9498/Happy Fun Brainy

Happy Fun Brainy
Date of Scene:	09 October 2019
Location:	Midtown, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Drake runs into Lar and Lyle again after some time of being apart. He also meets Brainiac 5.
Cast of Characters:	Mon-El, Brainiac 5, Slipstream, Invisible Kid

---

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar is trudging through Manhattan with his hands shoved into his pockets, not in the best of moods at all. After that whole debacle on Theseus, he'd abruptly left the cruiser without telling any of his teammates where he was going. Well, it's not that they couldn't figure it out. Earth was probably one of the first places they'd look, anyway.

    Yeah, yeah, he should -probably- be there for his brother, but for some stupid reason he can't bear to look at him, much less talk to him. And for some stupid reason all he wanted to do was see Kara, which he did, but then that went just about as well as -last- time did, if not -worse-. Okay it -was- worse.

    It was Grail's fault, okay?!

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    Brainy is wearing black slacks and a turtleneck -- but he is not bothering to disguise his green skin or the glowing implants in his forehead.
    He *happens* to appear on Lar's path, sitting at an outdoor cafe, having a cup of coffee and reading a copy of the script for 'The City on the Edge of Forever'.
    "We don't have enough Legionnaires present for you to go haring off without telling anyone where you're going." He says, sipping his coffee. "Also, your brother is trying to con us. I'm not sure whether to shut him down, or go on stringing him along and making him think he's fooled me."

Slipstream has posed:
Explosion! The top of a roof rumbles with a shower of light as bricks and concrete go flying from up above. There is another flash of blue light as Drake comes out of a 'blink', falling towards the ground with a fancy looking gun pointed to the roof. "SNOWBALL!" He shouts out to the small floating robot that whizzes down after him. She gives a chiming 'DOOT!', then sends off a blast of ice in the form of a slide as he hits it and rockets in a curving angle towards the ground, as opposed to going 'splat'.

As he skids to his feet, Drake's ice gun rockets off a round, sending an icicle straight into the chest of a creature that looks to be about an eight foot lizard who had lept over the edge in pursuit. The creature lets out a loud 'gawk' as it hits the ground in a slump, followed by three more of his companions, armed with high-tech weaponry.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit... Tony! Cap! Hellloooo!? Any Avenger out there?!" Drake calls through the comlink as he backs up quickly, hissing in anger as he notices the device on his arm sparking. Damaged.

Mon-El has posed:
    Right...of course Brainiac just -happens- to be there to chastise him. Because that's the last thing Lar needs right now. Sigh. He groans and rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, blah blah I -know- we don't. But I figured you of all people would appreciate me wanting to spare you all the trouble of being around me when--" Then the bit about Del. "Wait, trying to con you? What did he say?"

    And then there's that explosion and giant lizards are chasing after Drake. Somewhat grateful for the distraction, he rushes to protect his friend, picking up a couple of those concrete street barriers from the side of the road and throwing them at the monsters.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "I believe he's attempting to get a sample of the stable lead allergy serum to take back to your mother." Brainy says. "Dealing with Lyle has taught me a thing or two about when someone is faking sincerity and contrition -- he couldn't quite conceal his interest or desire. Queen Rhea should have sent a better liar."
    Then he rises into the air, flying after Lar. "You can't simply fly away from your problems in order to punch invading sentients, Mon-El!" He grabs one of the aliens with his force-field, and flings it off the roof, where it lands on a parked taxi. "He'll live. I'm sure the vehicle is insured."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Well, he tried to talk me into just cutting him loose with a couple doses of serum," nothing at all says, then fades into view.  Lyle, predictably.  "I demurred, told him I wasn't authorized to make that decision and I wanted to make sure the good serum didn't interact with the bad one.  Which is true enough.  I--"
    Whatever 'I' was prelude to is lost in the ruckus.  He's immediately invisible again, and flying up to intervene as well.  He's not sure what he's going to do against armed eight foot lizards, but it should be interesting to find out.

Slipstream has posed:
"Snowball, get ready to -- " Drake pauses as he watches a pair of huge chunks of concrete fly out of no where to slam into a pair of the lizards, splattering them against the wall with the incredible strength of Lar. Look! They even bleed green too. The last pair of lizards swing their weapons over towards the approaching team, firing off red colored lasers at them which appear to bounce off corners and sizzle anything it touches.

