Part 4 - Beauty is Within Us, Your Mother Knows

[meat_mooks]

The two groups were free, Punchy had been safely left in a shield bubble, and now that Brainiac 5 was free from his mother's control and closer to himself again, it was only a matter of stopping Brainiac 4 from enacting her plans to harm the crew.

That task was probably easier said than done, of course.

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Head-On Collision and the Dragon

[googledox]

As they ran down the hallway, klaxons blared and red lights flashed. As Brainy tapped something into his omnicom and unlocked a door, another, stranger alarm sounded.

"Sprock."

Brainy was not one for cursing usually, but he considering the deep nass they were currently in, he felt it could be excused.

"She knows I've reverted to my true self and her security protocols have engaged."

[level12jerkass]

"Someone's being a naughty boy," came Brainiac 4's sing-song voice over an intercom, all warmth and fake maternal love. "You can't just let your friends run around in the house like they own the place, son."

Several robots detached from the walls and started floating over towards the group.

[googledox]

Brainy, to his credit, ignored his mother's taunting with practiced calm, opting instead to tap something into his omnicom. The moment he did, several of the robots turned and started fighting the other robots.

"Keep moving and don't get bogged down," he said, breaking into a run, looking back to make sure the others were following. "Even though I wasn't myself I had predicted she'd attempt to murder me at some point and put security measures in place for the sake of self-preservation. It will only buy us time, though."

As he ran, he bashed any errant brain-bots out of the way with his shield powers with ruthless efficiency. Unfortunately, that meant that he was at the front of the group when they ran into the other group...

[ooc: Brief free-for-all.]

[shes_intense]

Brenda kept right on Brainy's heels, hammering any errant brain-bots from the air with the EMP weapon she'd grabbed from the experimental stash before leaving the laboratory. Between the magnetic pulses and the crow-bar-like heft and reach of the short staff she felt reasonably well armed, and it helped her temper greatly to have something to grip until her knuckles went white as she tired to ignore B4's saccharine tones over the speakers.

She pulled up short just behind Brainy as the two groups collided at a turn in the hallway.

"Oh good, now there can be less searching and more escaping."

[hatngartersnake]

Fortunately, Brainy had kept her flight ring where he'd had easy access to it. Jeka's mentalism doesn't work on the brainbots, but slamming them into walls and each other with her fists and tail serves remarkably well.

"Less escaping, perhaps," she said, grabbing a robot and throwing it at the speaker with a ferocious scowl. "But definitely more fighting."

[halfa_hero]

"I'm guessing Brainy's sane again?" Danny asked, blasting the robots "Y'know, as much as he ever is?"

[thisclinchesit]

"RIDER PUNCH!"

An explosion of purple energy goes off, knocking back a small cluster of the things, followed by Shoutarou stepping up. He gives a sharp nod. "Looks that way, though..." He glances among the group, and notices a distinct lack of orange and crotch-bling. "Where's Punchy?"

[googledox]

"I am myself again. As soon as my mother is stopped I'll turn myself over to the ship authorities."

He was a criminal now, in his own mind.

"And Punchy--sweet muses, that name is so simplistic it's almost painful to say aloud--is encased in a shield bubble, unconscious, back in my lab," Brainy said, knocking another bot into a sterile metal wall with one of his forcefields, smashing it. "He's sustained no permanent injury."

A vicious punch to another robot showed how much inner turmoil the Coluan had over the fact he'd caused Punchy injury at all, however.

"He'll be able to free himself when he wakes up. Provided we can stop my mother, he'll be fine, but if we can't stop her, everyone on the ship is doomed anyway."

The hallway was mostly clear now, giving them a clear shot to the main part of his mother's lab...

Or not.

[ooc: pause on tags until the next Brainy tag signaling that people can go again. There is to be a special guest.]

[burnedbrighter]

A slender dark figure slid into view for but a moment before the world exploded in flames.

Red, orange and white flames blazed down the corridor along the walls reaching up to lick the ceiling. The heat instantly engulfed the hall yet the flames kept up against the walls and did not spread to the middle where the heroes had been moving.

The figure at the mouth of this tunnel of flame was a young girl with ink black hair and cold piercing eyes. For the first time in awhile sharply focused on the party.

Young lips twitched into a cruel smile.

[googledox]

She had been his mother's lackey from the moment they met, even if the Security cameras had captured another conversation altogether.

The plan Brainiac 4 had for the ship had changed over time, but one thing had not--the fact that she planned to call on Azula to help her implement it.

"She's not going to give you whatever she promised you, Azula," Brainiac 5 said, his eyes almost manic at the thought of the delay this would present. He didn't have much time before his mind went, a fact betrayed by the way his left eyelid twitched. "She has the same fondness for you as she does for everyone else on this ship."

[ooc: Go!]

[shes_intense]

"Go ahead." Brenda snarls, putting herself between Brainy and Azula with two heavy steps. She hefts the EMP stick with a white-knuckled grip.

"You just try it, 'princess'." The word is spat, with utter derision. She's got no patience for this. "Light me up. I will keep coming and I will beat you senseless if you don't get the hell out of my way."

[thisclinchesit]

The flames and heat caused Shou to stagger, though he recovered quickly to look up. "Tch..." Having Philip around would be handy right now, but this wouldn't be the first time he's had a situation like this.

"We don't have time for diplomacy," he comments as he breaks into a run toward Azula. "Let's see what you've got, Fire Girl!"

[burnedbrighter]

Her cold eyes were a sharp contrast to the sweltering heat that rippled off the flames as they died down halfway, still lining the walls.

