2565/Too Many Brainiacs

Too Many Brainiacs
Date of Scene:	24 September 2017
Location:	Legion Cruiser: Ship's Mess
Synopsis:	Brin gets updated on the crisis du jour from an increasingly rattled Lyle.
Cast of Characters:	Timber Wolf, Invisible Kid
Tinyplot:	Mirror, Mirror

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Timber Wolf has posed:
        Ah, the cafeteria.  It may be the greatest place on the cruiser, aside from one's personal quarters.  There's a definite old school feel to the room's layout, essentially reproducing the theme of the 50s diner, but there are more important things than that.
        It's where the food is.
        Brin is there for the food, and this time around he's managed to get his grubby paws on about half a dozen chili cheese dogs.  Some of the stuff didn't quite make it all the way into his mouth, smeared around the lips with a bit more on a few fingertips until it's all licked or wiped clean… or more clean than before.
        The holo monitor shows a couple different things in a split screen setup.  On one: American football.  On another: something with wolves doing wolf things.
        "Sprock!"  That's Brin, cursing when a chunk of chili falls out of the back of the hot dog.  "Fine, then."  He leans over the tabletop, hoovering it up.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle staggers in.  Literally.  He doesn't look well.  Like he hasn't had anything resembling a proper night's sleep in a while.
        He makes a beeline for the Mister Coffee.  If he registers Brin's presence at all, he doesn't show it.  "Do NOT give me any attitude, machine," he growls with uncharacteristic menace.
        Mister Coffee promptly dispenses coffee.  Without attitude.
        Lyle promptly says, "Thank you."  Not without attitude.

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf also has a chili cheeseburger or two nearby, but it's the hot dogs that are getting the lion… wolf's share of his attention so far.
        That is, until Lyle shows up.  Brin stops what he's doing—the monitor is already muted—and it just so happens that the wolves on the screen also look 'toward' Lyle at the exact moment Brin does.
        "If you're tired, that will only help for a short time," Timber Wolf says of the coffee.  "Then you'll be right back to being tired again.  You look like you need a long rest."

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle spins around like he's been jabbed with a pin.  "Wha—?!"  Coffee spills.  Shadow, who had been perched on his shoulder, takes to the air, and only alights when Lyle stops moving.
        Then Lyle relaxes, and looks sheepish.  "Sorry, Brin.  It's been an awful day or two."  He wanders over and sits down; Shadow leans forward and snifs, but doesn't leave his shoulder.  "I don't know what iteration of the news you're current with…" he says wearily.

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf raises a brow at the startled reaction, leading to him scrutinizing Lyle much more closely.  "What's the problem?"  Eyes trail after both Lyle and that cat with him, another big bite of the messy meal taken.
        "Anything you need me to go deal with?" comes the subsequent offer.  It's a common one from him.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "I… don't know yet," Lyle says hollowly.  "Brainy's gone.  Shot by an evil Brainy from another universe.  We think transported back to the evil Brainy's home universe.  And by we, I mean me and Brainiac 7.  Who's come from the future.  And says he's our Brainy's son.  And mine, too.  Meanwhile, I just spoke to another Brainiac, who's on her way to help."  He drains off half his mug of coffee in one go.  "And if she's through Brainiac 7, that means she's my granddaughter."
        He smiles, sort of, and not a little unhingedly.  "I have had just a little stress lately," he says, with the kind of giggle that really belongs in a straitjacket.

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf is about halfway through another bite of food when he stops and squints, particularly at the giggle itself.
        "Grife."
        Shaking his head, he says—and it comes out a little muffled at first, what with him needing to finish chewing—"Lyle.  Slow it down a bit.  I'm going to need you to start over from the beginning, but let me get this straight.  Brainy shot Brainy, there's a female Brainy, and she's your… granddaughter?  Maybe?"
        Shaking his head, he begins to get up.  "I ought to go back down to Earth and fight more of the invading forces.  That takes less thinking and makes more sense."

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "I'm sorry, Brin," Lyle says, honestly.  "I'm still trying to sort it all out myself.  I don't know about her with any certainty.  The last time I saw her, she was just an unfinished and inactive androidal frame."  He sips his coffee.  "That probably doesn't sound any saner, does it?"
        He sighs, and reaches up to pet his kitten.  "I have met Brainiac 7.  He definitely looks like what you'd get if you averaged me and Brainy."
        He sits up a little straighter, still petting Shadow.  "There's an evil Brainiac 5 from a parallel universe who found his way here.  He appears to have blasted our Brainy into his home universe, most likely into the hands of an evil version of me that's probably torturing him both physically and psychologically."  As he speaks, he squeezes his eyes shut and shivers.  "What's really horrible is that that is the only realistic alternative to Querl being de—"
        Lyle chokes off.  That word simply will not come out of his mouth.  "To being… you know."