"Lar!" Drake calls out with a grin on his face, then shoulder bumps Snowball before he blinks out in a quick burst of speed as he looks to flank the creatures and cause a distraction. "It's good to see you again! These things really suck! They came through some portal! Tried to rob a bank!" He speaks /very/ quickly.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Well of -course- he -wants- to be cured, -every- single Daxamite wants to not have to worry about dying any time they go anywhere other than home, especially given the state of things there. You've always been cynical, Brainy. But maybe he's just sick of being pushed around by everyone -else-. That's probably why he took that unfinished one to begin with." Lar certainly knows -he- was, before--well, before Krypton blew up and he was separated from them.

    When he sees those creatures go splat, he stares in horror at them. "No! I didn't mean to--" He flies over to them, hoping they're not dead and already beating himself up internally over it.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "You are second-guessing yourself at every turn, which isn't like you." Brainy says. He could come up with any number of comforting things to say, if he was anyone but who he is -- so instead he just says "Stop it."
    Then he says, "Ah, they arrived through a dimensional gate--" With a flick of his hand, he conjures up a holographic computer interface. "Give me just a moment, they must operate that device remotely, I'm going to re-open it and you can send them back through it. Then I'll create a temporary snow in the quantum foam that will prevent them from re-opening it. Then we can advise the proper authorities that they're liable to come back."
    He adjusts a holographic dial, and the gateway opens again. "Please send them back through the gateway, this will become infinately more annoying if more of them come out."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle would say that he's on it, but he's doing the stealthy thing right now.  Let's see... punching them is probably not going to work, but redirecting should be fun.
    Especially since they won't see it coming, and if you calculate the angles right, it takes almost no effort to, say, grab one by the tail or leg or something and use yourself as a pivot point to send it hurtling back towards the portal.
    *Almost* no effort -- it might elicit an "oof".  'Highly trained' is no substitute for 'genuine super strength'.

Slipstream has posed:
"Don't worry about them, Lar! I'm sure they don't have families to go back to or eggs to sit on." Drake calls out as he speeds past another lizard in a quick round of blue blinks, tripping it up so that the Invisible Kid can shove him through a portal by a whip of the tail.

"Sides, they killed two bank tellers! These guys suck." There's a ramping of noise from the young hero as he 'charges' up his ultimate. There's a quick three burst blur of speed, followed by a punch into the ground as he appears between three of them, causing a shockwave that tumbles the green alien like lizards to the ground, smashing their weapons in the process.

Mon-El has posed:
    Thanks, Drake. That -totally- made him feel so much better. Lar facepalms, finding that yep, they're definitely dead. Why does this always happen to him? He idly wonders if Kara or Kal ever felt like this. "There's a difference between 'sucking' and killing being the only way to stop them from harming others." he retorts, sighing as he watches the others. They've got it well in hand, haven't they?

    He outright ignores Brainiac's 'advice'.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "If you'd like to be brought up on Tribunal you may escort yourself to the brig, the cell next to your brother is free." Brainy says, as his force-field manifests the shape of a giant hand, and *flicks* one of the lizardlike aliens through the portal. "Position yourself *over there*," Brainy says, "And use your super-breath to blow them *that way toward the portal* and I will take care of the rest. Lyle, unknown human, *get out of the way*, I don't want to have to do an emergency cryogenic thaw on either of you on the ship."
    He adjusts another holographic dial, and the portal expands in size. "What crude technology, a child could hack this."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Okay, if Brainy is calling a shot, Lyle is *definitely* getting out of the way.  He flicks back into visibility and tells Drake "Follow me!" as he zooms by.
    Destination: Somewhere behind Brainy.  Just in case.

Slipstream has posed:
As he zips about in and out of the creatures to trip them up, push them to the side, or steal a weapon, Drake doesn't appear too sad for these green skinned lizard alien things. As they are lobbed back through the portal and into their own realm of dimension, he gives a pause as he comes out of a line of blue light, breathing heavily.

