WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD - Mod Plot [Mission Log Post]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Everyone!
What| Fighting all the threats that Galactus' presence has caused
Where| Mostly on and around Braal, except for Spectre team who will be on Earth
When| After Galactus' appearance and after Nova was put in Medbay
Warnings/Notes| N/A for now

There were a lot of fires for the Legion to put out all at once. While the Legionnaires native to the universe constructed the sun cannon near Braal's sun and prepared to fend off an attack from Galactus, the other teams had to get into place in the many places they were needed.

So far Galactus' siphons hadn't been sunk into the planet yet but it was only a matter of time.

Comments

PART 3: THE SPECTRE (DELTA TEAM)

[letsgolegion]

With the help of the sorcerers of Sorcerer's World, ancient texts describing where the Spectre was imprisoned had been translated, leading the searchers to Earth.

The location? Jerusalem. The hill of Golgotha, in particular. This part of Earth, once a place full of bloody conflict, was now peacefully co-inhabited by the descendants of peoples who had learned to share the region together.

Still, the ancient history of bloodshed that the area was known for perhaps made it an appropriate place for the Spectre to be contained. Under the hill where Jesus had supposedly been crucified was a hidden passage that could be opened up with the right words in Aramaic. Once the Legionnaires got the door open, they found themselves in an underground chamber, a temple -- a prison. It had been built in ancient times, but only after many eons of the Spectre being free on Earth had people gifted with magic finally managed to contain the spirit here.

The walls were carved with worn down reliefs showing horrifying images of the Spectre's incredible power. They didn't have time to look at them for long, however. Their presence triggered a set of traps and the floor opened up under them. A sucking vortex overpowered their powers and flight rings and split them up into groups of two, dragging them down into the dark.

Hal Jordan and Vance Astrovik

[letsgolegion]

Their flight rings didn't work in this place, though their powers worked and their transuits seemed to still be working so that they weren't stuck with stale air.

Hal and Vance had landed in a long tunnel full of mirrors on both sides. Despite this place being a dusty tomb, the mirrors were perfectly pristine, and their reflections radiated out infinitely into the distance on both sides.

[ringslinging]

There was nothing like a holy site to make a guy realize just how unobservant he'd gotten in his not terribly old but definitely no longer young age.

Which wasn't to say that Hal had been the best about it as a child either; the Jordan household had been a jumble of two faiths, with a mother who made an effort that didn't always quite pan out, and a father who couldn't really care less about going to church. He couldn't count on it while he was flying, he'd always said, and Hal had halfway agreed, when he first entered the Air Force.

These days, of course, he thought otherwise.

Hey, Dad, so it turns out there's definitely a God and I know because I spent a couple years smiting sinners in His name after I died. But He still wouldn't have pulled you out of that crash, so I guess you were right about that part.

He summoned some energy around his hand - not really forming it into anything, just keeping the room bright enough to see easily (albeit entirely tinted in green). The aesthetic was...well, exactly what he'd expect from the Spectre's new pad, honestly. Art history wasn't the purpose of the trip, though.

"So we should probably be looking for a -"

And then the floor went out under their feet and he let the light go out in a moment of surprise.

He landed awkwardly. He was good at that.

"- door," he finished lamely as he got to his feet and brought the light up again. "Who've we still got?"

[sir_vancelot]

It was a good thing that Vance had had lots of practice catching himself when things went out from under him. It had been one of the ways that Dwayne had liked to train, to make sure they were ready for anything.

Of course, the way that vortex hit and overwhelmed them, he was only JUST able to get his focus back in time to stop himself from hurting himself with the landing. He stood up, dusting himself off as he looked around. "Looks like it's just you and me," he said, turning around. "And about a million of our closest look-a-likes." Another moment and he added, "And this is why I always hated mirror rooms in theme parks."

In all honesty, there was a large part of Vance that had wanted to be in space, dealing with Silver Surfer. But the more he'd thought about it, the more he'd realized that this was something he was probably more suited to.

Maybe.

He hoped so, at least.

"It might be a mirror maze. Those things are always fun."

