2031/Cats Under the Stars

Cats Under the Stars
Date of Scene:	17 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5

---

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle wanders onto the bridge of the cruiser. Shadow isn't on his shoulder for a change. Shadow is in fact floating behind him -- apparently he's finally gotten 'round to installing flight ring technology into her collar. She follows him all the way out to where he stands a moment behind the captain's chair, then veers off to float casually in front of Livingston's aquarium, watching the lionfish casually, with more curiosity than hunger.
    Lyle looks up at the view of Earth through the dome in much the same way, then taps a few keys to slowly re-orient the cruiser so that most of the dome is taken up by black sky dotted by cold stars. He rubs his hands together, then jams them in the pockets of his brown jacket, gazing upwards.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Livingston is not at all interested in the cat. He just kind of floats there, looking grumpy. That's all he does, really.

This is when Brainy floats in, in a white labcoat -- "Who activated the retro-rockets, I haven't *tested* them yet--" He pauses, and then his expression goes only faintly irked, as opposed to full on angry scowl. "Oh."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle turns around. "Well, they work, don't they?" He chuckles at Brainy's expression. "You really do too many levels of testing. Or just enough to make you happy and more than I would." He glances up at the dome full of stars. "But they *do* work, and quite smoothly."
    Shadow paws delicately at the aquarium glass, looking more confused than anything else. Why doesn't Livingston come out and play?
    Lyle looks back up again; Saturn dominates the other stars, hanging high above, fat and yellow. "I didn't disrupt an experiment, I hope. I just wanted to look at the stars."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Actually he totally did. The lab is covered in foam. Brainy was experimenting with Foof. Why? Because Science, you ignoramus!

In the meantime, he is floating into the ready room to grab the cat, because that fish is deadly poisonous, which is why Brainy likes him so much, they have a lot in common. "You're looking wistful." He says, as he strokes Shadow behind the ear.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Shadow purrs musically, rocking her head back and forth against Brainy's hand. Pettings are a perfectly acceptable substitute for staring at the fish.
    "Am I?" Lyle asks without looking down. "Well, when you wist upon a star..." He breaks off snickering at his own pun, then takes a moment to master himself. "I don't know about wistful. Abstracted, maybe."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Abstracted, hm?" Brainy says, before he moves to stroking the cat's cheek with a fingertip. He smirks at her, contentedly. Of course he picked a cat that liked him, the sneak. No tormenting him with this cat, Invisible Kid.

"Why don't you take a moment and turn your abstract into a concrete? KOKO is cleaning the fire-suppressant foam out of the lab. So I SUPPOSE I have a moment to listen."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lab? Fire suppressant foam? Sounds like... well, any Tuesday, really. He has his fair share of scorch marks on the ceiling. "I suppose I should've said something before, except I thought you might over-react." He watches Shadow luxuriate in the attention, and tugs his jacket a little tighter around himself. "But I don't think it's anything major in the long run. It might be... inconvenient... in the short run." He turns to look back up at the stars. "I, uh, might have misestimated something about the decay rate of the miniaturization serum out of my system." He adds hastily, "But it won't affect my ability to turn invisible."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy tilts his head, and then says, "Lyle, of all the people to leave out details at, why do you insist on doing so with me?" He begins to scowl, and he lets the cat go. She migrates to wrap around the back of his neck like a mantle. Purrrpurrrrrpurrpurr. Flick tail. Blink, yawn, groom paw.

Brainy puts his hands on his hips, half-lidded stare, slowly swish tail (if he had one).

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle snickers at Shadow and makes a half-hearted attempt to change the subject. "Did you get that cat for me, or for you?"
    Nope, not gonna fly. "I suppose I half expected you to figure it out yourself and come to me asking either why I didn't tell you, or telling me I missed something. I, uh... the final breakdown of the serum is going to be a little more endothermic than I initially thought." Another hasty addition: "Not like I'm going to freeze solid, of course."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"So, you're going hypothermic." Brainy says, his eyebrows going up. "Lyle, this could kill you." His scowl darkens. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm sure we could--come up with something." Then he says, "This is the consequence of the reckless, untested science you do! A little more testing and you could have avoided this problem!"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Shadow noses at Brainy's ear, then kicks off his shoulder and returns to Lyle, where she gets further scritching.
    "Mmm, no, I don't think it was avoidable. It's just going to be a little more intense than I originally calculated," Lyle says, in an effort to be placating. "And there wasn't anything reckless about it. I know my biochemistry as well as I know the back of my own hand. And in any case, the priority was to ensure I didn't compromise my ability to turn invisible. If anything, this is a result of being *too* cautious. About my invisibility, anyway. I *couldn't* risk that."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy is not having it, apparently. "Invisible Kid, you UNLETTERED BUFFOON!" He throws his hands up. "You IGNORANT SAVAGE--"

