Red Arrow had been working all night on the programming. Emily was diversifying the Lard-Bots. Her favorite creation was the one that replicated red solar energy. You never know who will interrupt your plans. She just kept reading through scientific material: Palmer, Ivo, Magnus, and of course Sivana. After hours of programming and research she finally tested her finished products.
"I command you in the name of Emily Lana Sivana to move two steps forward," She said. Emily had decided to leave the glitch in for security reasons, and she was curious as to what would happen if someone didn't have a middle name.
"Data accepted," It said and moved forward.
"Good. Now I command you to shoot at that poster," Emily said.
The robot did exactly as it was told.
"Say three words," She said.
"Long Live Legion World! Death to Captain Marvel!"
Emily sighed. Her ancestor had hid these words in the quantum level programming. Well, at least they can fight. I really don't want to go back in and fix that glitch. Besides, there is only one person who knows my real name is Sivana. Sebastian is in no position to reveal my family to anyone, he has dossier files on every team member! Posted by Question Lad on :
Red Arrow finished her last quantum physics problem and decided to go to bed in the hidden room she created in the Tesserect. She turned on all the security systems. Red Arrow and Question Kid had really inflated the Security budget, but both of them thought it was worth it. It was state of the art stuff with defenses against pretty much everything. She went to bed making sure was set. Emily rearranged her pillow and took out the photobook she kept underneath it. Sebastian helped her put it together, being sympathetic to memory problems. She took out one called: All-Star Squadron and kissed it. It would never happen again. Never ever would she let a super-team be massacred. ~~~ The team arrived outside the Tesserect. Question Kid was already trying to hack into the files but failed. He said, "The codes are a bit beyound me. Is anyone here good at physics?"
Posted by Dev Em on :
Dev walked to the door of the Tesserect. "Im going to try the old fashioned way first and knock."
Dev knocks on the door rather loudly. "Hello, anyone in there?"
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
I've a background in science, notably physics...but Dev has it well in hand.
Question Kid, like Lardy earlier, seems blind to the problem here. At what price, security? An army of robots on Legion World wil not inspire calm in the citizenry, but terror. Should they turn on the populace, as happened in the Dark Stu Saga, then it would be no better than the Red Bee. The ends cannot justify the means, otherwise we are no different from the savages and animals we protect Legion World from.
Should the Lard-Bots rise, I will remind our friends and allies once more that I am on one side only in all conflicts--the citizenry of Legion World.
Question Kid, can you determine which of our 'allies' initiated the activation sequence?
Posted by Question Lad on :
A robot sentry came out of the Tesserect. It asked, Identify Yourself and Enter a Command.
Question Kid said, "I Sebastian command you to open."
The robot said, "Data Entry Partially Incorrect."
Question Kid said, "Hmmm...I don't legally exist so I don't have a last name so I'll make something up."Data Entry Partially Incorrect.
Question Kid was getting agitated, "Middle name really? Alright, then I guess Sebastian Alan Sage commands you to open the door."
The sentry said, "Data Entries accepted. You may proceed. Long Live Legionworld! Death to Captain Marvel!
Question Kid was proud of himself and made it inside. Then he heard the automatic message say, "Security check one of Four Complete."
Posted by Dev Em on :
"Well, this is going to be tedious."
Posted by Timber Wolf on :
Timberwolf walked in after Question Lad.
"4 protocols huh? Think you can get us through them?"
Posted by Dev Em on :
Dev pulls out his omnicom and makes a call .
Posted by Question Lad on :
Question Lad said, "I will sure try. I know that these doors are reinforced with lead, so don't bother looking in."
He looked at his wireless device...this is his current screen:
He then hooked it up to the tiny plug in the far left of the door.
"Hmmm...codes...cracking the codes...what fun," Question Kid said. These were not in quantum mechanics, thankfully. However, it was only information Red Arrow would personally know. Information that Question Kid had accessed multiple times.
He said, "Crimson Avenger." The first dot filled up. "Green Arrow." The second dot filled up. "Starman." The third dot lit up. "Vigilante...and so on." It was the super-hero names of all of Red Arrow's ancestors...the ones that were super-heroes that is. All the dots lit up and it was on to the third checkpoint.
The next checkpoint was a DNA scan, "Uh oh..." He smiled sheepishly. Buying the best security systems had a downside.
Posted by Dev Em on :
Dev walked up and stood before the scanner.
"Lon...you don't by chance have"
Timberwolf shook his head. "I had kept on of her fletches, but it got incinerated in the blast we got caught in. Nothing with her DNA on it bro."
"This might take a while then...see kid, I know a few things about dna."
He set his hand on the pad and began concentrating.
