morally_cryptic | [for clobbers] the multiverse has it in for him

Entry tags:

[for clobbers] the multiverse has it in for him

Solo missions were rare anymore. Even if he and Obi-Wan were split up they usually still had troops with them. But as the war went on, the Jedi and the GAR were spread ever thinner across the galaxy and this had been something that hadn't called for a full detachment. Just one Jedi, in and out.

Anakin had been shocked at how easy things had gone. Missions never went that easy.

Except this one, apparently.

He was even managing to do some honest-to-goodness meditation in the cockpit (because what else was he going to do for the next several hours of nothing to do?). Right up until his ship jolted out of hyperspace and the stars snapped back into focus around him.

Whatever just happened, he found that almost all of the ship's systems had been shorted out including Artoo. All he was left with was basic life support and his sublight engines.

And, it appeared, a planet that appeared habitable.

The problem with having only sublight engines and no repulsorlifts meant landing became a sort of hopefully-controlled skid into the ground instead of a gentle dropping onto landing gear. If Anakin hadn't been sure he was going to need to be outside of the ship to do his repairs (or call for help), he might not have even tried.

In the end, he'd chosen to shoot for a body of water near a city, figuring the landing (such as it was) would be marginally easier on the ship and if there was a city surely he could find holonet access to call back to the Republic for pickup.

Which was a great plan save that some of his ship's exterior plating had gotten loose during his controlled crash and was now letting water in, leaving him sinking rather quickly.

He's forced to leave the ship in the water and struggle to shore, cursing colorfully as he looks back toward his drowned ship (and Artoo!). "Might be able to get it out with the Force," he mutters to himself as he pushes a lock of wet hair out of his eyes, "but that's a lot of metal to move."

But it wasn't like he was just going to leave his droid down there, if nothing else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"As a matter of fact, I have." More than once. With the most recent occasion being when she'd caught Oliver. If he could trust her, it ought to be a walk in the park for someone she gets along with. Maybe? She'll hope so.

"But I'm fast, and my turns are apparently really tight. You won't be falling."

She's strong; and he knows it. Her features soften a little.

"Promise."

Something in his expression suggests the thought that just crossed his mind was basically, eh, what the hell... and then he's moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

He opted for the right one. He doesn't have to worry about the fingers getting tired.

"Always wondered what it'd be like to fly without a ship."

That's precisely when Kara shifts her arm to do the same, her grip ironclad about his shoulders. When she'd said he won't be falling; maybe he'll start to believe it.

A little smirk plays at the corners of her mouth. "Just don't try to direct me. Nobody likes a backseat flyer!" She's still laughing as she takes off.

The air rushes at them, cold and brisk, and she keeps her eyes ahead to look where she wants to go. Responsible, right? Kara also travels under her usual speed for now, until he gets used to the feeling of being up in the air without a ship.

"Liking it so far?"

Just because she's not looking at him doesn't mean she can't tease him a little.

"How am I going to direct you? I don't know where we're go-...kriff!!"

The last bit because he was a little startled by the takeoff.

If it helps, he gets used to it pretty quickly. Skywalker indeed.

"Little windy for my tastes..."

They're moving so quickly that the roar of the wind mostly drowns out her giggles. Maybe that's for the best; saves some of his dignity, at least.

"Just a little?"

It's funny how easily the banter comes to her with someone she barely knows. But she's not complaining.

In short order, the scenery beneath them changes as they cross the Canadian border, and then, every last sign of civilization falls away into fields of snow and ice. Finally, a minute or two later, she takes them down to land inside what appears to be a cave hewn into the ice. Freshly fallen snow has covered the footprints left by Hank Henshaw. Good. The massive sculptures of Kal-El's parents guard the doorway, and her gaze flickers up briefly. Were they better than her parents? She'll never know.

Kara shifts her arm to release him, and glances around with a shaky sigh. This might be a sight he's more familiar with: advanced tech everywhere, and Kal-El's pod at the far end of the chamber. The fallen form of Kelex rests in the snow nearby, and she cringes.

"He was reprogrammed to think I was an intruder here and tried to kill me. But I still feel bad."

In fact, she does. Her sharp change in emotion can be felt easily.

Edited 2016-12-18 23:22 (UTC)

As they enter the cave, Anakin looks around curiously. "There's a Jedi Temple on an icy planet called Ilum. This reminds me of it..." It, too, is carved out of ice though there are no droids there to guard it.

Then he makes his way over Kelex and crouches beside him to look him over. "Why'd someone do that?"

"It must be really pretty, then." She knows less of his... everything than Winn, which she's sort of thankful for. Hearing firsthand accounts is always the best way to learn about something. (Except when the source is unreliable, Kara. Thankfully that won't be a problem for a while yet.) Glancing over at him, she smiles a little, and points over to the pod.

"That belongs to my cousin. Mine is identical to it."

Snow crunches lightly under her boots as she moves to stand next to him. "They're an enemy; who somehow found out about a bio-weapon my dad created. A virus meant to kill all off-worlders other than my kind. Turns out my people were even more afraid of the unknown than CADMUS.

"Anyway. Using my blood, they reprogrammed the defenses here to attack me. A distraction, I guess. To keep me here and away from where they were going to release the virus. It almost killed Mon-El."

She'll never forgive them. CADMUS, or her parents.