"I can't beat you all I know this." She grunted, "But slowing you down by being difficult would serve a purpose."

When Shou came at her she took a defensive stance moving in a blur to sweep at his legs.


"However I am willing to negotiate and step aside. I owe her nothing."

Part 5 - But it's Grown So Dark and Ugly

[level12jerkass]

Brainiac 4's main lab was an ugly place. It still held the tanks inside with the preserved bodies of Legionnaires that Brainiac 4 had killed while practicing the process to free Brainy and Brenda from their pods. It seemed from their appearances that they weren't the versions of the Legion Brainy and Sensor knew but that didn't make the sight any less gruesome.

The gruesome contraptions that Brainy and Brenda had been strapped to were there as well, discarded, floating trays of various torture devices nearby.

There were countless tables and work areas with consoles and various devices--many of which were weapons.

The most alarming thing of all, however, was the device near a flesh wall of Stacy's, tapped into a giant exposed cord of nerves, that seemed to be doing something ominous. Sparks of a strange energy ran up and down the cords of nerves from the machine, which was shielded with a shimmering energy shield much like Brainy's forcefield.

As they entered the room, an array of lasers kicked into action near the door, but another laser array blasted them before they could slice and dice the group to pieces, a result of the combating programs fighting over control of the security system. Even in the digital realm, mother was set against son.

Brainiac 4 stood there in the room, seemingly unarmed, simply waiting for them to arrive.

"Hello, dear."

[googledox]

"Mother."

His voice was toneless.

"Surrendering at this time would be the most logical and prudent course of action, but I know you won't, and I don't intend to give you time to gloat about your plans as I know your plans, and I also know the plans you wanted me to think were your plans that weren't really your plans and thus your actual plans. Enjoy your last minutes of freedom and/or life facing my friends and allies."

Then he turned towards the machine, deciding to make that his priority.

[level12jerkass]

At this, Brainiac 4 looked confused--and outraged.

"What's the meaning of this? You're not supposed to ignore me. You're supposed to be traumatized. You're supposed to be fixated--"

[googledox]

"I'm supposed to be a Legionnaire," was all he said.

He had to make up for his failings as one somehow. Vengeance was beneath him.

"Keep her occupied!" he called to the others.

[level12jerkass]

Something within her snapped at him ignoring her.

"You're supposed to be obsessed with me! With wanting me to love you! With--"

[halfa_hero]

*POW!*

Danny cut her off with a fist to the face.

"Wow, someone's projecting."

[level12jerkass]

She had a forcefield around her like Brainy's, one that sparked when Danny hit her in the face, but it still knocked her back and was jarring and painful.

"You useless apes, get out of my way!"

[shes_intense]

"Shut up!" Brenda barked, storming past Danny.

The EMP stick felt more at home in her hand the longer she held it, the slow realization that it's grip felt made for her hand, that it's weight and reach felt 'just right' in some way, brought a smile to her face. The little peeks of the true Brainy leaving breadcrumbs of hope and help around the lab always did make her a little feel better, a little stronger.

The knowledge of exactly what the EMP would do to his mother's forcefield made her feel downright unstoppable...

She closed the gap between herself and B4 in three fast strides, hammering her EMP stick into the shield and discharging the magnetic pulse with a crack of difusing energy. The generators in B4's belt snapped and burnt out with a popping hissing sound.

Brenda wound up and swung again immediately.

Every second's hesitation was just time for B4 to scheme and Brenda was not letting an inch of her advantage give. For all her complex thoughts and powerful technologies the beauty of it all was that Brainiac 4 was still a mortal being, made of flesh that would bruise and bone that would break hiding under the shell of her smarts. No amount of intelligence could make her invulnerable anymore and Brenda relished every slow-motion second of the downswing, the wet crunch noise of B4's knee buckling as the iron rod of the EMP hit home.

"I made you a promise when you brought me here. Do you remember it?" she snarled, looming over the older woman as B4 crumpled around her wounded knee.

[level12jerkass]

Brainiac 4 screamed and went down, but as she did, glass shattered and the Legionnaires that had been within them stepped out, their bodies moving rigidly, but still moving. They had been reanimated with nanites, their preserved bodies still capable of using their powers.

Cosmic Boy jerked his arms and metal pipes were sent careening Brenda's way.

"Oh, you stupid girl. Did you think I didn't have precautions in place for this? Did you really think I'd ever let you put your filthy hands on me?"

Down on the floor, Brainiac 4 clutched her leg and started laughing.

[thisclinchesit]

Best way to occupy a villain - make them bluster.

Maybe not Brenda's hands, but one fist clad in black armor flew toward Braniac 4's face - and once it impacted, the body it belonged to moved out of reach, and into something vaguely resembling a boxing stance.

"You've got more than one set of hands to worry about here, lady - Hands that have been itching to lay some justice into you for a good long time. Hands that intend to wipe away the tears you've caused!"

Shou turns his left side to face her, and points with his left hand at Braniac 4. "Now, count up your sins!"

[prodigalfirelord]

Lightning flashed as Zuko redirected an electric shock from one of the Legion zombies and into another. It would be awful to kill them if any of them were not beyond healing, but the energy felt manageable to him.

[hatngartersnake]

Jeka flies loops around her allies, slamming back any of the Legionnaires-turned-horrors who get too close, frantically searching for any spark of life left in their minds. If she had any breath or attention to spare, she'd be screaming absolutely filthy words at Brainiac 4, but she doesn't.

Grife, oh grife, perhaps there's something Stacy can do for these poor, brave sentients...