BODY SNATCHERS [modplot]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Rico, Tadashi, Zenyatta, Reinhardt, Joshua, Vance, Locus
What| "Body Snatchers" plot
Where| The planetary senate complex of prospective UP world Epryria, and the capitol city Mejehn.
When| The same time as "After These Messages"
Warnings/Notes| Plot has some really angsty stuff, mind control, character death. Please see ooc post.

Epryria and the UP have had contact for quite some time now, but it took new of the threat of Chronoblivion to finally push the world into joining the United Planets for safety in numbers.

The UP government has had its eye on Epryria for some time now, thanks to its thriving scientific community. The planet's advances in bioengineering even surpass that of the Coluans' in some respects. It's a large part of why why most of the population is sporting different cybernetic implants. The Legionnaires have found that to be something of a hurdle in acting as diplomats for the mission. Half of Epryrian communication takes places nonverbally, due to the sharing of words and images through implants.

Since the team is largely there as extra security and only the most experienced Legionnaires are being expected to help the UP ambassadors with actual diplomacy, Brainiac 5 and Kid Quantum were the ones that had opted to temporarily have optical and cortical implants put in.

There's one day left before the actual signing of the treaty, which is to happen in front of a crowded hall of government officials and special guests.

Comments

MORNING

[letsgolegion]

When the Legionnaires wake up that day, they'll find several things seem a little...unusual. They all wake up in the middle of surreal dreams, and when they wake up, they have ringing head aches that slowly fade as the morning goes on. Even Zenyatta experiences a strange nanosecond skip in his perceptions, and the occasional sensory glitch.

But the most glaring thing of all is the duty rosters that have been drawn up. Initially Kid Q had demanded the Legion have control over security, due to past UPgov infiltrations, betrayals, and Science Police incompetence. Their original orders had called for the team to handle the brunt of the most high-security.

But Kid Q calls them in to her temporary office in pairs and groups to give them new orders this morning. Brainy's seated next to her desk, omnicom in hand, looking as if he's perhaps helping her with tech security.

Rico, Zen, Locus

[relativityspeaking]

She's smiling an awful lot this morning. It's not really that different from usual but there's possibly just the slightest bit of tension in her jaw.

Maybe it's just the new implant at her temple? She and Brainy had been complaining of head aches from them just yesterday. Brainy especially had been complaining about the particular way it projected images on their retinas.

"Morning, gentleman, I know I originally had the three of you on the Epryrian president's personal security detail, but after discussion with the Epryrian security forces, we're making some changes. Unfortunately, I'm not getting as much control over security as they originally promised."

...Control that they all saw her fight for several days ago in the president's office. Diplomatically, sure, but ferociously.

Gone. Just like that. Apparently.

Now she hands them duty rosters that amount to little more than crowd control.

[googledox]

Brainy largely ignores them, continuing to do work on his omnicom, his eyes only occasionally darting up to look at them.

[truefaceofthelaw]

At awful as Rico is at diplomacy, when it comes to security, it's a field of expertise. Rico's face remains impassive, but under the helm visor his gaze flickers from her smile to the duty roster handed to him. He recognises that kind of smile. He's seen it on his own face more times than he can count.

Strange.

And while he can recognize that things can and do change on the whims of diplomats and administrations, that doesn't mean he's happy about it. It was a good opportunity to stretch his tactical muscles, considering he rarely gets to consult on large operations like this, and he's been sitting lazy in his hab-deck too long. Which is why he's more than a little invested in what she's saying now. Crowd control is more than good enough for him, but it's a pretty drastic change from providing personal security detail on the Epryrian president.

"Listen," Rico demands as he prods her desk with his finger. "We can't just change the plans now. It takes longer than twenty four hours to properly secure a perimeter, and those bozos barely know what they're doing. You still need to position at least a couple more rooftop snipers in the places that I marked out for you. And weren't we still negotiating placing undercover officers in the crowd? The hell happened to that? What is this?"