Posted by Question Lad on :
Red Arrow woke up to the sound of beeps. She hastened over to the computers and checked the surveillence cameras. It was the Captain Marvel glith, right? And Question Kid...oh we will have such a talk. But Cobalt Kid is the worst of them all, we can't just sit while the enemy is planning. We should be going to the enemy and ending this now.
"Computer, activate security protocals 1-3. We have guests," She smiled. "Send the Lard-Bots I have that can reverse polarity. I think I need to tell Cobalt Kid some stories about justice and injustice. He seems to have forgotten why we fight in the first place."
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
<watches as Dev and QK break through the security protocols.>
Time spent wasted while we could be ending this with the Bee.
Make no mistake--if I see a Lard-Bot I will destroy it. There is no place on Legion World for private armies. As one of the old Triumvirate of Legion World, I know this fact all too well.
Posted by Question Lad on :
Question Kid was getting annoyed, "You do not understand! Red Arrow may have different values than you," He stopped himself from saying justice. "But she is firmly on the light side because of her personal experiances. A is not B. The girl would rather die than become evil."
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
You are wrong. 'A is not B' should mean that the law is the law. Justice does not equal the use of private armies. I understand she is doing what she thinks is right but the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
Red Arrow will do whatever it takes to win. But that attitude does not equal justice, liberty or human decency.
Question Kid, you are a great strategist. But know that so am I. I have been a General of Legion World's armies for many years. I was the first Chief of Security. I do not see things in terms of battles or missions...I see this as one long, hard fought war where the liberty of the citizens of Legion World and the UP is the ultimate prize.
If the methods to destroy one enemy create another, what has been solved?
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
<Cobalt pauses>
I know she is not evil. But the world is not always good versus evil. So many of us see it that way, in black and white...but it's only in the gray areas that liberty can be preserved most strategically.
Posted by Question Lad on :
"I believe in life, and liberty, and freedom," Question Kid said. "But I don't know. Is the life of someone like the Red Bee really worth as much as yours? Why do we have to be merciful to those who show no mercy?"
I am really scared of Emily with prep. This could be very bad if we get her angry. I don't like to judge by a person's heritage, but all those super-villains in her family tree are top-tier evil geniuses. Posted by Dev Em on :
Dev looked between Question Lad and Cobalt Kid.
"Why are we even having this discussion?"
He turned to the door. "Red Arrow. I know you can hear me, and I know that you truly believe that you are doing the right thing here. I can empathize with that...but things are not as clear cut as you want to think. Think back to whem I went against you all and helped Cobalt escape...why did I do that? Because it was the right thing to do, and it led to us finding out who was behind this whole thing a whole lot faster and without Cobie and his group having to battle friends again needlessly. The end result was that Lardy reinstated me to the Security Office and made me acting Chief in his absence. In doing so, he gave me the authority, as your Commanding Officer, to tell you to open these doors right now and begin shutting down these 'Lard Bots' immediately. If you do not then you are defying a direct order by your superior, and I know that you do not want to do that. These 'Lard Bots' are not the answer to our problems and are causing more trouble than they are going to fix. The populace of Legion World is already in shock and starting to panic at their presence, and it's going to be worse if the bees attack again."
Posted by Question Lad on :
Fine, you win. I guess we'll have to test these out some other time. Good thing my other orders haven't come in yet. She said, "You many enter, sir." Red Arrow was really disappointed because she spent hours on the programming, but she didn't want another civil war. If her collegues wanted to be stupid, she was going to let them. But she refused to let anymore of them die.
Red Arrow had her hair loose for once and grabbed several arrows and gadgets just in case. This could be a trap. And she was going to let Question Lad have it! Nobody was a bigger hypocrite in this matter than Sebastian.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
<Cobalt ceases discussion as the confrontation has now begun.>
Somehow my actions and words have been misinterpreted. The Red Bee's life means nothing to me and I hope this ends with it at an end. He is a clear enemy that needs to be defeated once and for all. But in a way that creates no further threat.
<Cobalt's omni-com goes off; he checks it and his face grows angry.>
The Lard-Bots have begun attacking citizens in the streets! Apparently there is a curfew to clear the streets so the the search for the Red Bee could begin! The citizens refused an now the robots are 'escorting them' to their homes...with force!
Dev, QK, you two handle Red Arrow. I'm off to do what I elsewhere!
<flies off>
Posted by Question Lad on :
Red Arrow silently gazed at the laboratory. It was very much improved since she handled it. And when this was all over she would contact her Knight and Sivana uncles and get the funding to pour in.
Which reminded her she had to visit her father after all this was over, to testify that she was alive and her mother died accidently. Yes, Red Arrow beieved in justice. And it's weird, but I still love him. I feel bad for loving him, but I do.
She had everything in her hands and on the long table. She said, "If you are shape-shifters or telepathic spies I want to let you know that I have purchased shielding and chemicals which can make your powers mute."