Timber Wolf has posed:
        "To being dead," Timber Wolf, aka Brin the Blunt, finishes for Invisible Kid, crossing his arms after ensuring they're clean of chili and sauce.
        Looking from cat to person, he offers his support the only way he knows how: "Just let me know who or what you need me to hurt and I'll be there.  And no, I doubt Brainy's actually dead."
        Whatever support he's giving, moral or otherwise, it's his usual 'alpha wolf' way of doing it.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle visibly flinches at the word and buries his face in his coffee mug for a moment.  "If he is," he says very quietly, "you probably won't need to."
        He looks up sharply.  An idea has dropped into his head, with an almost audible *thunk*.  "You can track us by scent."  It's not a question.  "Can you identify related people by scent?  I genuinely don't know if that's possible, or how you do it.  I mean, I understand the chemical changes in the olfactory system," he goes on, taking refuge in jargon, "but I don't know what it feels like to you.  So it might be a dumb question.  But can you?"

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf eyes the rest of his food.  It's not that his appetite is gone, but maybe letting it sit for a couple minutes would be fine right now.
        "And if he is, there will be someone to seek revenge on," he responds with a terse, short growl.  "Unless someone is an exact copy, all the way down to the smallest detail, everyone's scent is different somehow, even if it's just in what they wear.  If there's something to be found there, I can find it."
        Confidence is not something Brin is lacking in.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "It just seems to me," Lyle says, as though piecing it together as he speaks, "that I've just taken Brainiac 7's word that he's my son and Querl's, on the basis of a similarity of attitude and appearance.  And I was in… in a state of some distress at the time.  I think he is who he says he is, but I'd like some corollary evidence, without asking him for a genetic sample to test against myself."  He takes Shadow from his shoulder and places her about half a meter over the table.  She hangs there, floating indifferently, while he goes to refill his coffee, and on his return he reinstalls the cat to her place on his shoulder.  "I don't want you to go out of your way to track him down.  Just if you get the opportunity.  If that's something you think you could tell.  Might even be enough to just know for certain that he's half Terran and half Coluan."

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf waves it all away, and while Lyle goes for a second hit from Mr.  Coffee Brin takes it as a chance to wolf down the rest of that hot dog, eyeing the burger ever-hungrily.  Seems the fact Coney Island's been in a state of trouble since the invasion hasn't stopped him from finding a way to try what he'd wanted from the place
        "There are far too many Brainiacs out there.  Where did you encounter the one you want me to sniff out?  I'm guessing he hasn't been here," he answers, remaining all calm and collected in the face of Lyle's more erratic state of mind.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "He appeared in the lab just as the other-universe one—he calls himself Stargrave—gated down to the planet surface.  I'm not sure where he's at right now.  Mon-El has met him, knows everything we do, so it's not like he's lurking around the ship secretly."  Lyle shrugs.  "We can't do anything normally around here, can we?" he adds with a little flash of his usual sense of humor.

Timber Wolf has posed:
        "Good.  That will make things easier," Brin decides, though he shakes his head in a moment of self-awareness.  "You know I don't usually go seeking Brainy out for much.  We don't really share a lot in common."
        Now he's back in food mode, wasting no time in letting the burger cool off too much.  More of that chili and sauce dribbles out from the opposite end as he chows down.
        "What is normal with us, anyway?"

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "Grife, Brin," Lyle says with a genuine laugh, "if I knew that, I'd have a ready-made doctoral dissertation in psychology.  Or a one-way ticket to a padded room."
        He stretches in his seat, and Shadow hops down on the table top, wandering inquisitively towards Brin.  "I probably sound like that's where I should be right now anyway."

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf considers the cat, who he hasn't interacted with very much.  It's to Lyle he speaks.  "I'm not saying you might not need one," he points out, trying to keep things somewhat light.
        "Look, I'm sure there's an answer to all this and one that will lead to the Brainy we know being back here in one piece.  We just have to find it.  All you need to do is tell me what you need from me, what you want me to sniff out," the Zuunian explains, wiping up remnants of chili cheeseburger.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle shrugs.  "Just what I said.  You don't need to seek out Seven, just take advantage of an opportunity if one presents itself.  I really do think he's telling the truth, but I don't like operating on just faith.  A little data would go a long ways."
        He gets up a little unsteadily; Brin was, of course, perfectly correct about coffee being only a short-term fix.  "I should lie down."  He yawns hugely; Shadow apparently takes this as a signal to return to his shoulder, which she flies to.  Yup, the rumors must be true, Lyle's installed flight ring tech into her collar.  "Before I fall down."  He grins.  "Thanks for listening, Brin.  And if you hear a thud in the hall, just leave me sleep."

Timber Wolf has posed:
        Timber Wolf takes all of this in rather impassively, then he goes back to his meal and the sports and wolves on the monitor.  "I'll make sure it's not an attack on us, first.  Now, go.  Sleep.  You need it."  He's still got food to finish off, and maybe more beyond that if his appetite remains voracious.