[ringslinging]

Hal did a slow turn in place, eyeing the reflections. "Oh, good. I never did figure out what my best angle is."

He was more concerned with whether there was anything weird or out of the ordinary amidst all of it, truthfully. There was probably something profound and symbolic about this entire set-up, but exactly what, he couldn't yet say.

[sir_vancelot]

"Good thing about capes is that I don't have to see myself from behind." Which wasn't a bad side, but...well, it worked well with his telekinesis. And it looked good.

He had to have his small vanities.

"Well. Let's check to see if it's solid all the way around. I can use my TK." He glanced over at Hal. "Mostly because I'm not at all sure I want to touch those mirrors, honestly."

[ringslinging]

"I'm not cruel enough to deny the world a glimpse of my rear."

It had hardly left his mouth before he was back to business, though, bringing the light up a little brighter and nodding. "It'd be an easy way to hide something. Go for it."

[sir_vancelot]

"They hadn't made The Incredibles when I was designing my first costume. After that, it sort of ended up a thing for me." Not that he probably would have listened to Edna Mode, anyway, but still.

Vance took a breath, steadying himself as he reached out with his mind, using his telekinesis to feel the mirrors around them, trying to find any openings.

[letsgolegion]

They were set into the walls as if they were part of the walls themselves instead of stuck onto them. There were no latches or doors or hidden passageways. The long tunnel might have led to something, though -- it was long enough that there was possibly a door at the far end, hard to see because of the distance and the dark.

But now that Vance reached out to touch them, the mirrors changed. The reflections of Hal and Vance still looked like them -- except now blood was dripping from their hands in their reflections, even though there was no blood on their hands in reality.

[ringslinging]

Hal didn't even blink.

"Charming."

And completely unsurprising, really. If there was ever a place in the world that would throw his sins back in his face, this would be it. He'd had to face all of it to join with the Spectre in the first place.

He turned to face down the hall, towards the door, ignoring their reflections. "We shouldn't waste time."

[sir_vancelot]

It took Vance an extra few seconds to get his head back on straight, hands clenched before he was able to let out a breath and loosen his fists. He shook his head, turning away from the mirrors and trying not to think about Stamford and his father and MVP and all the people he'd failed because he just wasn't...enough.

He cleared his throat as he followed Hal. "No, wasting time seems like a bad idea. I wish we had some idea of what we're going to face down here."

[letsgolegion]

People started to appear in the mirrors. People with hatred on their faces. People with expressions of accusation.

For Hal, there were the lost Lanterns. Boodika stood there in the mirror, missing her hand, raising her other hand to point at him accusingly.

On the other side of the mirrors, Vance's mother appeared, shaking her head in shame. Next to her was the district attorney that had prosecuted him for the killing of his father, Rachel Dreyfuss. She stood there with a grinning sneer on her face. She looked at him the way she had during the trial, as if he was the scum of the Earth.

The reflections started to follow them, walking and flying through the mirrors alongside them.

[ringslinging]

For just a moment, Hal paused, looking at the reflections.

There was no forgiveness for what he'd done to the lost Lanterns, regardless of what had been going on in the depths of his mind. That was a shame he'd carry with him to his grave (his next grave). People who'd trusted him, who'd believed in him, some of whom he'd recruited to the Green Lantern Corps in the first place, and he'd brutalized them and left them for dead -

- and yet they'd helped him protect Coast City from the Sinestro Corps. They had every reason to want nothing to do with him, and he hadn't gone out of his way to try and beg forgiveness; he'd just accepted the anger and tried to carry on with doing the right thing. And while he doubted they'd ever be drinking buddies, they seemed to have accepted that enough to stand with him in defense of his home.

"We already sorted this out - in person," he said flatly, turning away from the mirrors to continue down the hall. "You're going to have to do better than a reflection."

Dipper Pines and Gwen Stacy

[letsgolegion]

Their flight rings didn't work in this place, though their powers worked and their transuits seemed to still be working so that they weren't stuck with stale air.

Dipper and Gwen landed in a room that was closed off and covered with Aramaic on the walls. There were no doors. It was just an empty stone room with writing. That was all.

