legionworld | THE MIND SLAYER

THE MIND SLAYER

She's been setting this up for weeks now. It's almost too easy with how trusting these Legion fools can be. If they'd only taken her seriously, if they hadn't laughed at her then... Well, things would be different. Now they'd welcome her with open arms. After she killed a few of them, of course.

This has to be done up close. She'd taken a job as a waitress in the mess halls. The older Legion, the ones who'd been at her tryout, didn't even recognize her. They deserved this more than their replacements. She almost feels sorry for them. But, no, she had to move before Saturn Queen went to trial in a few days. Meta, Esper, she's Esper now, can't risk any more time. If it's to be done, it has to be done now. She'd rather be further away, but her mental range isn't as long as she'd like. Tucked away into a dark corner of Legion World, she stood across from her costume. Heroes wore costumes, and she couldn't call herself that while doing this, but she could still draw strength from it.

She watches it, imagining how she'll look in it, and shivers. Nerves, she tells herself, glancing at the trigger device in her hands. "I'm sorry," Esper whispers. "But I deserve this." With the press of a button, the nanofactories kick into high gear and, for over a dozen Legionnaires, the lights go out. Whatever they're doing, their physical bodies instantly collapse and slump over, as if they're in a coma. Anyone coming too close, entering her psychic range, joins them.

They awaken almost instantly, finding themselves in a hellish amalgam. Parts of their worlds slammed together to make some twisted patchwork reality. And, like Oz himself, Esper's head appears above them, smiling with forced confidence. "You deserve to know what's happening, Legionnaires. My name is Esper! And you're locked into your own mindscapes. I've seeded you with teletechnology designed to tear your minds apart! It will be painless, mostly, but the weakest among you will fall to your own memories as my machines convince your subconscious that you shouldn't be alive." She drifts back a little, examining the group. "And, linked like this, if one of you falls, all of you die. Don't resist and make it more painful for yourselves. Just surrender and make it painless and easy for your friends. And don't try anything stupid. I'll be watching."

With that, she slides out, making sure her mindfield keeps people away from this section of Legion World, and that those who are still awake haven't noticed the heroes dropping like flies.

But she'll be back. And her machines have already set to work.

[[If you wish to have your characters discuss matters, set up your comments in the mingle post! Otherwise, make new toplevels for every mental scenario you'll work with.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This part of the mindscape was barren, deserted. Littered with the remains of a once large city, a capital maybe, laid to waste by what looked like a great battle. Destroyed vehicles littered the streets, both civilian and military. The buildings nothing but huge skeletons, the lucky few still standing left with large chunks of them missing. The whole thing was sobering enough, but the utter silence didn't help anything. The only sound audible being the winds blowing sand throughout the empty streets, its eeriness accentuated by the purple night sky, and the multiple full moons casting light down on the city.

The whole scene screamed 'post-apocalypse', although the multiple moons made it obvious that this wasn't Earth. The only sign that could give any meaning to where this was being a highway sign left on the streets.

Welcome to New Gettysburg

Further down the street though, was a strange-looking artifact. Untouched, no battle damage on it, looking very much like a shiny grey pillar, hovering in place without any possible power source. There was a strange blue glow to it, as it it were multiple pieces brought together to form this pillar, held together by this strange blue energy. If touched however, the landscape would immediately change...

... showing what looked like Hell on Earth.

The landscape changed once again, showing what one could imagine Hell looking like. Red skies covered in dark clouds, pools of lava all over the battlefield, as an indecipherable amount of creatures seemed to approach the viewer's current position. They were vast in numbers, almost blotting out the sky and covering the horizon. However, they were too far away for any distinguishable features to be picked out, which only put into perspective just how many of them there were.

At the viewer's current position though, seemed to be a small military base. Various forces gathered together, attempting to fortify their positions, but still scrambling to establish a foot hold. There was enough of a base that resources were being gathered, and factories and barracks were being built as quickly as possible. And in the middle of the base, on an elevated plateau...

Was the floating pillar.

"You've brought me the Xel'naga artifact," A feminine voice said, its conniving words seemingly being transmitted directly to everyone's minds. "It was good of you to save me the trouble of finding it for myself."

Alarms blarred around the base then, the wave of creatures in the sky and ground now moving toward the base at alarming speeds. Its sheer numbers against the scrambling military force making it obvious this was not a winnable fight. "WARNING. LARGE ZERG FORCE INCOMING." Said a robotic voice over the speakers, an adjutant. However, where the artifact was supposed to be activated, to wipe out the initial assault...

There was nothing.

"Jim, the artifact's not responding!" Someone said over a speaker, seemingly coming from a table not very far away. Covered in relevant tactical equipment, as a marine with black armor and a skull visor listened intently. "We're not ready for that many zerg! You need to hold them off somehow while we figure out what's wrong with the artifact!"

"Dammit..." Jim cursed, pulling his visor back. A tense expression on his face, as the reality of the situation sunk in. He roughly grabbed his gauss rifle, moving to the front lines. One hand up to his helmet, as he pressed a button and began transmitting. "This is Raynor, I need battlecruisers on both choke points! Marines, get inside your bunkers and hold the line! Matt, whenever those factories are done, I need them to build me as many siege tanks as they can, as fast as they can! I don't care how many zerg we're dealing with, we're not leaving this planet until that artifact does its job!"

Finally, he approached one of the bunkers, and set himself up inside it. Leveling his rifle at the incoming first wave, as he steadied his breathing.

"My forces are without number, Jim." the feminine voice said again, inside everyone's minds. The first wave of zerg coming within range, as Raynor's forces finally began to fire, the desperation obvious to everyone present.

"This can only end one way."

Edited 2017-06-09 23:52 (UTC)

Now this was a familiar scenario. Unwinnable battles, unending swarms of the enemy pouring in from all sides. It's easy to lose yourself to the numb, the despair of it all, the idea that you are going to die never knowing if your mission was completed...or worse, knowing it was all for nothing.

Securing his fellow Legionnaire's position came first. Then discovering the devices and taking them out.

That armor doesn't allow for any sense of panic or emotion to pass through it, just a blank slate of black accented with sage green, as Locus steps up to the edge of the bunker, lowers his rifle, and fires. Aims. Fires again. Unerring those shots, taking out one after another after another, without missing.

As if he couldn't miss if he actually tried.

THE MIND SLAYER

Raynor

All In

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