Upon my liar's chair [BLARGH FHTAGN] [player plot] [part 2 and 3] [closed to signups]

[iamresponding]

Who| Rich Rider and those who signed up for Part 2 and 3
What| Stopping the squids from opening a rift to the Cancerverse and saving Rich
Where| At a derelict stargate station and the Cancerverse
When| An IC Day after "Game of Throne"
Warnings/Notes| Lovecraftian squid-monsters, body horror, attempted suicide by black hole

It's time.

They take over and do whatever they have to do, say whatever they have to say to disentangle Rich from anyone that'd get in his way.

The seed was planted a long time ago and what started as a little sprout of life within him grows and blooms within him now, rolling under his flesh, taking over his eyes so that he sees the things that should not be seen. Reality's edges roll away and reveal everything to him, the sickness that is Chronoblivion clinging to the edge of the world and the half-finished worlds and realms beyond.

He can see the Cancerverse and the beings within, staring at him whole universes away. Deep inside himself, his soul thrashes and spasms, and he's lost in a cage of endless rotating fractal visions of the many possible nightmares to come.

And then They push up his sleeves, move his limbs, and and get to work.

Their mission is holy. They will fulfill the Legion's mission and save existence. Chronoblivion's own bloated form will become their new Galactus Engine, they will touch every universe with their gift and life will reign eternal.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.

Comments

PART 2: MISSION THREAD

[iamresponding]

He's been stealing from engineering.

They have been stealing from engineering. They used the chaos of the day before to take some important equipment from places all over the ship. Most of it was stolen from supply rooms, but some components were taken from Legion World itself, causing minor malfunctions in the labs and ship itself.

No one noticed his movements, and ship surveillance had been a conveniently hot mess the entire day due to the magic. Even now that the damage has been discovered the next day, it's being attributed to the magical mayhem that'd been going on.

After having a normal day - his last day as himself - he starts making the final preparations. It's late at what passes for "night" on Legion World. They have shifts covering every hour but with a limited crew of superheroes, they can't be on alert every hour of the day and there's still one twilight time of day when a skeleton crew of active Legionnaires is awake, with the others to be roused if there's an emergency.

He's spent a lot of time off ship in the last few months and weeks, but he always signed out the Legion Cruiser like he was supposed to, came up with excuses for why he was going out on his own.

This time, he breaks into a panel and messes with some of the equipment in the docking bay so that the ship's sensors won't detect it launching at first. Eventually the sabotage will be discovered, but by then it'll be too late.

No one's noticed his strange habits lately, after all.

[whyarewehere]

Well. Not no one.

A flicker of movement dogs Rich's steps as he makes his final preparations. The figure is light and quick, impossibly fast in its stops and starts just out of sight.

It's Grif.

Things have been weird lately, too weird. Rich lost his temper in a way that's completely beyond the pale for him. He's Rich, he doesn't go into tv stations and light desks on fire. He's been telling lies, and Rich never lies. Plus, most importantly of all, he's been avoiding Grif. It's personal.

When Rich slips aboard the cruiser, Grif is through before the hatch can seal. If he stays back and is very careful, he can stay hidden. He can do this. He's going to find out what the hell is going on here.

Whatever this is, it ends tonight.

[iamresponding]

He uses a T-gate and since there's no Kwai on board, he has to route readings to a Kwai remote navstation to ask for help with guidance. He uses a decoy identifier beacon and lies on the comm, disguising his voice slightly by making himself sound a little older and crustier, like some seasoned cargo captain.

"This is Captain Solo of the cargo freighter Millennium Falcon. I'm heading for the Revis system to deliver some mining equipment to mining colony Trellavio and don't have a Kwai navigator on board. Requesting remote T-gate nav assistance. Coordinates sent."

"Copy. Kwai guide Kevari here, and I'm locking in a navpath for you. Path transmitted. Safe journey, captain."

"Copy. Thanks for the assist."

A T-gate opens up and the ship flies through into a star system with a colony planet nearby, and a huge asteroid field. Tiny mining stations can be seen dotting the field.

Rich steers the cruiser into the field and eventually bears down on one of them - a derelict, long abandoned. Despite the fact that it looks like it hasn't been in operation in years, a landing bay door creaks open and he takes the ship in for a landing.

Grif is hidden just well enough that Rich doesn't see him as he drags a grav-lift filled with equipment out into the cargo bay and into the station beyond. One of the main rooms of the station, filled with abandoned mining equipment has something unusual in the center... a stolen decommissioned stargate, one of the models that used to be used back in the Legion's early days. The reason the threshold gates had been invented at all had been because of security exploits in the stargate system that could lead to unauthorized use, instability, and dimensional rifts.