He points, upward, and then makes a frustrated noise. "--ARGH! OOH!"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle actually smiles. "That's a good sign. If you're spluttering and namecalling, you see a solution already. Otherwise you'd already be hauling me to the lab for testing. What'd I miss?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"There's a sauna in the training area." Brainy says, exasperated. "I imagine that exposure to elevated temperatures would further assist with the final stages of the metabolization of the serum?"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Hasn't helped so far," Lyle says, hands still in jacket pockets. "I've had the temperature in my quarters turned up for the last couple days, and it hasn't helped." He reaches up and scritches Shadow under the chin. "Of course, I don't want to bake Shadow. In any case, the problem seems to be mainly that the cold comes from deep within. Hot showers haven't helped much, nor extra blankets on my bed."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy frowns, and then says, "Maybe physical activity would help in conjunction with that." He frowns, and taps his chin. "Excercise. Maybe a sustained run on a treadmill or a stationary bike--"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "All of which can also accelerate the chemical breakdown since it's also connected to my metabolism." Lyle shrugs. "But I can try that. I don't *think* it will get cold enough to threaten me, but it's possible it could push me into unconsciousness, even a coma. I expect a stretch in Medical in any case."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy's scowl deepens further. "That's unacceptable." He points. "You--I am--furious." He says. "How can you take risks with yourself like that!?" He's actually jabbing his finger into Lyle's chest. He's really *peeved*, and his eyes are green daggers burrowing into Lyle's.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "We had a problem that needed to be taken care of," Lyle says simply, ignoring the glare. "I couldn't have engineered a serum for anyone other than myself in the time we had available. And... my friend, you are a towering genius, but I don't think you could have either. The, ah, inconvenience is worth it for getting to slug Micro Lad."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Inconvenience!?" Brainy glowers. "Only you would call your life an inconvenience--" Now he's got Lyle by the front of the uniform. "You--YOU--"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle grins disamingly. "It worked, didn't it? And how many times have any of us gone on missions that we might not return from? It's our *job*."
    Shadow, meanwhile, hops from Lyle's shoulder to Querl's and noses at his ear, causing Lyle to chuckle. "In any case, my calculations don't show a significant chance of it getting cold enough to be life threatening. Possible, but not likely."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Nothing seems to help. Brainy is left sputtering -- and then he reaches up to delicately pick up the cat and give her to Lyle. He turns, spinning on his heel, before he walks off. "You are an *idiot*, Lyle Norg!" He brushes one eye, as he stalks away--

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle follows, catches up, even leads a bit, guiding Querl towards the mess with a hand upon the shoulder -- a noticeably cold hand. "I am not an idiot. You know that. You're just mad I've... taken a chance with myself. I *had* to. And you know why."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Lyle can practially see Brainy's expression harden into a scowling mask. It's a rapid onset transformation into Brainy Classic. Frigid, aloof Brainy. "Maybe *you* couldn't think of a better way to solve the problem," He says, as they wind up in the mess hall, "But *I* can see that I gave you enough rope, and you proceeded to hang yourself." He turns away, "Predictable, given your limited, human intelligence. I'm surprised your species didn't immolate its sum totality when it discovered how to start fires."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Bull," Lyle says succinctly. "What were we supposed to do? Send Wasp in alone? Wait for Salu to show up -- if *ever*?" He heads for the Mister Coffee, and gives it a seriously dirty look to cow it into submission. "And if I hadn't developed a miniaturization serum, how long before *you* made a shrinking ray or something like it, that had similar after-effects? I haven't done a full study, but as far as I can tell, the dissipation of almost any miniaturization effect has some endothermic effect."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"*I* would have tested for side effects," Querl says, his tone icier than Lyle could hope to be, "*I* am a scientist! Not a..." He snorts, "Whatever it is you are!" He's mad. He's really mad. Mad is a comforting, familiar emotion. Getting mad means you can ignore the fear. "Never mind, I've already thought of a way to keep you from injury while you metabolize the rest of the serum -- I'll prepare a thermogenic tank, to keep you from freezing to death while you metabolize the serum. And I suppose I can come up with some sort of Virtual Reality sim to keep your monkey-brain occupied for two weeks."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "*You* wouldn't have had any more time to test for side effects than *I* did," Lyle says sharply. "And you don't know your biochemistry as well as I know /mine/. If you'd made the serum for yourself -- or for anyone else -- whoever took it would've been *dead* by now. Frozen to death."
    He sips his coffee, with a pleasurable 'aaaahhhhhhh....' and fixes Querl with a look. No, he fixes Querl with A LOOK. "And you will *not* berate me for putting my life on the line for my... for *the* team."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
That makes Brainy glower, and then he says, "Because I would've approached it from a quantum particle level, not a biological one!" He glowers. "And you DO NOT tell me I have no right to be angry with you FOR GAMBLING WITH YOUR LIFE, YOU COLOSSAL *BOOB*!" He's in Lyle's face, now, and his eyes are as green and hard as emeralds.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "I didn't say not to be angry," Lyle says evenly, glaring back -- no pun intended -- coldly. "I said not to berate me. I did what I *had* to do, and you know that." He adds, acidly, "You put /no/ effort into stopping me. You assumed I was on the right track as much as I did."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"You're right. I did assume that. And I WAS WRONG." Brainy says. "And you put yourself in danger because *I* didn't check your work as well as I should have." His eyes narrow, and he turns to walk away. "I'll go get that tank ready," He says. "I would suggest that this time --" He throws up his hands, "You not get clever, and perhaps leave fixing this problem to me!"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle almost smiles, but doesn't quite. "If I'd left the last problem to you, Micro Lad might well stil be running around. We didn't have time for testing and testing and re-testing, and *you* *know* *that*. I took a calculated risk, and nobody, not even /you/, knew all the factors better than I did."
    He sips his coffee. Well, not sips, rather he takes a long draught from the mug. "Oh, that helps," he mutters under his breath, then continues more firmly, "So our major long term problem is solved. We now have a short term problem to deal with -- keeping my metabolism in one functioning unit while the rest of the serum degrades out. I'm not going to just /leave/ that all to you, but I can't think of a better collaborator than you. The thermogenic tank is a good start, but it's not a solution. Hmm...."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy turns, and raises his eyebrows, and says, "No. This isn't a collaboration. I'm aware Mon-El is upset with me about trading tutoring services for the Vibranium without going through him, but consider yourself benched, for medical reasons. This isn't a science experiment, Invisible Kid -- this is your health, and you've gambled with it enough." His scowl deepens, and he stops, putting his hands behind his back. It's damn near ominious.

