10174/The Panacea Project: Cruiser Lab Investigation

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The Panacea Project: Cruiser Lab Investigation
Date of Scene: 24 November 2019
Location: Ship's Operations - Legion Cruiser
Synopsis: Things get heated in the lab when Brainiac and Invisible Kid become suspicious of Mon-El's behavior.
Cast of Characters: Invisible Kid, Slipstream, Zero-G, Mon-El, Brainiac 5
Tinyplot: The Panacea Project


Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle is not a happy man.
    Laboratory specimens are /not/ supposed to pack up and leave on their own.  So the first order of business is reviewing the security camera footage, followed by analyzing the former containers to see if any traces are left thereon.
    Running concurrently is a deep search for all information available on the now-missing Astrix and his abandoned company.  And of course checking on readings from the party of ecologists planetside to make sure they're still medically stable, hopefully improving.
    He never did learn the art of delegating.

Slipstream has posed:
Heading into the room is Drake, who has a pair of heavy headphones over his neck and shoulders, blasting away some type of heavy metal band. As he taps the side of the ears to kill the song, he looks over curiously to Lyle. "You're still deep diving that, huh? That was pretty freaking weird, how they all just kinda became a living blob and peaced out. But! You saved their lives. So that's a bonus. You see anything on camera yet?" He asks as he flops down next to him to peer at the video.

Zero-G has posed:
    Alex isn't too far behind Drake, "Hey, guys," is his opening, before he casts concerned glances at all of them. "Is everyone alright? I heard that there was a mission yesterday? Sorry, I couldn't come. I got slammed with babysitting Katie, and finishing a bio project." He could go on, but it looks like importance business is afoot.

    To Lyle, "Need any help?"

Mon-El has posed:
    The surveillance and sensor array systems appear to have either been hacked or glitched out for about 15min. This occurred several minutes after the nanomachines appeared to escape into space. Before the glitch, the samples were there. After? Gone. So there has definitely been a malicious presence in the ship's systems, but to find out what exactly it has done would require some more digging.

    Examining the containers that had previously held them would reveal that they appear to have been cut, not shattered. In fact, the cuts are very clean and precise--perfectly round. The solution they were previously housed in is still there, but the nanites are gone.

    As for Astrix, searching Aeon's public networks for information about him would reveal that he and his company have abruptly disappeared, leaving their facilities behind. Apparently he also was known as some kind of young intellectual prodigy on his planet. The timing of his disappearance seems to fall at some point during the latter half of the Legion's journey back to Aeon after incident with the dragon.

    Azeilia and her colleagues are on the path to recovery, now that she has finally gotten some medical attention.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
The door to the lab slides open with a hiss, and Brainy is standing in the doorway, wreathed in shadows. "What." he says, walking inside, "Has been *going on*. In. My. *Lab*." The door hisses shut behind him, and he says, "I turn my back for ONE CYCLE--"

Mon-El has posed:
    Following shortly after Brainy, comes Lar. He puts a gentle hand on the Coluan's shoulder. "Calm down, Querl. It isn't just your lab. But don't worry, we will get to the bottom of this." he says evenly, before finally letting go and moving over to Lyle. "How is the search coming?"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "That is *exactly* what I'm trying to find out," Lyle says crankily.  "The sprocking security system failed, so I have no record of what actually happened.  Other than these," he adds, indicating the containment vessels and their geometrically precise exit holes.  He pushes back from his lab table.  "Which might mean ship's security has been compromised as well.  On the plus side, the team planetside is recovering, and so is the dragon, so there's that."
    The two new teammates and Lar get a (slightly) less cranky Lyle -- "No, no new leads.  And the old ones aren't very good, either.  Stellaris' brother and his team have disappeared, ship's sensors may have been compromised, and I hate missing data.  Lar, were you able to get any sort of trace on the nanite cloud as they left the planet?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "So much for the master of espionage and security," Brainy says, frostily, as he brushes past Lyle and walks inside. He calls up his holographic terminal, and says, "I'm running a microscopic trace scan over the entire lab, if someone left so much as a loose skin mite in here and they weren't supposed to be in here, I'll pick it up."
    His face is a stony mask, as he works.

Slipstream has posed:
Giving Alex a nudge to the shoulder, Drake looks rather amused at their antics. "Babysitting Katie, huh? Isn't she one that can destroy stuff by touching it? How is it she still has a babysitter after saving the world a few times?"

"Well, let us know if we can help out in any way. Seems like you two got it under control."