This stargate has been heavily modified by strange cobbled-together tech, components stolen from Legion World. Rich gets to work, using mechanical skill he normally doesn't have to work on it, and while reaching up for some equipment high up he...

He changes. His body shudders and his flesh rolls and changes shape, turning a mottled purple. His arms unfurl into writhing tentacles that manipulate the equipment. Instead of glowing the white-blue they usually do when he's using his powers, his eyes glow purple and his face turns grotesque and zombie-like.

The equipment he's working with looks alien, but not as in "designed by aliens," it looks fell and twisted, like it doesn't even belong in the material universe.

[whyarewehere]

The station is full of places for Grif to hide, creeping through the shadows of abandoned mining equipment. It's every space horror movie he's ever seen in here, and that sure does nothing to help with how much he's starting to freak out. Grif doesn't know what he expected to find, but he does know it wasn't this.

A year of Legionnaireing has made him careful and alert in a way he never was before, and it's enough to get him to Rich's modified stargate.

...And to Rich.

Grif's eyes widen and he pulls himself back around the side of a massive drill, his back pressed flat against the dead machine. What the fuck, he mouths. What the fuck.

Alright, so. On the one hand, his best friend is now a space monster. That's bad. But on the other, he knew it! Grif can't suppress a little airpunch of... shit, this isn't really triumph, is it? Why can't he be right for good reasons, for once?

Grif has a job to do, now. He peeks back around the corner. The monster that was (is?) his friend is engrossed in its (his?) work, and it affords Grif the chance to dart from vantage to vantage, getting the best look he can at the span of the hideous project.

Duty done. Grif finds a particularly dark spot to lean back against a wall. Time to phone home.

[iamresponding]

The thing about putting that extra work in and getting in nice and close so the other Legionnaires know what they're getting into is that it means Grif had to get as close as he could to the gate.

He's out of the way now but while he's moving equipment around, Rich notices a bootprint in the dust, from a moment where Grif was standing still.

He recognizes it. The squids catalog a memory, a time that Grif complained how how ridiculous the Athramites were about weird touches to his costume, before Rich pointed out the special treads were likely for traction since he's a speedster.

Shuddering, the tentacles withdraw and roll away, the purple color leaves his skin, and the glow leaves his eyes. He looks normal again.

He takes out a remote from his utility belt and presses a button to lock down the airlock so he can't try to escape on the cruiser.

"Oh, Grif, of all times to stick your nose in. This was one time you should've been selfish." The squids dig deep, for an old memory. "But I guess it was inevitable. You've developed one hell of a compulsive ass-risking problem."

[whyarewehere]

Don't talk shit, Grif tells himself. Don't do the stupid thing. It's really hard not to, because talking shit is how Grif prefers to manage stress.

He's under a bit of that right now, while he frantically tries to figure out how he gave himself away. He knows he's not a master of stealth, but this was going so well!

Not well. Rich is a squid person. But other than that!

Grif's thoughts keep rattling like shot in a pail as he takes off for the airlock. If he can get through there, then mayb-

No.

Ah.

Fuck.

[iamresponding]

He hears the thump and his gaze darts towards the airlock. He can see a flash of orange through the different equipment and crates in here.

"I sealed the airlock and put on the security seal. Don't bother trying to steal the control at superspeed, it's got a passcode and a retinal lock." It takes time to scan someone's retinal pattern so the tech won't keep up with Grif's superspeed, if he tries to get a read from Rich's eyes. "Oh, and the rest of the station? Is sealed off. No air in most areas besides this room."

Rich walks around the equipment, taking his time. There's no need to rush this, the stargate is charging up, and he knows Grif probably already contacted the team, but even if they get here in time, it's unlikely they can stop it.

And now that they've revealed the Truth to him, he wants Grif to understand.

"There's no way out. It's just you and me." A pause. "Which is kind of fitting, if you think about it. It was just you and me when we faced the Surfer and Stardust, remember? You caught me when I fell. Now it's my turn."

He holds a hand to his chest.

"I know what this looks like, but it's not what you think."

[whyarewehere]

Grif picks himself up off the floor, shaking his head. Ow. Ow. Okay. He's locked in a tin can with Richard Squids-for-hands. Excellent.

Bringing up the Silver Surfer incident feels almost oily, way too familiar for the creature his friend has turned into. Because it's still his friend in there. He knows that, and maybe this would be easier to deal with if he weren't.