[orbislife]

Diplomacy is closer to Zenyatta's skill set, but he fares better with one-on-one or small group diplomacy. This is larger scale than what Zenyatta can do with any confidence. Furthermore, if Kid Q lost control over the security detail, then he won't have have a chance to change the security force's mind. Another avenue will have to be considered. They have to make due with what they can.

Zenyatta looks at his duties quietly. Crowd control. It's nearly a complete reversal what he came in expecting. Perhaps he can still fulfill the original mission, protecting the president. His ability to sense harmony and discord may prove useful. He runs a quick diagnostics on his systems again. Something odd happened earlier... However, his scans return with nothing he doesn't already know from past scans. Could the abundance of cybernetic implants be causing some interference? A frequency that his body is accidentally catching?

Rico's voice brings Zenyatta's focus back outward. His posture tightens when Rico mentions positioning more rooftop snipers. The physical reaction is slight, but the reaction is there. A sniper killed Mondatta in front of a crowd during a public event such as this. They need to keep eyes out for something similar.

"This opens the potential for gaps in security. Were our previous preparations exposed in some way?"

[agnominal]

They all know something's not right here. For Locus's part? He's been on the other side of the gun too many times. He knows that this positioning is a purposeful waste of the Legionnaires. Someone is trying to keep them out of the way of doing their actual job.

There's the old instinct, which says that it doesn't matter. Follow orders, no matter how foolish. But he's since grown past that, serving in the Legion's ranks.

Instead of the roster, which the other two already see the issue with, Locus's masked gaze rests directly on Kid Q for any sign of a tell. Either a wink and a nod to go ahead and do what needs to be done, if this needs to be a more covert operation then they'd initially anticipated...

Or for a sign something isn't right with her. After past incidents within the Legion? It would hardly be a surprise at this point.

[relativityspeaking]

"They weren't exposed," she says to Zenyatta.

To Rico, she says, "And they'll still taking some of your recommendations under advisement. I'll be ensuring that their security forces follow them. What's changing is the snipers will be their snipers and the undercover agents will be their undercover agents. I've at least still got enough pull that I'll be controlling some of the conditions with our own political leaders, but we've hit a bureaucratic brick wall when it comes to the Epryrian diplomats."

She shakes her head.

"Gods know that compromise is the last thing we want to deal with after so many past altercations blowing up in our faces, but we can't force them to do what they don't want to do."

She smirks just slightly.

"...Of course they didn't say anything about us not being able to bring in more holo-disguised Legionnaires from Legion World to hide in the crowd undercover." And she's not about to tell them. " Timber Wolf, Dreamer, Umbra, and Gates are en route."

She goes on, "Just keep that little fact hush hush, since it won't be in the official plans I'm handing over, and play along.I'll get the new orders to you that factor in their involvement in a few hours, once they've been briefed. I just can't include it in the official plans."

See? She has a plan to work around the bureaucratic nightmare. They just have to play their part so the Epryrians think the Legion's following along and that they have all the Legionnaires accounted for.

Kid Q is definitely acting like herself, so there are no tells that something is wrong.

[googledox]

Brainy on the other hand, looks oddly...tense. He's very engrossed by what's on his omnicom.

He's not acting twitchy, but his expression is strangely blank, as if he's dealing with a situation where he doesn't know what the right social response is by shutting down, clamming up, an avoiding interaction entirely.

[truefaceofthelaw]

"Fine. Then let their diplomats eat all the lead they're begging for." Rico is still displeased, but he's mollified enough by the slight flattery that Kid Q will be personally ensuring his changes will be enacted - as they rightfully well should - that his expression flattens out somewhat.

"Letter of the law, not the spirit of the law?" Rico tilts his head just so slightly to the side, near impossible to tell if he disapproves or not. "Just don't let it blow up in your face. If the disguised Legionnaires get found out, they might ask what the hell they're doing there. And I don't think they'll take 'security' as an answer."

But taking the covert approach to insert their own forces into the crowd? As long as they get away with it, Rico doesn't see a problem with that. His eyes flick to Brainiac, but he might as well be furniture by how little attention Rico is paying him. A thought comes to him, and he mentions it offhandedly.

