes are downcast. She still feels dizzy but hates the vulnerability of just laying still and reeling.

"What do you need?" She asks Brainy, voice tired and resigned.

"We do have you right where we want you. Why do you sound surprised at all? You knew you were facing Brainiacs," said a voice off to the side, as sinuous and cold-blooded as a snake. "Then again, it's almost unsatisfying how easy it was to play to your sympathies. Empathy is a weakness that's disappointingly predictable."

Brainiac 4 walked into the room and stood by her son. Her clothing was simple, a skintight suit in drab grey and purple. The expression on her face was, if at all possible, more cold and emotionless as Brainy's, though there was just the smallest hint of satisfaction in her eyes as she watched her son work, knowing what he was preparing to do.

"Fortunately, it's a weakness my son has divested himself of." There was the smallest of smiles. "With my help, of course."

"Brenda, prep my surgical equipment and the medical scanners."

That probably was not a good sign.

[ooc: Your round, guys!]

Edited 2012-04-20 06:16 (UTC)

Punchy's got a really snarky comment for Brainiac, and then Brainiac Four walks in with those legs up to here and Punchy's already-meager common sense completely shuts off.

So he wolf-whistles at Brainiac Four, then, to Brainy 5, says, "daaaayumn, son, you didn't tell me you got a MILF in this joint!"

There is no way this could backfire.

Punchy, Shoutarou is going to pray that your commentary is part of something bigger and clever like what you did on the comms before. Really.

There's a scoff, and just the slightest bit of a smirk on his face as he peers through his bangs at the Braniacs. "I'd call it a boon. It's certainly given us the break we needed to get to the bottom of all this." Unwavering confidence can do one of two things - unsettle the bad guys enough to make them screw up, or make them focus on him long enough to hopefully give the others a chance to do something.

He just hopes his usual good luck holds out in this situation.

"Are you crazy?"

Zuko really ought to have the restraint to ignore Punchy but . . . Punchy.

"Brainy. You know this isn't right. You know this isn't you. Let us go before you do something you'll regret."

Whatever Jeka had been about to say or do was momentarily lost as she choked on her own spit. She's not completely certain what a "milf" is, but she can hazard a guess from the context. She can only hope that Brainiac 4's lack of empathy extends to not caring particularly about what a sentient says about her in her presence.

Her eyes flicker between Brainy and his mother as she quietly tests her bonds in the hope that Brainy had left her an opening -- whatever his mother had done to him, surely she couldn't have crushed out his compassion. Of course, Brainy's mother knew that she was a Legionnaire, so it was possible that she'd watched him restrain her very closely. She switches tactics, glaring at Brainiac 4.

"More people than us saw the posts on the omnicom system," she snarls. "Are you sure you got everyone? You're not special, you sprocking squaj, you can get taken down by a knock upside the head just as easily as anyone else!"

Hopefully, Brainy left the weakness in someone else's restraints, and they can find it while Jeka's trying to keep Brainiac 4's attention.

Brenda moves away to the cupboards and starts assembling a standard compliment of surgical tools, though she cringes midway through the task hearing Punchy pipe up about Brainiac 4.

She comes back to Brainy's side and sets the tools on his workstation, sighing as she slides between Zuko and Jeka's bodies to power up the scanners she was asked for.

"Don't waste your breath trying to talk him around, guys. Believe me, I've tried it."

She'll probably get some kind of reprimand for trying to give the captives advice but screw it. It was just one more reprimand in thousands by now and voicing negative thoughts about B4 was very worth it...

"And trust me Punchy, you can't possibly be masochistic enough to want to tap that."

Brainiac 4 didn't actually seem horribly incensed over what Punchy said. She was, after all, a sociopath and while anger came to her naturally, shame and embarrassment didn't. That said, she didn't suffer fools lightly.

"Kill the mouthy one first," Brainiac 4 said to her son calmly. "Painfully. But then, you're going to kill them all painfully. Be sure to record it, won't you?"

"Naturally. You know I prefer to have records of my work."

"That's my boy."

Reaching out, she lifted his chin, delicately, and then appeared to grip it just a little too tightly, her nails digging in, leaving a scratch that started to ooze green blood just lightly.

When he didn't react to the pain, she looked even more pleased.

"Look at how I've broken you, at what you've become. I'm so proud. It's my best work, I think."

"The Coluan psyche is fragile, mother," Brainiac 5 said, not even bothering to attend to the cut that was now on his face. Unless it dripped, it was irrelevant. "While it was a significant accomplishment, certainly, it was also an inevitability. Now, may I get to work? You're distracting me."

"Of course. I'm also distracting myself. I have to attend to my other plans in the meantime--I'm almost through Stacy's defenses. Make sure you're finished with your toys in time for the grand unveiling, my dear."

With that ominous proclamation, she turned on her heel and walked out.

"I don't want the lab crowded. Helper-bots, leave these two with me, put the others in holding."

Some of the robots that were performing minor tasks around the lab started to move, pushing three of the hovering containment units with the captives into another area. Punchy and Jeka were to stay with him and Brenda in the lab. Shoutarou, Zuko, and Red Robin were going to be put aside for now.

"Brenda, hand me my omnitool. It's time to get to work."

The goggles he flipped over his eyes were meant to protect from blood spatter.

[ooc: New part!]

Edited 2012-04-24 01:18 (UTC)

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Part 1 - The Mirror Turned

To the Rescue

Re: To the Rescue

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OOC: Still allowed to post this?

Yes indeedy!

Part 2 - Against the Wall

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