[captainbuzzkill]

"Ow. That was full of 'ow.'"

Dipper's cap had gone askew and he quickly adjusted it and looked around to see who'd fallen with him. The Aramaic on the walls was glowing with red light just enough for him to see that the only person here with him was Gwen. Looking up told him that the hole they'd fallen through was suddenly gone.

"Great. It looks like this place wants to split us up. That's never good. Never. Usually that means something wants to pick you off."

Divide and conquer.

[deafleppard]

Fall down through a hole? Eh, no problem. Gwen could just shoot a web line and take both herself and Dipper back out. Get back and find the others. But seriously, when was it ever that easy?

Never, that's how often.

"It'd be nice if that something actually showed up. We're kind of on a tight schedule here."

[letsgolegion]

Nothing showed to attack them, but the words on the wall suddenly changed from Aramaic to English, so they could understand them.

They glowed an even brighter red, reflecting it off their faces.

YOU HAVE BEEN WRONGED

It was a strange thing for them to say. If this was a trap, why were the words taking their side?

After that, something surged through the room, a force they couldn't see -- but it was something they'd start to feel.

Paranoia. Resentment. Feelings of persecution. That was how it started, with the feelings first.

[captainbuzzkill]

"That can't be good," Dipper said flatly. "Nope. Not good."

The back of his skull was itching and he started getting nervous, clutching a hand to his chest. He started to look around the room, expecting to see eyes staring out at him --

No, not eyes. Triangles. He expected to see shapes -- that shape. Watching him.

His heart started pounding in his ears.

"Do you -- do you feel funny? I feel weird."

[deafleppard]

"Oh please, you're already coming apart? Just like that?" She just sighed, wondering how exactly she stuck with him, of all people. Not like Gwen hadn't already been 'wronged' before.

You sort of get used to it, after a while.

"Yeah, we're gonna have a great time down here. Just my luck."

She looked around, trying to spot anything that could resemble a way out.

"Bet you're gonna say it's my fault, too? Well, you might wanna get in line."

[letsgolegion]

The mind-altering presence grew stronger, latching onto the resentment that was already there, whispering in their ears:

You have been wronged and it just keeps happening, doesn't it. Are you just going to take that? Aren't you sick of being treated this way?

[captainbuzzkill]

At Gwen's words, Dipper turned away, frowning, hands clenching into fists at his sides. The turning away was to hide his face, which twisted up into an ugly expression.

"Well, excuse me for being a little freaked out," he said. "You're a sort-of adult. I'm fourteen." A lie. "Barely." Closer to the truth.

The feelings got stronger.

"I'm allowed to be freaked out. Now that it's all over and the world didn't end, I don't have to make myself be okay anymore just to deal with all the creepy stuff. What's your problem, anyway?"

He turned around. "Why are you taking it perso --" The sentence broke off into a scream and he jumped back from the vision before him.

To his eyes, Bill Cipher floated there in the air, in the space where Gwen had once stood, and he started laughing that terrible laugh of his.

"It's about time you clued in, Pine Tree! Did you miss me?"

"NO!" The scream tore out from a place deep inside him that he didn't even realize existed, a place with a well of anger and fear that he'd stored up unconsciously. Fueled by that empty place, by the paranoia that surged through his entire body, he lashed out with his telekinesis at Bill. Hard.

Maybe if Mabel had stuck around instead of vorping back home he'd have been dealing with everything better, dealing with the last lingering anxieties and uncomfortable fears left over from Weirdmageddon. Maybe if she was at his side right now, he'd be less angry and terrified.

When she was around, it didn't matter if he had the weight of worlds on his shoulders, because she was always ready and willing to share the load -- and her own shoulders could've held up whole universes.

But she wasn't there. And he was still dealing with having been a scared kid facing the end of the world. And he had to be a scared kid facing the end of other worlds. And right now he had to be a scared kid facing his worst enemy and greatest fear all over again, when Bill was supposed to be gone.

"You're supposed to be gone! It was supposed to be over!"

As he lashed out, the Bill vision just laughed.

And for Gwen, in Dipper's place, someone else stood there...