"Are we pulling a coup?"

Tadashi and Reinhardt

[relativityspeaking]

She's smiling an awful lot this morning. It's not really that different from usual but there's possibly just the slightest bit of tension in her jaw.

Maybe it's just the new implant at her temple? She and Brainy had been complaining of head aches from them just yesterday. Brainy especially had been complaining about the particular way it projected images on their retinas.

"Morning, gentleman, I know I originally had the two of you defending the maintenance underlevel, but after discussion with the Epryrian security forces, we're making some changes. Unfortunately, I'm not getting as much control over security as they originally promised."

...Control that they all saw her fight for several days ago in the president's office. Diplomatically, sure, but ferociously.

Gone. Just like that. Apparently.

Now she hands them duty rosters that amount to little more than crowd control.

"They said they don't want any non-Epryrian security forces in any of the underlevels."

[googledox]

Brainy largely ignores them, continuing to do work on his omnicom, his eyes only occasionally darting up to look at them.

[the_civilian]

"Well, you know I'm always happy to go where you think I'm most useful," Tadashi says, glancing between his new assignment and Kid Quantum. "How's your head? Feeling better?"

[justicecrusader]

Crowd control wasn't a problem for Reinhardt. The man was so massive, it was impossible for him to not be good at crowd control. He stood out like a tree indoors, and he had the kind of presence that people responded to. So if this was what Kid Q truly wanted from him, then he would be content with it.

But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. That something about this didn't add up, even if he couldn't figure out what. He trusted his gut instinct, even if he couldn't figure out the problem. His brow furrowing a bit, as he glanced up at Kid Q.

"If I may, is there a problem with the underlevels?"

[relativityspeaking]

"A lot better, thanks. I'm still getting the occasional head ache but it's less frequent. Brainy says that our brains are adjusting to the increased sensory input."

As for Reinhardt's question, she says, "It's not so much a problem with the underlevels as it is a problem with trust. It's been a tug of war over security measures around the Epryrian officials. We're going to have to come at it with a different approach. We're going to do as they ask with where we place the team that was deployed, but we're covering the gaps by bringing in more Legionnaires to go undercover with holodisguises without telling the Epryrians about it. Timber Wolf, Dreamer, Umbra and Gates are en route. We need all of you to comply with the demands of the Epryrians, to get them to compromise on some security issues - but we'll make sure to have some of our people where they need to be, even if those Legionnaires won't be you."

She smiles.

"If something goes wrong, Umbra and the others will break cover and act, and we'll ask forgiveness later. If nothing goes wrong, what the Epryrians don't know won't hurt them."

[googledox]

Over where he's sitting, Brainy's eyes widen slightly. Only slightly. It's barely perceptible.

The wince that comes after is very noticeable, however. He squeezes his eyes shut and presses a finger against his temple.

[the_civilian]

Oh, this must be what it's like on the team back home. The urge to say Hiro, no is almost overwhelming, but Tadashi bites it back. Kid Quantum presumably knows what she's doing here.

He shoots a concerned look at Brainy when the Coluan flinches, wishing he could have retained his healing powers from the incident with the Metatron's Chair.

"That seems like it could be diplomatically awkward," he says, "But I'm probably more effective at crowd control than I am at using my powers without hurting too many people. Have you taking painkillers yet?"

The last is addressed to Brainy. He really does look like his head hurts.

[justicecrusader]

It still didn't feel right. Reinhardt didn't know why, but it just didn't. Something about this just felt wrong, and it only further frustrated him the longer he went without figuring it out. But in the absence of evidence to support his instincts, Reinhardt simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Do not worry, my friend. We will be fine!" He said with a smile to Tadashi, patting his back. Although a pat from Reinhardt was definitely nothing to shrug off. "If anything happens, the Legion will have our backs."

He believed that, he truly did. But somehow, that sentence didn't sit well with him right now.

Vance and Joshua

[relativityspeaking]

She's smiling an awful lot this morning. It's not really that different from usual but there's possibly just the slightest bit of tension in her jaw.

