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

Gohan had been elsewhere in the mindscape when he suddenly felt himself pulled away. Everything around him flashing into a mess of colors, before he suddenly found himself inside a very familiar spacepod. The pink glass, the bottom of the crater, there was no way Gohan didn't recognize this as Raditz's spaceship. But that recognition only lasted all of a few seconds, before he noticed the way the scenery was cracked, as if the ground and the sky were made of glass.

And then there was Esper, shooting lightning at them.

Gohan's eyes widened, and he reacted before he even got the chance to think about it. His aura flaring to life around him, shattering the pod into pieces, as he dodged the blast at high speeds. One second, he was in the pod. The next, he was at the edge of the crater, having carried the other three with him. A completely surprised expression on his face, as he looked down at his hands, opening and closing them.

He... moved. He moved at high speeds. He hadn't been able to do that ever since he got brought into the Legion's universe.

"What just...?"

The scenery before him sent shivers down his spine. The world was falling apart. Cracks haphazardly zigzagged across the ground and stretched beyond the horizon towards the heavens above. It was like watching a stained glass window shatter in slow motion. Seeing the world fall into disarray was almost enough to stop his heart. In an effort to suppress the fear growing within him, Touma took his focus away from the destruction surrounding him and gave his undivided attention towards the individual who caused this whole tragedy.

Esper, encased within a construct formed of stolen memories, approached the group with eyes filled with rage. Touma stood defensively in front of his allies with his right hand raised in anticipation of her attack. He knew for a fact her ability primarily involved the manipulation of memories. She could change and twist what was already there, but was incapable of outright erasing or fabricating them. Otherwise, this battle would have been over a long time ago. However, that still left her with the option of using their very own memories as weapons. The absolute worst case scenario was the possibility of her using their memories to summon events and people they've experienced to strike them down.

With a cry of fury, lightning arced from her palms towards everybody. It was immediately followed up with a deafening boom and his vision blurring. After a split-second of weightlessness, Touma realized that he was now standing at the edge of a crater along with everyone else.

“Huh? How did we...?”

Touma quickly found the answer to his confusion; a small child staring in bewilderment at his hands.

“I don't know who you are or how you did that, but thanks for saving us,” Considering how the kid looked, he probably didn't understand what he did either. “Don't push yourself though. If you need time to gather yourself, please do so. The rest of us can handle her.”

Well. This is fun.

One moment, he's in someone else's memory again- the next moment, it goes even more apocalyptic sci-fi with an enraged Esper-mech at the center and a lightning strike- the next, they've been pulled out of the way by a tiny but powerful child that he's about 90% certain is Gohan-

And now there's a moment to breathe, and a moment to think.

First priority is bringing down Esper's giant memory construct. It looks like it's built from others' memories, but if it's a manifestation of her powers, he should be able to shut it down. After that, they shut her down. She dragged them in here, linked them together, opened the door for people to traipse through the broken hellscape that is Wash's memories, and now she's dumb enough to bring the fight directly to them.

It's a mistake, and he will make for damn sure she regrets it.

He opens a private comm channel to North - "Get your shield ready. I'm going to knock out her powers." - nods to the child and to Touma - "Get ready." - and very calmly starts walking towards Esper, a determined, purposeful stride. "You know," he starts, because being a goddamn distraction always comes with a speech, and he needs enough time to get the rest of his team out of the range of his powers, "A very smart person once told me that memory is the key." Thanks, Delta. "After all the bullshit you've pulled, I'm pretty sure you don't actually know what that means." Not much longer. A little closer. His tone goes dark, edged in steel. "But I'd be more than happy to teach you."

Behind his visor, his eyes flash, and he puts everything he possibly can into his power nuke. Hopefully it'll be enough.

Nothing about this place has been standard. North guesses he shouldn't be surprised when he's bulled out of the way by a kid, of all things, or that the kid can even deposit all of them that quickly out of the blast range.

It's a good thing that plans going sideways aren't close to a new phenomenon, or this might be a problem.

"Gotcha covered," he drawls back to Wash, the quick clip and paradoxical relaxation of a teammate's voice over his comms and a job put in his hands, a reflex trained in bone-deep. He keeps his eyes on Esper, voice pitched low so he doesn't miss a beat in the opening volleys between her and Wash.

"So, how are you two on the offensive?" he asks, stepping back a few paces so he has a clear view of the field. If she takes a shot before Wash can work his magic, he needs to be on it as fast as he sees it, wherever it's headed, and he's ready with that trigger-finger itch to bubble the first target she picks.

They were startled. Confused. Good, because if they realized that Gohan reflexively tripped over the secret to telepathic contact, she was in trouble.

Therefore, the best thing to do is just to keep hammering them. Off-guard. Esper roars in fury, burying her own terror of the consequences of her actions, and moves to track them. She stops, recoiling slightly at Wash's speech, and blinks owlishly for a moment as the skin of her construct... ripples.

Unfortunately, with her real body tucked away somewhere, Wash's power simply... washed over her. His move to strip her down to normal means nothing to her when telepathy is normal. At least, in her mind.

She cocks her head for a second. Oh. Wait, was that supposed to do something? Did he... actually try to hurt her or something? "Saturn Girl would've sold that speech better."

That's about all the warning they get before she hunches her back and the fun begins. A swarm of missiles storms out of her back in a circus, twisting in the air before tracking the group. Flashes of watching college personnel dismantle yours/Ray's life's work and carry it away from the university, falling towards the sea with the realization that at least some of those chunks peppering you/him are your/Captain America's best friend, being surrounded and overwhelmed by zombies that were once your/Seras' friends. A flurry of horror and despair that would be filtered, but not stopped entirely by North's shield, even if the explosions were.

THE MIND SLAYER

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject