THE GONE-AWAY WORLD [modplot]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Those who signed up
What| The "Gone-Away World" plot
Where| The planet Tezeram
When| The same time as "The Ninth Gate" and "Total Eclipso"
Warnings/Notes| child endangerment

The Legion cruiser breaks apart upon entry to atmo. It just can't fight its way through the warped reality of the planet, through the willpower of the many criminals on Tezeram willing its destruction. But the Legionnaires own willpower and thoughts factor in, from the moment they're close enough to the planet to start influencing the "stuff" that makes up everything on Tezeram's surface.

So even though the ship rips apart, they don't die. Instead they find themselves down on the planet, separated into pairs that have to find their way towards the criminals behind all this, and find their way to each other. If they try to will the Legion cruiser back into being, they'll find it's impossible. They must defeat the criminals responsible for all this, and join together to will the cruiser back into being at the same time.

Comments

[rushing_by]

"I'm not sure it is pointless" Barry says, thinking hard. If the world is already already being changed by passive thoughts, then it should be easy to actively create something.

"We don't know which way to move in. Or, at least, we didn't." He pulls the Starfleet tricorder he's imagined out from behind his back, and shows it off to Locus before flipping it open.

"If I did this right," he explains as he clicks away at the buttons, "it should detect life signs and lead us to them. Got it. Life signs are fairly spread out, but we should find somebody if we head out...thataway."

[agnominal]

Movement is better than none. Imagination has never been his strongest suit, but it's given them streets that are somewhat familiar. And familiar terrain is an advantage, at the very least.

With a silent nod, Locus hefts his rifle and moves forward, in the direction Barry seems to have indicated. "Are these...illusions? Or do they live in truth?"

NPC tag

[rushing_by]

"It doesn't look like they're alive." Barry says, checking the tricorder.

"Either that means they aren't, or they're just moving too slow to register."

[letsgolegion]

They aren't alive but that doesn't mean that they're not capable of being...guided. The frozen mannequin-like beings detect the presence of the two and suddenly blur, heads all twitching to look at them.

Then, even though it's stilted and jerky, they start to move. It's in quick jerking movements. One second they're in one place, then shifted closer by several feet, then shifted closer by another few feet, with no movements in between. Barry and Locus have the advantage of freely moving among them at a much faster speed, but they can still give chase in halting, fleeting movements.

[agnominal]

Enclosing around them. And there are many, too many. Faces hidden behind their helmets, jerking towards them as if pulled on invisible strings. "Move," he utters, before turning to push towards the nearest opening, before they get too close. If these people aren't alive, then there's no killing them. There's only escape, and leaving them behind.

This is a battle not of bullets, but of minds. If they can shape objects, then perhaps there is a way to divert their pursuers. Focusing his mind, he chooses something else from Chorus. Remember. Remember. The last vivid memory he has of this place was--

As he does, the ground around them seems to break into tile-like fragments, some rising and others dropping away, sinking to reveal a floor of jagged, crystalline spikes beneath them. Locus quickly steps onto one of the rising platforms, nodding for Barry to do the same.

It's only a small detail in the landscape. He's not sure how it will mesh with the others, where the platform will take them, or if those...things will follow. But he's fighting back.

[rushing_by]

"I think it's safe to say somebody knows we're here." Barry says, blasting a few of the beings away with an arm-formed twister before hopping up onto the platform.

"Kinda wish you weren't wearing armor. I might've been able to carry you past most of this by running. Maybe a vehicle? Something easy to think of. Flight-capable, because we don't know what kind of terrain we'll be dealing with."

As Barry thought, a heavily modified DeLorean appeared alongside the platform, the wheels rotated upward into hover position and the gullwing doors open.

[letsgolegion]

The not-quite-people are still following, even with the Legionnaires being lifted away by the platform. They pile onto another platform that forms and starts floating not far below them. Then they pile onto each other, like ants creating a ladder out of their own bodies. As the pile gets higher and higher the ones up top reach upward towards the platform Barry and Locus are on.

[agnominal]

Without hesitation, Locus reaches out to grasp the edge of the car door, hoisting himself inside before turning to sit, perched on the edge. It's not so different from hanging off the side of a Pelican.

He's taken shots from the side of a Pelican before.