Maybe it's just the new implant at her temple? She and Brainy had been complaining of head aches from them just yesterday. Brainy especially had been complaining about the particular way it projected images on their retinas.

"Morning, gentleman, I know I originally had the two of you defending theroof, but after discussion with the Epryrian security forces, we're making some changes. Unfortunately, I'm not getting as much control over security as they originally promised."

...Control that they all saw her fight for several days ago in the president's office. Diplomatically, sure, but ferociously.

Gone. Just like that. Apparently.

Now she hands them duty rosters that amount to little more than crowd control.

"They said they don't want any non-Epryrian security forces on the roof or underlevels."

[googledox]

Brainy largely ignores them, continuing to do work on his omnicom, his eyes only occasionally darting up to look at them.

[whereabout]

Joshua frowns as his eyes flick across the duty roster, considering.

He'd questioned his own placement on such an important mission, given his status as one of the newest members of the team, but it was his relevant experience that made him a natural choice, or so he'd been told. And a lot of effort had gone into refining and rewriting those plans - every change Rico had pushed for speaking from his experience as security, Joshua had considered and made suggestions based on his own lifetime of breaking and evading security. It was the entire point of having this group on board.

Or so he'd thought, but now that was apparently out the window. Odd.

Being suspicious was a skill he'd cultivated in his days as the Black Fang as much as sneaking and killing had been, and some habits died hard.

"Is there a reason they waited until this late in the game to put their proverbial foot down? If they didn't want us in crucial positions to begin with, they let us go to an awful lot of wasted effort."

[sir_vancelot]

"Possibly bureaucracy at work."

Not that Vance entirely believes it. It's a good reason and probably the one that they'll be given, but something's feeling off. He hadn't had a lot to say when it came to security changes, though he'd had more to say about where to deploy the various Legionaries. What powers would work best where and who might work best with the others, though that came down to Kid Q's choices in the end.

He looks over the roster, frowning slightly. "Not that that doesn't make it a massive pain in the keister."

[relativityspeaking]

"Got it in one," she says to Vance. "Apparently there's been increased activity from an anarchist terrorist group that's made the Epryrian president nervous. He wants to handpick some of the government's highest-ranking security agents and is afraid to have outsiders on his personal detail or at the building's most vulnerable points. We've decided to comply. What they won't know is that even though we're putting the Legionnaires that were deployed where they want, we'll be bringing in a few others undercover."

She smirks.

"Timber Wolf, Gates, Dreamer, and Umbra are en route. You'll get your new secret orders that factor in their involvement after they've been briefed. They'll be hiding around the building wearing holodisguises. If something goes down, they'll break cover and we'll ask forgiveness later. If everything goes smoothly, the Epryrians don't have to ever know they were there, do they."

She shrugs.

"It's not ideal but it should still allow us to do our jobs."

[googledox]

Brainy suddenly looks up from his omnicom at Kid Q and for a second it looks almost like perhaps he's saying something wordlessly. Maybe. But she doesn't respond or look at him and he goes right back to looking at his omnicom.

He does hold a finger to his temple, like he's still nursing a head ache.

[whereabout]

"It's like working with General Morgan all over again," he says dryly. The man had come around - eventually - but it had taken an uncomfortably long time for him to admit that there were some things better handled by the Bracer Guild than by the army. Organization had its time and place, but bureaucracy was one of the worst hurdles to being able to roll with the punches and get things done.

Having some extra Legionnaires on hand is an improvement, at least, even if the entire situation still reeks of someone high up making decisions they don't understand the consequences of.

"Do we have anything on the terrorists in question?" Joshua likes to do the background reading.

[sir_vancelot]

Vance sighs, rubbing his eyes. "Unfortunately, that sort of thing is way too common. Those in power always think they know better than the people with actual experience." He'd run into it fairly often as a New Warrior and as an Avenger. Though the Avengers at least tended to get more leeway.

He starts reading through the information that they have. "It's a good question. Anything, Kid Q?"