"Then what the fuck is it?!"

Grif can't make it sound cool, he's scared. He's stuck here. Speed will keep him clear for a while, but he'll get tired. He can be trapped. People have lain traps for him before.

He's never pretended to be an optimist. It's all down to how fast the other Legionnaires get here, and if it's not fast enough? He knows how this ends.

[iamresponding]

"I didn't die like I thought. Back in the Cancerverse. I survived - because no one can die there. And I spent years - timeless, immeasurable years - in its embrace, receiving its gift over and over again."

Dying over and over...

"Life, Grif. That's its gift. In the Cancerverse, life never ends. No matter how many times I died, I came back."

He peeks around a piece of equipment, looking for him.

"Even when I left, I carried some of that life with me. The Many-Angled ones put a tiny little piece of themselves inside me, a tiny little seed of the Cancerverse. The Time Trapper locked it and all the memories away - but the seal got damaged in that fight with Evil Superman, and now... now they've shown me the Truth."

Tears drip from the corners of his eyes, as his body floods with endorphins and fills him with joy.

"The Many-Angled Ones can win this fight. They're one of the only things powerful enough to defeat Chronoblivion. They just need help getting into this universe first, but once they do, it'll be over. No more missions, no more sacrifice... they'll be able to stop It and then use Its body to spread their gift to every universe out there - yours, mine, the universes of all our friends..."

He wheels around another piece of equipment, looking for him.

"I'm doing this for the team. For you. I'm trying to give you eternity, Grif."

[whyarewehere]

Grif's best friend is trying to kill him because of a bad combination of space Cthulhu and Evil Superman. He laughs. It just kind of spills out of him, a panic noise he can't stop.

"How about screw that?!"

It's not going to fly, and he knows it isn't. He takes off into the maze of derelict machinery, breaking line of sight. The closing in has to happen soon, the monologuing can't last forever.

And dodging through the striped shadows of the abandoned facility means he's busy. He doesn't have to see Rich's face moved to tears by alien monsters.

[iamresponding]

"I've gotta do this. I've gotta protect everyone, even when it's hard. It's my job."

He's said it before, to explain why he had to risk himself, why he had to make a sacrifice. That's what they're using as ammunition here, to let his personality loose a tiny bit but still control him.

Him wanting to protect everyone. His love for others.

Love is in his voice now.

"Don't make me fight you, Grif." He floats up in the air, trying to get a better view over the equipment. "I was hoping you'd...you'd be there. At my side."

He says it like it's something he's wanted without realizing he wanted it. Like it's something he's felt but didn't have the words for.

"If you help me, you won't have to be afraid anymore. You won't have to fight so hard all the time, or work through so many awful things. You can finally just...chill. All the time. Because death will just be a distant memory and in a world without death, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Except, y'know, for eternal suffering.

"And I'll make sure nobody ever treats you like you're disposable," he spits out the word angrily, "ever again."

He thinks he sees him hiding behind something and he floats along slowly, trying to get a better angle.

"The UNSC were monsters for thinking your life wasn't worth something. And if you help me, everyone will see that. Everyone will appreciate what you did for them. No more stupid jokes about how lazy you are, about how much of a slob you are. Finally, everyone will see what I see."

[whyarewehere]

Flying is definitely, definitely cheating, and so is getting so goddamn personal. Everything Rich says cuts straight to the bone in a way it has no right to. Not now, not here, not with fucking space squids.

This is what happens when you let people know things about you: Someone will use it to hurt you. Somehow. Always. And, apparently, doing that while wearing a friend like a suit is also on the table.

Rich can see him. Shit.

"Nope! Nuhuh! Not doing this!" he barks, breaking from one cover to search for the next. He has play this out as long as he can. The stargate may already be charging, but people are coming and they have to be able to do something. Keeping Rich and the things riding him busy is all Grif can do to hope.

[iamresponding]

Rich blasts at some of the equipment with Nova Force, causing it to fall in a way that will partly pen Grif in. He doesn't expect for it to keep him trapped, but it does leave only one easy path for Grif to run away, unless he thinks to vibrate through it what's blocking the other path.

Around each corner, just out of sight, he lays down traps, fields of gravimetric energy that will put Grif in traction.

"You can't keep running. You have to decide. Either you're with me or against me."

[whyarewehere]

"Fuck you! I can do this all day!"

It's a lie. They both know it's a lie, but defiance is Grif's trademark. He has limits, and he's already started panting.

"You're not Rich and I am never siding with you!"

It's easier to completely deny that Rich is in there. Just like it's easier to run for an opening than it is to vibrate through this junk.