Posted by Dev Em on :
Dev replied, "Arrow, we don't have time for this...the Lard Bots have adapted their programming and are attacking the citizens of Legion World...you need to shut them down now!"
Posted by Question Lad on :
Question Kid says, "I'll help." He then turned to Red Arrow and said in a hushed tone. "The DNA scanners were effective. It was the codes that were bad, next time use a combination of letters and numbers, okay?"
"I knew you would say that. But do you really want to go through with this? I do know you have dossier files on everyone. I took the liberty of copying them and deleting them off the mainframe," She smiled, holding up a wireless device.
"I'm two steps ahead of you, girl. I copied everything into multiple servers days before this whole thing began," He said with a blank expession. The hacking was not going much of anywhere, but he was trying backdoors. Red Arrow was deleting what she could, but some of the Sivana programming she used was very advanced.
"Wow, you are good at prep,"She said. Question Kid was getting deep into the mainframe.
"Okay. This is going to be either very good or very bad depending on how you interpret it. It will stop the robots though," Question Kid said. He entered in some code. The lights began to flicker and everything electronic began to shut down.
"You shut down the electricity?!" Red Arrow shouted.
"Yes, along with the telecommunications systems..." Question Kid said slowly.
Posted by Dev Em on :
"What exactly are you two talking about?"
Posted by Question Lad on :
"Sebastian here just knocked out the electricity and telecommunications systems on Legionworld," Red Arrow said. "That's kind of like throwing a nuke on a bank robber."
"Oh, come on. The robots are stopped and we can get the mainframe back up and running after we dispose of the robots," He said. "And I know what you are thinking, Emily. You can't tell what effect a blackout will have on security, it could actually help us."
Posted by Dev Em on :
"No, I understand that part...even the possible futility of it. I'm talking about the dossiers you two are keeping..." Dev smiled at them, "you can't whisper around a Daxamite...you two have some explaining to do." He says as he positions himself at the doorway, blocking their exit.
[ March 07, 2011, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: Dev Em ]
Posted by Question Lad on :
Question Kid and Red Arrow looked at eachother. Red Arrow looks down at all the stuff she brought and seems to be thinking, but Question Kid shakes his head. It's too late for that, Emily.Too bad it wasn't me with prep.
Sebastian. Your idea, your explanation first," She said in a scary judgemental tone.
"Alright. I started creating the dossier files back when my...Chief Lardy recruited me full time. Whenever I would use my power I recorded the power effects and information for future use. Like Tournaments on the planet where I come from, I assign individuals point-values based on powers and abilities. By creating dossier files you can be prepared to fight beings more powerful. This laboratory being an excellant example," He said, totally getting lost in his own thoughts.
Red Arrow addded,"Sebastian and I have been sharing information since he joined. Between our unusual lives and our memory problems we have alot in common. After the death of Sir Roy, I collected the information because it's becoming clear that you guys need more strategy. In fact you guys got lucky, other super-villains would have target the powerful members first." Red Arrow then froze.
"Emily's family has been in the super-human community for a very long time," Sebastian said.
"Yes, that is true. But I can count both Mist and Starman as relatives. I wish I could see the world in black and white like you do Sebastian, it must be a pretty world. My parents were on a super-hero team called the All-Star Squadron. Growing up it was like a second family, and I loved them all. But they were betrayed..."She stopped again.
"By your own father. Your mother sent you to that marvelous other dimension before accidently dying," Sebastian explained.
"Yes. The Thunderbolts, which is half-superhero team and half-support group for people with super-villains as parents. Then Nrrev got ahold of a cosmic cube and I ended up back. I will not stomach the loss of another super-team," She finished.
Posted by Dev Em on :
Dev looked from Question Lad to Red Arrow. "Alright then, we need to have a further discussion about this later with The Chief, but right now..."
He's interupted by a message coming in over his Omnicom.
"I have to go...remember, we're talking about this later," he says as he takes off at full speed.
[ March 07, 2011, 09:19 PM: Message edited by: Dev Em ]
Posted by Question Lad on :
"Well, he didn't kill us. That's a step in the right direction," Question Lad said.
"I am turning back the power on, Sebastian." In moments everything lit up. "We're going to shut down this lab and transfer all the files to multiple servers."
"Of course," Question Lad nodded. "I'm kind of glad a discussion of my childhood wasn't launched. Alot of it is non-canonical fanfiction, I simply absorb so many people's identities that mine changes over time. I do remember living in a state of impunity though and that my fathr abandoned my mother to die of disease..." He had finished fixing the servers and all the appropriate files were being transferred.
"We're lonely people Sebastian. And they think we're paranoid and crazy, but that's only because they cannot see what we have seen," She says. They finish sealing off the laboratory and headed away.