Invisible Kid has posed:
"I am perfectly willing to accept being medically sidelined," Lyle says reasonably. "I know there's something wrong that needs a chance to clear out of my system, and that I can't operate at 100% in the field. And as for the tutoring, Lar and I talked. I think he's okay with it now. In fact, I..."
    He trails off and sets the coffee mug down, then holds his hands up and looks at them. They are shaking visibly. "Oh. Uh. Probably not right."
    And with that, he qwuietly collapses in a heap on the floor.

    Mister Coffee's panel goes (o.(o then o).o) and then he says, "I didn't do that."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
...Brainy turns, and then that angry, icy scowl evaporates like mist. "LYLE!"

A flat plane of zero point energy lifts Invisible Kid off the floor.

...When he awakens, he's lying on a bed in the med-bay. There is a gurgle of liquid, as a rapidly repurposed cryogenic tube is being filled with a chemical cocktail. There is breathing mask and a set of goggles suspended from the upper part of the tube, and Brainy is checking the chemical readouts on the liquid mix. He is working rapidly, checking information at a feverish pace.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "'m'okay," Lyle mumbles. "Jus' need to rest a minute." He hasn't opened his eyes yet, and you would think a trained superspy would be a better liar than that.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"This is my fault." Querl says. "All my fault." He frowns, as he focuses on his work, and blinks, furiously. "All right. It's ready." It may register at this point that Lyle has lost his uniform and is covered with a thermal blanket.

"I will fix this. I will... you're going to be all right."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "whass your fault?" Lyle asks dreamily, apparently not having completely registered what's happened since his collapse. He makes a half-hearted and completely pointless attempt to sit up -- to wit: he moves his arms a little, to no overall effect. "m'okay," he repeats, then drifts off for a moment.
    Then drifts back. "no'm'not," he admits. "f'rgot to carry a one? that'd be funny...."
    Drift out.
    Drift back. "you got this, querl," he mumbles. "i screwed up someth'n somewh'r? naw. unpredic'able err'r. but you got this. wish i c'd help. bet the readings are interestin'...."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
And when he drifts in again, Querl says, "I made it worse by arguing with you. I could have at least pretended to listen, then ignored you." He snorts, and then there is a shimmering zero-point hand lifting Lyle out of the bed and carrying him over to the tube. This is old-fashioned stuff--a band clapped around Lyle's right wrist to filter his blood and provide nutrients, a bio-monitor on his other wrist. Then Brainy eyes Invisible Kid, and frowns--And then he kisses him, with gusto, before he puts a breathing mask and goggles on his face. There is a *gush* of hot liquid, and then darkness.

...And when Lyle wakes up, he's on a chaise longue on a beach.

It's a deserted tropical island. There's a crate half-buried in the sand next to him.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle opens his eyes and looks around him. "Oh..." He settles into the chaise and gets comfortable, soaking up the sun, drowsing to the roll of the surf...
    ...which lasts all of about 1.75 minutes. He props himself up in the chaise, looking around. Notices the chest. "Please be a chemistry set. Please be a chemistry set. Please be a chemistry set," he repeats as he opens it... because his idea of a vacation is pure research, rather than applied research.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
...Books. It's full of books. And there's a note on top.

'Please stay relaxed. Any spikes in brain activity could cause an adverse reaction with the serum. I've built a few low-key exploration games into the island for you to work through. -Querl'

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Of course," Lyle says as it sinks in, "a VR while I'm recovering. Comatose? One or the other. Might not matter," he muses.
    He picks up the top book without even looking at it, and waves in in the general direction of the sky. "Thank you!"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
The book is a copy of Brainy's autobiography. It still has its working title. 'Everyone is stupid except me' - The Life and Times of the Smartest Member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.