[iamresponding]

Rich closes a fist and one of the gravimetric fields catches Grif, acting like a stasis field, pressing down on him with nearly impossible weight.

"You can do this all day, huh?"

Just a little bit of his usual humor is in his voice.

[whyarewehere]

Brainy warned him about the gravimetric fields, but Grif wasn't there to see that warning. There's just a surprised yelp as the trap closes, and he can barely even replace that lost breath under the sheer force of the field.

Screw flying, this is the real cheating here. The thought races, part of a giddy and delirious panic as all his limbs report that yeah, he is well and truly stuck. There's no getting out of this. Grif's head is pinned to the floor, the angles of his helmet propping it up just enough to watch as Rich and the things-that-are-not-Rich approach.

This is it. It's over. This is why you don't volunteer for shit, this is why you don't be a hero, this is why when adventure calls you need to tell adventure to get out of your yard and go fuck itself before you call the cops.

It's now that heroes think noble and brave things, like "I hope everyone makes this count" or "This is how I'd want to go", but Grif?

At least Sarge doesn't get to see this.

He's going to die pinned to a floor, killed by his best friend who has alien brain squids, getting petty satisfaction out of how sad it's going to make his goddamn former-CO. It's a weird, stupid end to a weird, stupid life.

Grif wishes he felt anywhere close to noble or brave.

[iamresponding]

"Why are you making me do this?" asks Rich as he floats over and lands near Grif.

His arms transform into purple tentacles again and slide around Grif's body, but there's no chance of Grif vibrating through them to escape -- Rich reinforces his grip with bands of Nova Force energy that Grif can't vibrate through.

One of the tentacles slides off Grif's helmet so the two of them can look eye to eye, and a tentacle settles around Grif's neck, gripping it tight, but not so tight he's choking yet -- hinting at what's about to come.

Despite the tentacles, Rich's eyes and face at least stay normal this time. His expression is plaintive.

"I can't let you get in my way. What I'm doing is too important. But it doesn't have to be this way. Stop being so goddamn stubborn. If you want, you don't even have to help me - you just have to stay out of my way. That's all I'm asking for. Don't be a hero. Would that be so hard?"

His voice is pleading, desperate, but filled with all of Rich's usual warmth.

"C'mon, Grif, what do you say?"

[whyarewehere]

Cool update: He's going to die upright and being strangled by alien tentacles instead. This cool update doesn't improve matters much.

While Rich's expression is plaintive, Grif's is hard, marshaling a lifetime of well-tended bitterness. The facade breaks around the eyes though. The fear is too open. There are tears in the corners. This is the best Grif can do.

"Sorry," he chokes. "But I can't let you down."

The Many-Angled-Ones overplayed their hand. Grif is afraid of pain, Grif is afraid of death, Grif is afraid of failing the multiverse, and Grif might even be afraid of how he'll be remembered, but disappointing Rich?

He knows what Rich thinks of him beyond anything the monsters can possibly twist, and Rich thinks his stubbornness is great.

[iamresponding]

Screaming.

Rich freezes in place and for a moment he can only look at Grif, like what Grif just said needs time to tunnel inside him until he can finally comprehend it - and it reaches what it's tunneling for. It reaches something deep, underneath the creatures crawling in his skin and through his brain.

He does love Grif's stubbornness, because it's not just stubbornness for the sake of stubborness anymore, it's stubbornness in the face of things that are wrong. Say what you will about him, but when something terrible's going on, Grif doesn't know when to quit.

If Rich is coming up against that stubbornness right now...what does that mean about him? What does that mean about what he's doing?

Screaming.

There are tears in Grif's eyes and Rich's eyes brim with tears to match. Somehow, his arm reforms out of that tentacled mass, the tentacles holding Grif shifting so they're coming out of Rich's shoulder instead. He reaches up his very normal human hand to cup Grif's face, and almost thoughtlessly his thumb brushes away the tear in the corner of Grif's eye.

Why aren't you screaming?

"Why aren't I... Why aren't I ...?" he breathes out.

Everything feels so good. He knows his place, he knows who he is, know's what he's doing is right. He's more confident than he's ever been in his life.

...which means something's wrong. He's struggled with a massive inferiority complex since he was a teenager, and now it's gone all of a sudden? Now everything feels perfect and he feels complete? It feels just like... just like ...

"The Phalanx," he breathes out, eyes going wide. "Just like..."

He looks at Grif dangling in the tentacles and for just a moment he sees Ko-rel there instead, bleeding, dying in his arms after he helped Gamora kill her. His very first Nova, dead, all because he couldn't fight off the Phalanx infection fast enough.

No. He's not letting it happen again. Not this time.

Not again.

Not to him.

Why aren't you screaming?

It's his own voice. The strange voice that sounds like something other is actually his voice, reaching through all the muck the same way it did once before.

Why aren't you screaming, Richie? he asks himself.

"I... am..." he grinds out between his teeth.

Attaboy.

He screams and tosses Grif aside, away from himself, before the things inside him have a chance to take control and hurt him. It's good that he did it because as soon as they start losing control, they try to take over again by force, try to shove his mind down deep where it can't reach the surface again. Tentacles sprout out from all over his body, and his face turns that sickly purple again, his eyes glowing purple. The tentacles accidentally knock off his helmet and he crouches there, gripping at his head like his hands are the only thing keeping it from exploding.

But he's not giving up without a fight this time.

"Oh no you don't, you monsters! You screwed up! I know you're in there now and I can see you for what you really are!" He starts ripping tentacles off himself, trying to get them out of his skin, weeping as years of painful memories pour back in without the rosy filter the squids had placed over them. "Did you really think you could make me forget everything you did to me?! Did you really think after stopping you from taking my universe that I'd just lay down and let you take this one? That'd I'd sit back and let you take the multiverse? Like hell."

He isn't going to make it easy for them.

"Grif's not the only one that's stubborn."

[whyarewehere]

Grif pulls his head back to try to avoid being touched, but it's not what he expected. He freezes. Something's happening.

"...Rich?"

Rich either can't hear him or can't listen, he's too busy snarling at what's going on in his own head, but he's alive and fighting in there. Grif shouts as he's thrown, but there's hope in it. He hits the deck with a thump that knocks the breath out of him, but then he's using a gantry to drag himself up onto his shaking legs.

"C'mon, Rich!" he yells. "Kick their asses!"

He's helping. Maybe. Hopefully. Fuck it, if there's even a chance it's useful, he's going to yell.

[relativityspeaking]

Rich's stalling - and Grif's stalling - pays off. It means Grif is alive by the time the cavalry arrives. The hangar door glows orange as time is reversed to a point before it was locked down, and it swishes open.

Kid Q is in through the door first.

"Whoa. Okay, fan out, we're going to need to keep him here, but not so close that whatever that is gets grabby for hostages. Nova, help Grif stay on his feet. Brainy, get that portal shut down before we have another life-changing field trip to a different galaxy, please."

[walkingballpit]

With a transport so loaded with people that care about Rich, Robbie is surprised that they don’t get cartoonishly stuck in the door as they rush out.

He’s not far behind Kid Quantum, and he doesn’t have to ask for an order. If Nova is getting Grif and Brainy is closing the portal – that’s funny, he thinks, he was talking about interdimensional portals yesterday – then both of them could use cover. Distraction duty is a go.

“Hey, Rich!” he called, deliberately using first names to avoid the Nova/Nova Prime confusion. Robbie made his way forward cautiously, no bouncing until he finds Rich. “If it’s the purple thing throwing you, nobody judges people off the beige-brown spectrum here! And purple doesn’t mean you’re a bad guy! Lots of Legionnaires wear purple!”

[sir_vancelot]

"On it!"

Vance goes high, flying up toward the ceiling. Part of it just getting eyes on what's happening and being able to direct people in to where Rich and Grif are at. The other part is because, when it comes to containment, he's probably one of the ones best suited to it. Telekinesis was useful that way.

"Robbie, he's to your left and forward about fifty or sixty yards. Sam, Grif's about twenty feet away from him."

Things may be awkward between himself and Robbie, but he's not giving it any thought. It doesn't matter right now. They all have the same goal here: make sure that Rich gets back in one piece.

[headinjuries]

"Got it!"

In a less desperate moment, Sam might've balked at the fact that he's clearly got the easy job here, but they've got way bigger things to worry about than his stupid teenage insecurities, and while it can't always be said that Sam's rational, he at least has the sense to clamp down on it.

The easy job, after all, is still pretty important.

It doesn't take him long to make it to Grif, grabbing one arm to pull over his shoulders and keep him upright. "You're not gonna like, puke or anything, are you?"

[unrecovered]

Grif not being dead is a goddamn miracle, and Wash isn't about to examine that too closely.

"Copy!"

He's moving as quickly as he can, moving closer to Rich and putting distance between himself and his teammates. He doesn't know if he'll need his power nuke, but the last thing he wants is for anyone but Rich to be caught in it.