Most of B8's body is bulleproof, but the three lights on her head are external sensors that have a direct beeline to her brain. The little ports are one of her very few weak spots. Because of the havoc the others have wreaked, B8 is completely vulnerable, unable to take time to detect any other threats in the room.
It's an improbable, nearly impossible shot, one that very few people in the galaxy have the skill to make. But the bullet hits one of the sensors perfectly. And with that, it's over. The sonic pulse stops abruptly and B8 falls backward, eyes wide in shock, her cortical processor shooting off angry sparks.
After Bunny frees him from the throne, Brainiac 5 stands up, his movements rigid and mechanical. For a moment, he looks at the squirming, screaming child in Bunny's arms, tiny face all screwed up as he cries ugly tears. Then he looks at Brainiac 8, lying dead on the ground, her main cortical core sparking and smoking through the hole in her head.
Then he looks away, expression flat and impassive, because he has to not think about it all right now.
There's an overtone, a slight electronic buzz to his words when he speaks.
"The sniper is most likely another Legionnaire. Kid Quantum's usual modus operandi in a situation involving mind control or telepathy is to send a backup agent or team without telling the rest of the team, in the event the primary team is telepathically interrogated or assimilated."
That way, when their minds are read, the enemy won't know another team or team member is lying in wait.
"An exemplary effort on your parts, by the way," he comments, walking over to one of the consoles. "The bees in particular were a touch of genius. My family line isn't exactly known for its ability to adapt to chaos, improbability, and creativity."
He sounds legitimately very impressed. Placing his palm on the console, nanites spread out from his skin and start creating a connection between him and the electronics within.
"Brainiac 8's death is...unfortunate, since it's always preferable to avoid the need for killing on a mission but that sonic pulse would've melted the flesh off your bones if it'd finished transmitting. I'm sure Kid Quantum and the Science Police will deem it necessary force in regards to the law and Legion protocol, given the circumstances."
This one is definitely justifiable self defense and defense of others.
"I'm opening threshold gates to relocate the three planetary bodies to their proper coordinates."
It's astonishingly fast for the ship to move them, considering their mass, but that's Brainiac engineering for you. Through the main viewscreen, they can see massive threshold gates open and swallow Colu, Earth (and Legion World), and Robotica. The Lunar Debris Field is left behind, floating in space where it can no longer threaten the Earth.
Computo enters the room then, a spiraling flowing field of energy and information, floating up through the floor. He reaches tendrils towards Brainy and Brainy smiles wryly.
"You're spectacularly late for curfew, young man," he jokes. Computo communicates something in complex harmonic tones and Brainy nods. "If you can, I'd appreciate it tremendously."
There's a pulse of light as Computo transmits the cure that the Legion found - that's already spreading across Colu - and the hand the energy tendrils are threaded around suddenly turns black. The layer of carbon spreads all over Brainy's body, creating a blackened shell that covers him completely. He isn't in the cocoon long. After just a few moments, he breaks out of it, and then he's himself again, albeit covered in carbon dust. Only a few bits didn't convert back properly or left marks, like the circuit pattern imprinted on his cheek.
After curing him, Computo moves on to the throne, to turn back the Coluans trapped within. His movements demonstrate hesitance but he still tries to cure them anyway.
Then and only then does Brainy turn back to face the screaming child in Bunny's arms. He has a decision to make here. It's a given that the child will be taken away from Colugov, but without his intervention UPgov will probably build some kind of juvenile detention facility to contain him.
And then what? He languishes away, possibly growing even more emotionally disturbed and dangerous in isolation?
At the same time, most parents didn't have to suffer anguish and mind control because of their own offspring. It does exactly get any paternal instincts flowing.
no subject
It's an improbable, nearly impossible shot, one that very few people in the galaxy have the skill to make. But the bullet hits one of the sensors perfectly. And with that, it's over. The sonic pulse stops abruptly and B8 falls backward, eyes wide in shock, her cortical processor shooting off angry sparks.
After Bunny frees him from the throne, Brainiac 5 stands up, his movements rigid and mechanical. For a moment, he looks at the squirming, screaming child in Bunny's arms, tiny face all screwed up as he cries ugly tears. Then he looks at Brainiac 8, lying dead on the ground, her main cortical core sparking and smoking through the hole in her head.
Then he looks away, expression flat and impassive, because he has to not think about it all right now.
There's an overtone, a slight electronic buzz to his words when he speaks.
"The sniper is most likely another Legionnaire. Kid Quantum's usual modus operandi in a situation involving mind control or telepathy is to send a backup agent or team without telling the rest of the team, in the event the primary team is telepathically interrogated or assimilated."
That way, when their minds are read, the enemy won't know another team or team member is lying in wait.
"An exemplary effort on your parts, by the way," he comments, walking over to one of the consoles. "The bees in particular were a touch of genius. My family line isn't exactly known for its ability to adapt to chaos, improbability, and creativity."
He sounds legitimately very impressed. Placing his palm on the console, nanites spread out from his skin and start creating a connection between him and the electronics within.
"Brainiac 8's death is...unfortunate, since it's always preferable to avoid the need for killing on a mission but that sonic pulse would've melted the flesh off your bones if it'd finished transmitting. I'm sure Kid Quantum and the Science Police will deem it necessary force in regards to the law and Legion protocol, given the circumstances."
This one is definitely justifiable self defense and defense of others.
"I'm opening threshold gates to relocate the three planetary bodies to their proper coordinates."
It's astonishingly fast for the ship to move them, considering their mass, but that's Brainiac engineering for you. Through the main viewscreen, they can see massive threshold gates open and swallow Colu, Earth (and Legion World), and Robotica. The Lunar Debris Field is left behind, floating in space where it can no longer threaten the Earth.
Computo enters the room then, a spiraling flowing field of energy and information, floating up through the floor. He reaches tendrils towards Brainy and Brainy smiles wryly.
"You're spectacularly late for curfew, young man," he jokes. Computo communicates something in complex harmonic tones and Brainy nods. "If you can, I'd appreciate it tremendously."
There's a pulse of light as Computo transmits the cure that the Legion found - that's already spreading across Colu - and the hand the energy tendrils are threaded around suddenly turns black. The layer of carbon spreads all over Brainy's body, creating a blackened shell that covers him completely. He isn't in the cocoon long. After just a few moments, he breaks out of it, and then he's himself again, albeit covered in carbon dust. Only a few bits didn't convert back properly or left marks, like the circuit pattern imprinted on his cheek.
After curing him, Computo moves on to the throne, to turn back the Coluans trapped within. His movements demonstrate hesitance but he still tries to cure them anyway.
Then and only then does Brainy turn back to face the screaming child in Bunny's arms. He has a decision to make here. It's a given that the child will be taken away from Colugov, but without his intervention UPgov will probably build some kind of juvenile detention facility to contain him.
And then what? He languishes away, possibly growing even more emotionally disturbed and dangerous in isolation?
At the same time, most parents didn't have to suffer anguish and mind control because of their own offspring. It does exactly get any paternal instincts flowing.