[deafleppard]

Seriously, why did she have to be stuck babysitting the barely-a-teenager. Wasn't she supposed to be part of the Legion, and a hero? So what part of that meant that it was okay for her to be paired up with this guy, of all the options.

"My problem is how dramatic you're making all of this out to be, and I really don't need to be hearing all of that."

Why couldn't he just chill out and relax. So far all they had to deal with was a somewhat unsettling room. At least the walls weren't moving and threatening to crush them inside. Something like that would've been worth all the dramatics. But no, apparently an empty room was all it took.

"Oh my god, what are you going on about now."

She turned to look at Dipper, but instead saw someone unexpected altogether.

James Jonah Jameson.

"Great, just what I needed. The one person who actually succeeded in ruining my life."

"You may have fooled everyone else, Spider-Woman, but you haven't fooled me! I know what you're really like, and what you've done."

"Shut up." Gwen replied, her mask hiding how increasingly mad she was growing.

"It's all your fault! Your recklessness got an innocent man killed! Because of you..."

"I said shut up." Now she was walking closer to Jameson with clenched fist.

"Peter Parker died because of you!"

And that was the point where Gwen took a swing at him.

[captainbuzzkill]

Bill punched him in the face and he did it hard. Luckily, Dipper's teke was shielding him, but it still hurt and he hit the stone wall so hard behind him that the stone cracked.

"It'll never be over! The Pines family can flatten me through the floorboards of reality as many times as you want and I'll still find a way back in through the cracks! Ol' Fordsy opened a door to reality that'll never be shut -- and that portal on the planet made coming here easy enough! A universe this strange is the perfect place to make things weird! Especially since there's nothing trapping me in one place this time!"

"I won't let you! I won't let you mess with this reality like you tried to mess with mine!"

Dipper refused to let him try to start Weirdmageddon again, especially not in a universe as strange and amazing as the Legion's, with all its weird aliens and magic and space travel. Dipper missed home, but coming to this place was like Gravity Falls had been in the beginning, before Weirdmageddon, before the horror of the near-apocalypse. It was an adventure, and it was a universe where everything was wonderfully weird.

"This time, I'm not powerless, Bill," Dipper said, so angry that his eyes glowed blue with his telekinetic power. "I don't need any gadgets or spells or the journals. This time I can do something all on my own!"

Like punch Bill in the eyeball with a teke-reinforced punch, which was what Dipper tried to do.

[deafleppard]

Gwen was no stranger to head-trauma, and the hit she felt this time actually knocked her all the way back as well. Leave it to Jameson to always have something up his sleeve, to always turn the situation into one that benefited him. Fine, whatever, she'd take the hit, maybe start hallucinating Spider-Ham at any moment. It didn't matter. Gwen just wanted to shut his stupid mouth once and for all.

"A menace like you needs to be brought to justice! Parker may have been the first, but he won't be last if you're left out in the streets!"

Right, right. She had her wanted posters plastered throughout the city, and a media empire pushing for her arrest. Heck, she had even memorized the hotline number they could call for tips on the big bad Spider-Woman.

"Yeah, I'm a real threat alright. Girl who's living off of corndogs and can't even hold a damn job for a day before being snatched into some huge universe-endangering mess. That's your Spider-Woman."

Couldn't even save Peter, while she was at it.

"You know, I just remembered something."

She fired some webbing right at Jameson.

"I really can't stand your face."

[captainbuzzkill]

Bill suddenly transformed, similar to the way he'd changed into a giant monster when he'd chased Mabel and Dipper through the Fearamid, only now he looked more spider-like.

It was even more terrifying than he'd been back then.

"All the power in the world won't save you, Pine Tree! It's still doesn't even come close to comparing to my own!"

"Great Uncle Ford told me that being a hero means fighting back even when it seems impossible!"

"Then it's not the only thing Sixer will be wrong about it!"

From the center of Bill's mouth he shot webbing at Dipper's face. The surprise of it meant his protective teke aura dimmed and it managed to successfully stick to his face, making it hard to breathe and impossible for him to see, leaving him vulnerable.