Zero-G has posed:
    "It wasn't me," Alex holds up his hands in mock surrender, as Brainiac 5 storms in, one of them then waving at Lar. In the other, he holds one of the housing cells for the nanomachines. He sets it down, already having examined it. "I would be willing to speak with Azeilia again," He offers, mostly to protect the poor woman from the Legion's collective fury.

    His eyes roll upwards, "Crazy, right? Kids make dumb decisions, though, regardless of their powers."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar shakes his head at Lyle's question. "No, I thought the ship they turned into left this star system." he replies. "I saw the security systems glitch, but nothing seemed to happen. And then the samples were just gone." he frowns slightly, but his face is otherwise mostly devoid of emotion. "What about the timing of Astrix's disappearance? He is the most likely culprit here--he must have wanted his inventions back." He turns to Alex at the suggestion. "Yes, why don't you get her on your comms?"

    Strangely, Brainiac's trace scans don't actually come up with anything at all. Which is both telling and mysterious at the same time. If Astrix, or anyone employed by him, had actually come in here to steal the samples, -surely- they would have at the very least left -some- kind of detectable trace...

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Not yet we don't," Lyle says to Drake, not rising to Brainy's bait any more than shooting him one dirty look.  "Go ahead and contact her, Alex, but I don't think we're going to be able to get anything more out of Stellaris right now. She's got her hands full just recovering."
    He regards Lar for a moment.  "Maybe, Lar, but then why completely abandon his facilities?  And why take everyone with him?  I don't see a reason for it," he says casually... and surreptitiously setting up a scan of Lar since he was the only one aboard the ship during the recent nanite escape.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    Brainy mutters, "Why don't you just let me take care of this, Invisible Kid, since I left you in charge of the lab and this happened... which is about what I should've expected." The sudden reversion to Brainy Classic is particularly icy.
    Of course, even as he's hectoring Lyle, at length, he's got one hand surreptitiously close to the lighting control panel for the lab.

Zero-G has posed:
    "Okay, on that," Alex lets the bickering continue, without weighing in on it. He'll handle being the face for the Doctor, since he was probably the nicest to her when the team confronted her. Once the comms is set up, it's just a matter of her answering.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Because he has committed a crime and wishes to escape recompense from us and possibly from the law of his own planet." Lar states in response to Lyle's question, as if this is obvious. "I'm sure the nanomachinery that escaped yesterday is on its way to join him, if it hasn't already." He -seems- to be very confident in this conclusion, although it is difficult to read his tone and expression, both of which are oddly flat. The scans don't seem to show anything out of the ordinary...if there -is- anything amiss, might require...a deeper level of digging.

    Azeilia does answer Alex's call, and seems happy to see him. The Legion has been helpful, although Alex is the one who seems most sympathetic toward her. "Zero-G." she looks better than before, though still not all the way there yet. "It's good to see you again. Have you or your team gotten to the bottom of all this business yet? If there's anything I can do to help, please do let me know."

Slipstream has posed:
Peeking over Alex's shoulder, Drake gives a wave to Azeilia. "Hey! Good seeing you again. You're looking hot again." He winks, making a 'call me' motion with his hand towards his head.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    It would be *really* handy to have Imra around right now, but Lyle's going to have to work with what he has available.  He definitely doesn't like Lar's unusual affect -- it doesn't sound like him.  "Maybe," is all he says, without conviction.  "I don't see a good reason to completely abandon ship like he did, but maybe there is one we haven't found yet."
    Meanwhile, he sets up his omnicom to generate one of the radio frequencies that he knows affect the nanites, to either freeze or preferably repel them.  He's calculated that first, Lar's Daxamite physiology will protect him, and second, if Lar is controlled, he'd certainly rather not be.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    Brainy sets his jaw, and quirks his mouth to the side. "Mmmm-hmmm." Then he says, "Excuse me for just one moment?" He potters around in the background behind the others. "Zero-G, did you know there is a planet *saturated* with what the people on this planet incorrectly call Pym Particles, even though they were discovered by my ancestor decades before Hank Pym was even born? The Imskians are the masters of microtechnology, and an Imskian micro-scanner can detect even the finest and most imperceptible particles. Unfortunately, Imsk hasn't *yet* been colonized, so that equipment doesn't exist."

    ...He unclips the probe off of his belt. "...Except for this one, which I built on the shuttle on my way back. From memory. Lights to red solar output, point-oh-four micrometres, and a class A-biological hostile containment field around Mon-El."