The device on his wrist is beeping at him in a code orange, alerting him that he needs to chill for a bit or else he'll find himself missing a body part, or his lungs. "Ugh." He huffs out as he watches the team in combat. Truth be told, the green things are easy pickings and not well coordinated. They don't seem to even speak as they move robotically about.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Um, excuse me but /I'm/--" Lar starts to protest against the Coluan, but then shakes his head. "Ugh, fine." He moves to wherever Querl was pointing and starts to blow them all toward the portal until they've been banished back to where they came from.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "Are you aware that you're on the verge of molecular discorporation?" Brainy asks Drake. "I can see that you've got some sort of... crude stabilization device on your arm, and that it's malfunctioning."

"Probably the best the second-rate intellects of this era could do." Brainy says, without paying it any mind.
    He nods, once, and then says, "...Good." Then he closes the portal with a snap-crackle, and does... something. Whoever opened that gate, if they try to do it again, gets a static effect like an old CRT TV that isn't getting a signal.
    "...Hm. I don't think those were autonomous sentient beings at all. Well, I'll think about that more later."
    He looks over to Lar, and crosses his arms. "You know this human. Do I have permission to treat him on the cruiser, Mon-El?"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle spirals down to check out one of the corpses -- first, to make sure whether it's dead or not, second to get a little info about them, get a quick look at their tech, see if there's anything that might lead back to their boss.
    He's kind of hoping it's still alive, actually.  Lar doesn't need any more stress.

Slipstream has posed:
"It's not malfunctioning. The colors tell me how far along I am to said de-molecular stabilization. It's also the only thing keeping me in this reality instead of being torn apart." Drake huffs out a heavy breath as he watches the rest of the aliens get swept up into the portal back home. They're probably 31st century Foot soldiers for anyone knows. "I'm good." He tries to sound assuring.

"So, Lar, these your homies you were telling me about? I've met Lyle before." He says cheekily. "Hey bro, nice to see you again. I'm guessing this guy is Brain Boy?" He's great with code names.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
In the background, Brainy gets this *look*. His mouth flattens into a line and a muscle jumps under his eye.

"Well if I don't get you to the med-bay soon we're going to have to call you 'Arm Fall Off Boy' and that name is *taken*."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar finds himself rolling his eyes at Brainiac again. That guy has the tactfulness of a Bizarro, if that even makes sense. "If there's something that needs treating, then sure." he mutters, sitting down tiredly on a sidewalk bench.

    He looks to Drake at the question. "I--guess they're home-y?" A shrug. And then Brainiac says -that-. "Ugh...yeah. Sorry, he's like that with -everyone- trust me. Anyway. This is Brainiac. Drake, Brainiac. Brainiac, Drake."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle meanwhile is at work trying to figure out what these things were.  He doesn't recognize the species, the markings on the weapons aren't any language he's seen, and the controls are of no use to anyone with hands.
    He takes a few closeups and sends them to Brainy.  Maybe they'll jog something in his memory.
    And then he rejoins his teammates, and Drake.  "Long time no see -- I think the last time I saw you was that mess with...."
    He glances at Lar, who probably doesn't need to think about /that/ whole thing either.
    "...that whole mess," he finishes awkwardly.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "Brainiac FIVE." Brainy says. "As I said, he will discorporate on a molecular level and dissolve into a pile of amino acids and what I can only call 'pink slush'--" he pauses, "Amend that, he will dissolve into a pile of amino acids and *disguting pink slush* within a few hours without immediate intervention."
    He gives Lar the side-eye. And then he says, "As for you -- I think you and Lyle should have a conversation about what's bothering you, because it's interfering with your ability to lead effectively." Then he casually opens a gateway to the Science Lab on the ship, the spacecraft interior shimmering on the other side.

Slipstream has posed:
"I'm /fine/. It's orange. Not red, and definitely not black...well.. it's yellow now. Lar knows all about my powers and how they work. The harder I push myself, the worse it gets. The device that keeps me grounded in this timeline alerts me and then I ease off the gas and it goes back to green. Therefore, I do not die." Drake says as he flops down next to Lar, giving him a shoulder bump.

"Yeeeeah.. the /mess/. Oh well. Hey! Speaking of ... well.. I mean.. you guys see Laurel lately? I really miss her." AKA, still hopelessly in love with his wife of an alternate timeline that may or may not happen.