Thinning their numbers is unlikely. So when he aims, it's towards the bottom of their makeshift towers, taking out weak points near the base to cause them to topple, rather than aiming for those near the top. And his aim is unerring.

"Go."

He's got their escape covered. Mostly.

[rushing_by]

"Hang on to something!"

Barry pulls away from the platform and, checking to see the time circuits are off because there's no need to tempt fate, floors it. The DeLorean peels off into the sky, towards the life signs the tricorder detected.

[agnominal]

Locus remains where he is, but locks one hand onto the edge of the car door, feet magnetizing to the vehicle as it speeds off, away from the threat. Presumably towards their goal.

That cannot be the end of it, not in a world built on will and imagination. It could not be so simple a thing, and his eyes remain on their path of retreat as Barry maintains whatever course he has set for them.

[letsgolegion]

They can see it in the distance, a massive sinister looking supervillain outpost. It's a little over the top in its design due to being imagined up by some really uncreative villains with a yen for Gothic architecture.

Their way there isn't unimpeded. Though their destination is in sight, something blocks their way.

It's a cloud of pigs, a massive swarm of pigs with wings. Most of them are pink, some are blue due to being a variant native to the planet Winath, but they're all definitely pigs and they all have wings, because apparently someone on this world said the phrase "when pigs fly" just a little too often for the laws of irony and absurdity to ignore it.

The pigs are all very friendly looking, at first. The lead pig stares at them.



Its empty eyes stare into their souls...

And find them wanting.

"SNRT SNRT SNRRTT SQWEEEEEEEE!"* It cries out a battle cry and then the pigs bare their teeth and attack, flying towards the Delorean. They start shooting lasers out of their eyes, trying to shoot it out of the air.

The pigs will defend their airspace. The two are not worthy by their piggy standards to pass.


*"Their souls are impure! Make their tummies into breakfast meats! DESTROY THEM!"

[rushing_by]

"That is definitely not kosher."

Barry just barely manages to swerve out of the way of the laser fire, but it's a close thing. He's not an experienced pilot, and the DeLorean isn't exactly built for aerial dogfights. The only saving grace is that pigs aren't either.

"Think Barry, what works pigs?" He mumbles to himself. "Wolves! Wolves work on pigs!"

Another cloud flies out of the sky, this one made of winged wolves. Instead of laser eyes, they huff and puff and blow Godzilla-style atomic breath at the pigs.

[agnominal]

This is without question the most ridiculous mission he's ever been on.

Yes, there's a time limit, a sense of urgency and danger, and yes, he'd do whatever he could to see it through, but looking at the flying, lazer-eyed pigs and the huffing and puffing wolves? Part of him is wishing he'd found another mission to take up.

No point in questioning it now. One of the wolves dives past, hurling its furry body at the main pig, while Locus takes a few shots of his own. Clipping their wings could help their prospects, perhaps.

Relying purely on imagination is still a work in progress, where he's concerned.

"Go low! Find a place to land." He turns back to look at Barry briefly.

[rushing_by]

"Working on it!"

The DeLorean dives underneath the mass of fighting pigs and wolves. Barry flies the car over the building, and lands it carefully on top.

[letsgolegion]

Between imaginary wolves and, you know, very non-imaginary bullets, the pigs are fended off enough for them to land on the roof of the ridiculously lairish looking lair.

But now they have to imagine a way in.

The roof isn't without its defenses, either.

Attack budgies.

Also with laser eyes.

(The kidnappers really went all in on this laser eyes thing).

[agnominal]

Really? This is what's happening now? Imagination is one thing but this is...

"Unfortunate," growls Locus, before leaping down to the roof. Budgies are a smaller target than he's used to, but he could hit them all. Watch them splatter in a spray of colorful feathers.

But. That's not the point here, is it?

"Find us a way in!" As the more heavily armored of the two? He'll contend with the deadly laser-birds, drawing their attention, all the while pushing his focus to the edge of the roof.

One second passes, then two. Then a cat that could almost be Luna hops up over the edge, grooming itself fastidiously. Wonderful. Even imaginary cats take their time and do as they damn well please.

[rushing_by]

While Locus draws the attention of the birds, Barry zips toward a tower, smacking away any Budgies that come near him with an imagined tennis racket. It feels a little cruel, but they aren't real birds to begin with.

Once he reaches the tower, he slaps his hand on it and focuses on it as much as he can. "Open door to a stairwell, open door to a stairwell, open door to a stairwell..."

The entrance is created, and Barry nearly fall in as the open doorway appears.

"We're in!"

[letsgolegion]

Because your mod is an asshole it just couldn't be easy, the inside looks like this:

[agnominal]

Turning away from the game of cat and budgie, Locus rushes after Barry and drops down...and only just catching himself on a railing, peering down into this mass of interconnected stairwells.

Of course. Of course this is what they're dealing with now. Why not?

Though gritted teeth: "How close are they?"

[rushing_by]

"Sorry, didn't expect architectural design by MC Escher."

Barry checks the tricorder, and types in a quick calculation to figure out just how far they need to go down.

"Down a little over 15 meters, and that way," he says, pointing in the direction opposite the way they came, "about 20."

[letsgolegion]

While the Legionnaires are facing off against the wills of every criminal in this place, said criminals have forgotten that their wills aren't the only ones shaping it, and that the wills of the Legionnaires aren't the only ones combating them.

The existence of the Legionnaires in the complex reaches the children. Rooms away, the criminals in the room react to the fuss outside and say just a little too much about who's attacking where the kids can hear, and so they know three groups of Legionnaires are coming from different directions.

Baela and Claeton Trivv grew up on stories of the Legion of Superheroes. They idolized the Winathian Legionnaires Spark and Livewire until they disappeared with the rest of the missing Legionnaires. They have the full collection of Legion action figures at home, every last one, and lovingly add new figures when they're made of new Legionnaires. They still play with the figures of the Legionnaires sent home and hope they'll come back someday. (Claeton still loves his Spider-Woman figure and Baela's favorite is still Great Saiyaman).

And the thing about worlds based on thoughts is that narratives are a natural part of existence. Even though life is random, senseless, and often harsh, the human mind needs to make sense of it.

This has turned into a story of the good guys coming in to save the day, and it's one that the twins believe in much more strongly than the criminals believe in their narrative of actually winning.

The fortress shifts. The way isn't entirely clear - the two of Legionnaires have quite a few mooks to mow down in between them and the kids. But the room the two children are trapped in suddenly morphs and shifts so that there are three entrances to where they're stuck in their cage, with easily breakable doors, perfect for good guys to break through to save the day.

Time shifts too, so that despite however long it took them all to get there, the various teams of Legionnaires are poised to get into the room at the same time. The criminal masterminds behind this plot - unconscious of even doing it - also conveniently spread out so that there's a group of them in front of each entrance.

Three doors. Three teams. Three clusters of villains. It's all neat and tidy. But the Legionnaires still have to imagine up one hell of a party crash to overpower the criminals they're facing. They're close enough now to decide on their final attack.

[agnominal]

The path to the children simplifies, and Locus doesn't believe enough in good luck to feel any kind of optimism in the change. Rescue missions have never been his forte. Saving people. But he's not here to do only the things he is comfortable with, the things that have been in his wheelhouse for years.

Instead, he looks to Barry. Hard to tell what the former mercenary's expression is under that grim helmet, but it's clear enough that he expects the speedster to have some idea of how this is meant to go.

"We'll likely face them in force on the other side. Is taking them head-on the wisest choice?"

[rushing_by]

"Not really. Good thing I don't need to use the door. I'll handle keeping the crooks busy, you try to make sure the kids are safe." Barry says, and calls a phaser set to stun into his hand.

"Wait ten seconds, and then go in."

Instead of the door, he runs through the wall to side of it, blasting stun bolts at any crooks he can see.

[agnominal]

Ten seconds.

It's enough time to reflect on the madness of this place, but he can't. Not now, when the contents of his mind can still shape his surroundings. He made that mistake once on Chorus and let his ghosts catch up to him.

Find the children. He can keep his focus on that, sharp as a razor's edge. Five seconds.

Fortunately he's gone on missions with Barry before. He knows that, for all his enthusiasm, he can be trusted to do the job right. All he needed to do was think of a way to the children. Straight shot. Simple.

Not easy, perhaps, bu simple in execution.

Two. One.

Keeping his gun raised Locus shoulders open the door, and his form melts away and vanishes from sight a moment later.