Zero-G has posed:
    "How's the recovery?" Alex starts politely, rolling his eyes at Drake's commentary and nudging him silent. "Keep it in your pants, dude. Whatever happened to No Nut November?"

    Back to business, "It's good that you say that, because we do need your help. We are following leads, but you have information that could help us along," Brainy gets a puzzled look, "That's really interesting, Brainy, but maybe you can tell me more about it ov-" Oh.

    Blue eyes widen. "Sorry, Dr. Stellaris, my teammates are attacking one another. I might have to put you on hold. We need any information you have on your brother."

Slipstream has posed:
"It's not really attacking each other, it's more like.. uh... asserting dominance via alien technology. It's like when dogs hump each other for the hell of it." Drake says as he gives a grin, nudging Alex back, then throws an arm about his shoulders. "I also failed that last night." He waggles his brows a bit playfully, then glances over his shoulder at the others. "But I did beat my current record."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "Congratulations on discovering your deep mutual attraction to one another." Brainy says, "Now come help me contain a potentially compromised teammate who *has the power to physically push a moon out of its orbit lest he tear apart the ship and kill us all*."

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia smiles at Drake as well when he greets her. "Oh, hello Drake!" She blushes a little at his comment. "Thanks, I've been feeling better, thanks to you." Her eyes widen when Alex says a fight is going down. "Oh my, I hope no one gets hurt!"

    Then it's back to business at the question about her brother. She sighs. "Well...I've told you everything I know about recent events. Hm. Astrix has always been a big dreamer. -Extremely- intelligent, but he's very young. Even younger than you, I think. He wants to change the galaxy for the better, but he's always had a knack for going charging into things without considering everything that needs considering. Or doesn't realize that something with great potential for good often has the same for evil if it fell into the wrong hands. I do have a feeling that this is one of those times. I don't know exactly what went wrong, but I'd guess that something happened that caused him to panic and abandon ship. Might be able to figure out what from some of the records that are probably still at his company's now empty headquarters." she mentions, looking pensive. "Huh, where do you think those things went after they took off?"

    When the lights turn red and the containment field goes up, Lar staggers back, and his demeanor seems to change very abruptly. The cool, neutral expression he'd had previously is suddenly replaced with confusion. "...what?? Brainy, Lyle what happened? What's going on?!"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle gives Brainy a nod and a thumb's-up.  "You tell us, Lar.  What's the last thing you remember?"  Nothing surreptitious about scanning now.  He's pulling everything he can think of to bear.

Zero-G has posed:
    A blush spreads over Alex's face, and his shoulders slump under Drake's arm in a sigh. "Noted, Slipstream." He will get to subduing Mon-El in a second. Hanging up on Azeilia would be very rude. "I mean, it looks like it's going alright," A glance back towards 'not fighting, containing' going on, before he double-takes. "Wait, come again? I have been alive for seventeen Earth years. You're telling me a kid's causing this much trouble," Nevermind the fact that she trusted a child to save a dying species. "Hold that thought."

    Slipping out of Drake's grasp and turning to the others, Alex frowns. "Great questions, Lar. I would also like to know. Compromised?" He glances at Lar. "The nanomachines?"

Slipstream has posed:
Giving a grin to Azeilia, Drake tips a wink at her, then pushes up from his chair as he looks to Brainy, then to Lar as his brows lift upwards. "Lar, everything is cool, right? What do you mean he's compromised? Like.. he got nano'd also?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    Brainy uses the scanner he built to scan up and down Mon-El's body. "We're figuring that out right now." He says. "Apparently these nasty little critters might be more pernicious than we thought. But, I guess there is a silver lining, it's not full on remote control body horror this time. You were rendered unconscious, not a passenger in your own hijacked body."
    "The standard Age of Majority in the United Planets is sixteen." Brainy says, "That's when you're old enough to vote, and old enough to serve."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "You might be surprised, Alex," Lyle says casually.  "I started invisibility serum by the time I was ten.  Took a year ot two to perfect.  And by Brainy's standards, that makes me a late bloomer."  Big grin.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "I was projecting my consciousness into secured computer systems on Earth, which is on the other side of the galaxy from Colu, when I was a toddler." Brainy says, conversationally. "I was bored, and also curious."

