2743/It's Only A That's No Moon

It's Only A That's No Moon
Date of Scene:	07 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid

---

Brainiac 5 has posed:
So you probably figured out that Brainy was a hologram before too long. And when you asked B7, he just shrugged, and went back to cleaning up the medbay.

And Brainy is in the lab, working through his screaming headache, doing a micro spot-weld on a pair of metal gauntlets, his head still bandaged. He stills the tremulus in his fingers by sheer willpower.

Finally, he says, "No. I will not go back and lie down."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "I didn't say anything," Lyle says, setting down a mug of hot tea on Brainy's lab table. He takes a sip from his own cup. "I couldn't sleep either."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"There's work to do." Brainy says. He pauses, and winces, his hand going to his head, which must actually be a tremendous, blinding shot of pain. Then he pauses, for just a moment. "Vision's fading in and out. Blast this migraine--" He closes eyes, and rests his hands on the bench. His bones are still healing from how Wraith worked him over. "If you and Wraith were trained the same way, I am very grateful that you restrain yourself."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle can feel himself going pale, and covers it by taking another pull from his mug. "I don't know about the same. Probably similar, though." Despite his best efforts, he shivers. "It's not a matter of restraint. I just don't have whatever's broken inside him broken inside me. Although..."
    More tea.
    "I think that's what I might've been if I hadn't left EarthGov Intel" he finally says. "If it had just been like looking at a distorted mirror, I might not have been so rattled. But it was like looking into my own alternate future."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"I don't necessarily believe in the soul as the religious understand it." Brainy says, before he closes his eyes. "Lyle, I have overdone it. Please catch me before my knees buckle." Then he puts his hands on the counter. "But something inside of Wraith -- inside all of them -- is *rotting*. I don't like using those kinds of euphemisms but I can't..."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Of course Lyle is there to catch Brainy, one-armed until he can set his tea down, then both. "C'mon. Get your arm around my shoulders... there." He starts slowly moving towards the door.
    "I'm no more inclined to reach for a metaphysical explanation than you are. But I think I know what you mean. I don't think it's rotting, though. It's... they're backwards. Their whole universe is. I don't know how much of it you saw, but it's more than just their being evil versions of us. They're what you get if you turn us around and make us everything we're not, ethically and morally."
    He stops, and laughs once. "Wow. Chalk it up to a dark sense of humor, but I just caught myself wondering what their universe's Fatal Five is li-- good grief." He stands there a moment, eyes wide in thought. "Okay, this might be a stretch, but... their universe's Time Trapper. If we could make contact... maybe we could get back home. I'd like to think he of all people would understand what he did."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Dead." Brainy says. "Wraith keeps their version of Validus pickled in formaldehyde. Apparently they were heroes." Then Querl closes his eyes. "I'm honestly almost too disturbed to go looking. Almost." He lets Lyle support him, and says, "If I recover I should be able to--gnnnh!" Another spike of pain. "Perhaps tomorrow. Lyle, please make sure there is zero ambient light in the room." Then he is gripping him, for support. "A universe of opposites. It sounds patently ridiculous. The result... anything but funny."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "I won't argue with that," Lyle says, guiding Brainy back to Medical. He sighs heavily. "Well, it was a thought. And anyway, I'm not sure we want to poke any more holes between that universe and this one. By all rights, I shouldn't have succeeded. I didn't escape with you, I was allowed to leave with you. And if they'd had any reason to think we could repair the damage Wraith did, that wouldn't have happened."
    He eases Brainy onto his bed, and goes about covering the miscellaneous lights on the instruments and setting the alarms to page him rather than go off in here. "Do you remember any of that?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"All of it." Brainy says. "I would much rather rest in our room." He complains, but when he's set back on the bed, he doesn't get up. "With you."

Then he says, quietly, "I think Wraith views you as some sort of insult. I don't precisely understand his motivations, but he's as impenetrable as you. Just... sick."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle half-smiles in the near-total darkness, and pulls a cot up alongside Brainy's bed. "We'll have to make do until you're more recovered," he says, patting Brainy's hand, and then going about covering the rest of the lights.
    "I think... I don't know. I'd rather he viewed me as a serious threat. He should. I am."
    Satisfied the room is dark enough for a migraine sufferer to tolerate, he carefully makes his way back over and stretches out on the cot. "I don't think he has my... whatever it is, my leaps of logic, wherever it is I pull my inspirations from. There's nothing creative in a plasma pistol, an energy rifle... or, if you'll forgive my saying, a pair of pliers."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy closes his eyes. "He has a sick sort of inventiveness." he says, his voice quiet. "You had to resort to more creative ways to torment me because cracking my ribs one by one was not on the table." He bites his bottom lip, as he lies back.

Then he reaches for Lyle's hand. "Lyle--" he pauses, as if unsure of how to say it or whether he even should. "...I love you."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle squeezes Querl's hand, starts to say something, and chokes off after about half a syllable. He sighs heavily... then laughs softly. "Now look what you've done to me. I can't even make a simple smartaleck remark, I'm going to have to just go with the unvarnished truth. I love you too."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy gives a little smirk, and then he's squeezing Lyle's hand. "Then at last, once and for all... I win." He looks incredibly satisfied, as he lies back. "I'll spare you the details of everything Wraith did. It would only upset you. But... Lyle?" He sighs, "You are more clever than he is. But he is far, far crueler."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Doesn't matter if all the lights are off, I can *hear* your smug look," Lyle comments, but with a chuckle. "And I know -- but I don't think cruelty can make up for the cleverness gap. Those rigged transuits weren't the only surprises I cooked up for him. I don't want to see him again, but if I have to, I'm ready."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy looks down, and then says, "I take it the young Coluan--" He says, "He looks a great deal like you. I could extrapolate a way to combine our genetic templates in my sleep. I had never planned on having children... I guess at some point in the future, I change my mind."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "I guess you did. Will. Ugh." Lyle winces. "I need more verb tenses. The ones we have aren't really appropriate. But yes, he's ours. Or will be. Or might be. Ugh. See what I mean about the verbs?"
    He rolls onto his side, closer to the bed, and lightly drapes an arm across Brainy's middle. "I'm not sure if he's from a probable future, or only a possible one."
    Lyle shakes his head. "And believe me, I know what you mean about never planning to be a parent..."