"Nice to meet you Brainiac5. You /really/ need to get a new code name. Maybe Two-Hundred-IQ, or Trivia King, or .. something that doesn't sound like a boardgame."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"*Two Hundred*-" The sheer *offense* of that statement radiates off Brainy in waves. He *sputters*. "Two hund--"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle mutters something about 'orders of magnitude' and takes a step away from Brainy... and conveniently also away from Drake, although he does make a 'cut!' gesture and hopes Drake notices before any further awkwardness ensues.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Yeah. Brainiac, Brainiac Five, Querl Dox, whatever." Lar says dismissively. "Everyone knows we wouldn't talk about the -other- Brainiacs like that so it's obvious anyway. He's the one who built that ship that I took you joyriding across the Sol system in back when you were recovering from--" A glance at Lyle. "yeah, that whole mess."

    Oh, grife. Laurel. Lar says deeply again, rubbing his face. "No, she took off with my parents a while ago, and hasn't been back. But the last time I saw them, she wasn't with them. So." he shrugs.

    Now, normally he would've laughed at Drake's quip toward Querl, but not today. "I already talked to Lyle." he says with another sigh. "Look it's not as simple as you think, okay?" he snaps. "You wouldn't understand." At least that's what he thinks.

Slipstream has posed:
Brows raising, Drake looks at Lyle, then gives a glance over towards Querl. "There was four other Brainiacs?" He squints his eyes in disbelief. Four other idiots who picked that name? He looks baffled. "I'll go with Querl."

In regards to Laurel, his face falls a bit and he rubs his neck. "Oh. I see. Well.. if you hear from her ... tell her I miss her and I said Hi."

He gives Lar a serious look though. "You're having trouble leading? This isn't .. Kara stuff is it?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "HIS IQ is 200." Brainy says, with an irritated gesture to Lyle. "Mine is *beyond the scope of that measurement of intelligence and aptitude*. Your device is yellow because it is, based on my observations, malfunctioning? Ergo amino acids and pink slush? Let's discuss this further *in my lab* where I can run a comprehensive scan of you and correct whatever it is that's killing you."
    "Yes, I, who was greeted by my mother with a resounding 'meh' on the day of my birth and whose legacy is a family of *city bottling megalomaniacs* would *never understand* your *having a complicated relationship with your family*."
    He begins physically herding people toward the ship, not that he could move Lar if he didn't feel like being moved. "You can have an ice cream sandwich out of my freezer and feel sad *on the ship*."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "Two hundred thirty eight," Lyle corrects under his breath.  He can be just as pedantic as the next guy -- assuming the next guy is a certain green genius.
    Without waiting for Brainy to add three significant digits to the left of the decimal, he steps forward to help Drake move along -- preferably before Drake tries to see if he can wedge his other foot into his mouth.  "C'mon, we'll get your vitals back to normal.  Or if not, at least pink slush will be easier to keep together in the lab than it would be down here."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar starts to get kind of irritated with Drake. "Look, stop provoking him and just let him fix you, okay? It won't do anyone any good." he grumbles. Oh and then he has to mention Kara, too. Sigh. "I--no..." Well that's a lie. "...I mean--it's complicated."

    He glares at Querl. "Yes, yes welcome to the terrible family club, where everyone -completely- understands everyone else simply because they've -all- had complicated family relationships. Because it's -totally- THAT simple." he groans. "Doesn't matter that everyone thinks and feels differently and has had different experiences."

    He steps through the portal, giving Brainiac a pointed look. "Two ice cream sandwiches."

Slipstream has posed:
"I'm not provoking him, and I'm /fine/. See, it's green now." Drake waves his wrist about. "It's how the device works. You helped build it, remember?" Drake pokes Lar in the shoulder. "Star Labs combined with Stark Tech and a little bit of tech from your ship. This is the best solution I've had and I've had every genius of all sorts of IQ scores poke and probe me." He pushes forward on his feet to head off with the others. ".. I want an ice cream sandwich too." He tips a wink at Lyle.