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia sighs. "Yes, you're right. It wasn't smart but--like I told you--I was desperate. We were going to run out of funding completely." she admits, her gaze downcast for a moment. But then she looks back up. "Look, if you want my honest opinion, I don't think Astrix ever had any sinister intentions, nor does he have them now. I...know this is a long shot, but if you find him, will you give him the benefit of the doubt first?" she begs. "These machines, either they are severely malfunctioning...or someone -else- has gained control of them. Someone who -does- have ill intentions."

    Speaking of which, the scans Lyle and Brainy are doing will show that two very bad things are happening in Lar's systems: One, the anti-lead serum that is keeping him alive is suddenly getting blocked by something; and two, any lead already in his system is getting the fast-lane transport to vital organs. Again, from what the team knows of these machines, this shouldn't have been possible with their prior programming, that is, the code that Brainy and Lyle may have previously examined. This...this is different. Far more advanced. Lar stares at Lyle and Brainy as he is questioned. "I..." he starts to answer Lyle's question, frowning. "...I don't know...I-I..." Suddenly he gets a dazed look on his face. He frowns. "...where am I?" A cough, and he slumps against the back of the containment field, the color draining from his face quickly.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "Why does everyone somehow instantly understand how everything I create works?" Brainy says. "I'm going to have to become a lot more cryptic. Now I know why Kryptonians encrypted their genetic sequences!" He says, before he murmurs, "All right, let's get Mon-El to the medbay and into a stasis field so that I can deal with this. I know how to flush these from the body now--"
    "And you can be that I'm going to flush whoever's responsible for this even harder."

Zero-G has posed:
    "Suddenly, saving the Earth as a preteen doesn't sound so impressive," Alex comments dryly. "I will keep that in mind, Dr. Stellaris. Understand that by vouching for him, you take some responsibility for his actions. I know he's your brother, but none of this looks good. For him, you, and the Icy Sky Dragons." Or Lar, for that matter. What the heck is going on?

Zero-G has posed:
Alex shoots Drake a look. "Quit flirting with the incompetent scientist," he adds in a hushed tone, so she won't hear him being mean.

Slipstream has posed:
"You jealous or something? I'll make sure to give you some attention later, pookie." Drake says dryly to Alex as he hip checks him, then follows after the others with his eyes concerned upon Lar. "Hey, he is going to be okay, right?" He asks Brainy, his humor dropping away. It's obvious when it comes to his best friend, that he's all business.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Oh, *grife*!"  Lyle starts looking for a jamming frequency, something to stop those little bastards from "reprogramming" Lar's biochemistry any further, before he can be cleaned out.  Also, right now looks like a good time to trigger 'clean room' mode for the lab -- every little bit helps.
    Alex gets a grin, maybe a little on the sympathetic side.  "That's about par for the course around here.  We're all overachievers."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    Brainy looks to the other two, and says, "Zero-G, Dynamite, we've got this. We'll take care of Mon-El. In the meantime... I can't tell you not to worry, but try to take your minds off of it -- go get some coffee for yourselves. Worse things have happened and we've dealt with them." Then he pauses. "*Actually*, I have another project for you, and Zero-G can help you with it -- document your experiences with Time Witch Glorith for me in as *exacting* detail as you can recall, because I need to know everything you know." Helpful! Distractions!

Mon-El has posed:
    Azeilia nods. "I know. But I really am that confident that he bears no ill will toward anyone, and certainly not you. Whoever is responsible for this, it's not him. Besides, he is brilliant, but not -that- brilliant." she remarks. She looks away for a moment, then back at the camera. "Please...you're going to find out who did this and bring them to justice, right? I just--I'm afraid Astrix may be executed for a crime he did not commit..."

    Jamming frequencies unfortunately don't do anything, and especially not through that containment field. Lar stares pleadingly at Drake as he approaches, before passing out completely.

Zero-G has posed:
"I promise you we will not let the wrong man be punished," Alex says quite seriously. "Thank you for your time, doctor. I have to go check on an injured teammate and write another book report," Sigh. "Keep in touch."

    He grins over at Drake, "Right. So coffee? Who the heck is Glorith? Is she another ex? With a title like 'Time Witch', I can't imagine she was good news. You have such poor tastes in partners, Drake, you're gonna keep getting burned."

Slipstream has posed:
"No, Glorith is a super villain who is obsessed with Lar and she kidnapped me, trapped me in a time prison, and then broke my body which is why when I use my powers, they kill me." Drake says as he smirks at him as they head off. "You're still acting jealous, AP." He drawls out to him, walking with his usual swagger.