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

[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.

skipping Kid Q

[googledox]

"Unfortunately, Coluan neurochemistry loathes outside interference, so there are very few formulations of painkillers that are effective for my species." Brainy says to Tadashi. "Don't worry about it, it will pass. It's already subsiding from how severe it was."

He adds, "One thing that will remain a pain for all of us is the state of our comms system, by the by. Due to a malfunctioning Titanet array, on Madros, our comms are currently cut off from Legion World's network. We still have secure localized communication, and Kid Quantum has secure access to several long-range comm stations. It should be repaired soon enough. Apparently, something went amiss during scheduled upgrades."

[the_civilian]

Tadashi staggers under Reinhardt's pat, though he manages not to need his flight ring to keep from hitting the floor. He frowns when Brainy brings up the communications snafu, looking from him to Kid Q and back again.

"'Apparently'?" he repeats. That seems suspicious. He'd have thought that there's interference in our communication would be something that Brainy would hammer at until he had a solid explanation, not an 'apparently'.

[justicecrusader]

"We will make due without them," Reinhardt reassured, keeping his hand on Tadashi's back. The old man making sure to put up a confident smile, even if on the inside, he was torn. He couldn't ignore it anymore, not if even Tadashi was starting to pick up on something being wrong. But he also couldn't draw attention to it, not unless they wanted to make things harder on themselves.

This smelled of sabotage. The entire scene bringing to mind the original downfall of Overwatch, and leaving a bad taste in his mouth. They needed to get out of this office, to find out what was in the underlevels.

"Please, let us know when the comms are back up. I believe Tadashi and I should be getting ready."

[relativityspeaking]

"Don't worry, Tadashi, Brainy looked into it for signs of possible sabotage. It looks like some every day, ordinary incompetence during an upgrade. We're outside the edge of UP space and that particular Titanet tower is so far on the outskirts that it isn't used for much traffic. It's nearly falling apart and not staffed that well. The only reason they got more support for fixing it up was because of the treaty negiotations here and the possibility of Epryria joining the UP."

See? A perfectly reasonable explanation for it.

"We'll let you know when comms are back up. It's definitely bad timing, having to go through so much work to reach home."