"And if it's so complicated, then you and I can go hang out for a bit and talk. I'm still your human mentor, right?" He says with a grin to his friend, then blinks in a streak of blue light. "LastOneOnTheShipSucksDonkeyNuts!"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    "Yes. Nobody understands you, your pain is worse than everyone else's pain, you're going to switch to a black uniform and start wearing dark eye makeup."
    Brainy herds everyone through the tube. "Has it ever occurred to you that what's happening here is that you had a run in with your mother and your brother and now you're regressing to acting like a miserable teenager instead of a fully-grown and quite accomplished adult. Have two ice cream sandwiches. Have three, if you must, I stocked up. Just not the chocolate ice cream ones, those are mine."
    Once in the cruiser's lab, he says, "All right--" He turns to Drake, and points. "You. Take off your clothes and get in that tube over there. I'm going to fill it with hyperoxygenated gel and then run a comprehensive on you.

Then he he rounds on Lar and Lyle. "YOU GAVE THEM TECHNOLOGY FROM MY SHIP, THE SHIP I BUILT--" He closes his eyes, and pinches the bridge of his nose. "...Of course you did."

"If you like, Lar may sit next to your tube and talk to you while I work."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "*We* built," Lyle corrects, again under his breath.  This is one of those 'Do not taunt Happy Fun Brainy' moments.
    Rather more cheerily, he says to Drake, "Here we are. There's no place like home."
    And then he clicks his heels three times and says "There's no place like home" again.  Oh well.  Couldn't hurt to try.

Slipstream has posed:
Giving a glance to Lar, Drake's stare is insufferable. "I mean ... he kinda has a point. You always get like this when family is involved. You go from Superman to SuperSad. You got like an eight pack and you can throw mini-vans over your shoulder. Man up my dude." Annnd..this is where Drake blanches.

"Take my clothes off? Like...get naked?" He says as he gives a frown, then wrinkles up his nose as he gives a look about the ship. He sighs and slides out of his bomber jacket, then peels off his shirt. Hey, he's been working out! He has almost 'some' type of athletic frame.

"... if I knew I was getting naked and probed by aliens I woulda manscaped."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy neatly gathers up Drake's uniform as he sheds it, and hangs it up. The tube is against the far wall, next to a frosty-looking type with an alarmed-looking redheaded young man with a bow-tie and freckles and a camera flash-frozen in it. Brainy's labcoat is also hanging on that tube.
"Please. Probing. My technology has no need for such crude physical invasiveness. We abandoned probing centuries ago. Also, please don't bore me with your twenty-first century prudishness, it bores me. You have a penis, congratulations, some sentients have two, three, twelve of them."

Mon-El has posed:
    "Ugh, you--!" Lar just keeps glaring Brainiac. "Gah. Well you must have -learned- from your mother then, you prick!" Then he rounds on Drake. "And not -you- too! Hmph." Well whatever the Daxamite prince needs, it's not this. As soon as he is aboard the cruiser, he storms off to his quarters.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
    Brainy mutters, "I'm going to change the lights in his room to red solar and lock him in, I swear to Primus and all his Modrons..."

Slipstream has posed:
"Hey, congrats on the fact you've seemed to have seen a /lot/ of penis in your lifetime, but it doesn't mean I want you seeing mine." Drake says as he hesitates after working his shoes off. "I bet you probably got a neat little scrap book diary of all the wieners you've seen. Maybe little cute labels next to each one with pictures and dates. Something to show off to your buddies at the office. Oh, hey Bob, yeah, check this one out. It looks like a bunch of grapes. Tee-hee." Once his pants and boxers are slid off, he gives a shiver, followed by a huff as he steps into the tube. "Lar! You trust this guy right? This is usually how most Stephen King books end!"

Invisible Kid has posed:
    "And I'm switching you to decaf," Lyle comments, without looking over at Brainy.  "Go a little easier on the guy, he's got a lot more than usual going on right now."  He says this quietly; Drake doesn't need to be privy to the ongoing soap opera that is daily life in the Legion.
    He glances up at Drake, listens to what he has to say, and adds to Brainy, "Him, you can go to town on."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy slaps a console with his palm, and the tube seals, and rapidly fills with warm goo. It's hyperoxygenated, so it's breathable, but it's definately an odd and bubbly thing, aspirating slime.

"Go talk to Lar." he says, to Lyle. "Since I have a captive audience, I think I'll give Drake an extended scientific lecture on the complexity and variety of male genitalia throughout the galaxy as I work."

"Now, scientifically speaking, the Narxillian penis is very interesting, because it's pointed and barbed like a harpoon, and if the Narxillian is in danger they can fire it as a projectile and do so with astonishing accuracy..."