trans_9 | Part 4 - Beauty is Within Us, Your Mother Knows

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."

"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.

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.]

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."

Edited 2012-05-20 18:43 (UTC)

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."

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

"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?"

"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.]

Edited 2012-05-22 04:44 (UTC)

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.

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!]

Edited 2012-05-24 04:41 (UTC)

"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."

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!"

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."

"Or I could just freeze your limbs in place." Danny pointed out. It'd a good chunk of the power that he had left, but he could do it.

"Hang on."

Zuko held out his hand to Danny. He was prepared not to trust Azula, but if there really was a way to stop her from slowing them down as much - and maybe there was, since Zuko wasn't willing to bank on Azula's loyalty to anyone. "Negotiate what?"

Shoutarou wasn't expecting the leg sweep, given her showy fireworks, and found himself tumbling to the ground. His transformation breaks, but he rolls and gets back up on one knee...and stays there. If she's willing to talk, he'll listen - if just because he could use the momentary breather.

"Funny way of opening negotiations..."

"Well you were being rather forward." She muttered to Shoutarou but her eyes were locked on Zuko's. She smiled sweetly when his words offered her what she wanted.

"You've been avoiding me big brother. Avoiding your responsibilities." She approached him slowly one foot gracefully tracing the ground under her toetips. "As my brother, as Firelord."

"All I want, is the truth. I know your time is precious but I hope you won't skim on the details." When she stopped she was only a few feet away.

"Zuzu, whatever happened on that day you were reunited with our Father."

Zuko's stomach clenched in a hard knot, and his composure nearly melted at Azula's question.

The truth was damning - for him, because he'd allowed it to be swept under the rug - but more for Mai, who he knew had delivered the killing blow.

The truth would find his podded girlfriend - his podded wife - when she awoke again, and imprison her . . . right where Azula would be able to get her revenge.

The truth was not an option. For Mai's sake.

"He attacked me. I got a lucky shot."

Nobody else had any reason to assume it wasn't true. Only Azula knew him well enough to see through the blatant lie.

"I took it."

He at least had to try, for Mai's sake.

"I killed Ozai."

Azula's eyes were more focused then they had in months. Her muscled tensed and the room seemed to heat up, the air crackling with tension.

"I've known you all of my life Zuzu, you don't really expect me to swallow that lie."

Her heart was racing, what was she not seeing? Her mind was whirling. Obviously he had to be lieing about Ozai's death but why? To what end!?

Maybe she was just unbalanced enough for him to pull this off. Zuko slipped quickly into the stance to redirect her lightning.

"You want to put it to the test? Maybe you'll make the same mistake he did."

If he engaged her, the others could get by and go on with the mission. And they could have another family brawl that, frankly, had been a long time in coming.

She however was in no fighting stance. She was open in so many ways. Her nails dug into her palms and her knuckles were white.

"You're wasting time Zuko! Look into my eyes and make me believe that he's gone. You couldn't even let me die. You owe me!"

She crossed the space between them in three wide steps till he was close enough to see her temples pulsing.

"Make. Me. Believe!"

"What do I have to do? Kill you too?"

Maybe he could really do it. He'd spent so much time on the ship pitying her, but could pity keep overshadowing the years of torment? The neverending manipulations, the constant, subtle fear he'd had ever since the day he realized - she'd never have the problem of wondering if maybe she could kill him.

"You think you haven't made it easy?"

Why wasn't he backing down? Why was he pushing so hard on this obvious lie?

She faced his threats with absolute unblinking fearlessness.

"You can't! You were too weak then and you're too weak now! He can't be dead because you couldn't have done it! There's only one person from our world with a killing instinct..." as she moved dangerously close to the truth doubt flashed in her eyes.

He had been lieing, she knew it was a fact...but what if it was a lie buried in truth?

But which? Where? Was this the paranoia? At the very moment she considered that the voices returned screeching accusations and mocking.

Rather than let her follow that line of thought, Zuko made moves to make good on his threat. Lightning gathered around him as he moved through the form as quickly as he could.

He couldn't falter. This would have to be a killing blow -

- or maybe just an incapacitating one -

no she was crazy and he was already going to be facing the consequences for murder after this. She needed to go down -

The world seemed to slow down till she could see the sweat on his brow freez into place.

He really was going to do it. His tells were gone. There was no more hesitation.

Her heart held fast and she prepared to embrace her fate. Perhaps then she would finally have silence once again.

Time to sleep without fear of nightmares either imagined or real.

Part 4 - Beauty is Within Us, Your Mother Knows

Head-On Collision and the Dragon

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