"Mostly the crystals are," he says distractedly as he continues inspecting her robot.

Then she tells her story and he's staring up at her blankly. "Someone released a virus to kill off everyone except you and your cousin?"

She left out the part where it was re-engineered.

Pause. "You father created it??"

"Oh--sorry. No, it was synthesized by human scientists so that it'd spare their own species. But they couldn't fix the failsafe my dad built into it, I guess."

Yeah, she had. Oops. Kara blinks hard, and then moves toward what appears to be a console. Pulling up the holo of her father again, she raises her head and asks loudly: "Tell me about Project Medusa." The AI construct of Zor-El goes onto explain, as it had once before. Before it'd barely begun talking, Kara has to turn away.

"Yeah. My parents weren't the people I thought they were." And Krypton wasn't the utopia they'd raised her to believe it was.

She sighs, and swipes at the console to cause the image of her father to vanish. Maybe it'd be best to focus on the matter of locating Anakin's galaxy. Kara runs through several options on the console before she finds what she's looking for, and the image of her aunt appears, instead.

Well. She should have known. Astra had been the expert in the family when it came to the stars.

"I'm sorry," he says and he means it. Hard enough to lose your parents. It had to be harder to have your illusions about them shattered.

When Astra appears, he cocks his head to the side slightly. "Who is that?""

Her breath hitches a little as emotion wells up from within her to form a tight knot in her throat. The woman before her is so very like her mother in appearance, but for the streak of white in her hair. But the two of them couldn't have been more different. She holds onto that, and to the sight of Astra before her.

"Astra. My mother's sister." The construct's expression is placid, nowhere near as alive as the woman herself had ever truly looked. But her voice is the same, minus, well. Any hint of emotion.

'Hello, little one. How can I assist you?' If it's hard for her now, she can't imagine how Kal-El feels staring into the faces of relatives he'd never been able to meet. She swallows hard, tugs at a strand of her hair, and moves off to stand before the apparition of her aunt.

"The stars. My new friend here is looking for a world called--oh, shoot! I'm sorry." Looking back apologetically at Anakin, she tilts her head. "What is your world called?"

He watches Kara's expression as she faces the image aunt, frowning. Was that also from the loss of someone she cared about or had something happened between them too? Anakin's not sure it's really his right to know. They've only just met and it's not like he tends to open up about his past to people either.

"Coruscant," he says after a moment when he realizes she's waiting on him. "It's a Core system. Most of the major hyperspace routes lead to it." Surely she's heard of it?

It's not where he came from, technically, not on this particular trip but it would give them somewhere to extrapolate from if they can find a commonality.

Before she can say anything at all, the AI of her aunt is already speaking up. 'Coruscant: seat of a confederation of systems known simply as the Galactic Republic. Found at coordinates 0, 0, 0, it has four moons and orbits a yellow sun.' Well, now she's wide-eyed, looking at the hologram as all the colour drains from her face. Since Anakin is currently working on kelex, she steps forward to address the construct herself.

"Just how did we know about this--and why wasn't I taught about it?" Her expression draws taut, her features turning carefully neutral. Great. Just one more thing she'd been kept in the dark about.

'They were deemed a threat, little one.' The apparition goes onto explain in minute, mechanical detail about how once, some Kryptonians had been intrepid explorers, seeking to expand their influence. When they had encountered resistance and force, they had abandoned the plan, as it wasn't feasible or practical to begin a war so far from their own planet and any resources they'd need. Thus, all records were made classified by The Military and Science guilds, as well as the Law Council. Kara kicks at some snow with her boot.

"Can you contact that planet for us?"

'I am sorry, little one. I am not programmed to do that.'

"Then at least show us the most direct route to get there." A beat, and she exhales deeply. "Please."

That seems workable, as the chart pops up on the console. Kara presses a button, and the image of her aunt disappears. Thank Rao.

"Oh my--wow, you weren't kidding earlier. I can't believe all this was covered up! They've got a record of the exact coordinates the original explorers recorded on their trip there."

Anakin snorts as he continues to work on Kelex. "A threat? You weren't kidding about your people being afraid of outsiders. They basically shut out the entire rest of the galaxy it sounds like."

He continues working for a minute, then shrugs slightly, "though I guess you wouldn't be the only ones. There's pockets like that around. Systems or groups of systems not a part of the Republic and want nothing to do with it...or the Separatists. And there is a whole big chunk that's called the Unknown Regions for a reason." Anakin flashes her a smile and then looks up to see the console. "......which....we appear to be in. Huh."

"No," she agrees with her mouth set in a grim line. "I wasn't. It's sad." What she doesn't add us that aside from Astra and Clark, she's ashamed of her blood relations. Crossing her arms over her chest to ease how vulnerable she feels, she peers down at the console with him.

"The humans on this planet have too hard a time getting along to bother wanting to separate from the rest of the galaxy."

She snorts at that, a rare cynical moment that blessedly doesn't last.

"I guess that explains pretty much everything aside from how you ended up so far off course."

"Yeah, it should still be impossible." He frowns at the display and shakes his head. "I mean...even considering I was in hyperspace, that doesn't mean just jumping halfway across the galaxy in a couple of seconds. It's literally impossible."

And he certainly wasn't going to be getting back to civilization as quickly as he'd landed here, of that he's certain.

She turns her head to glance over at him, and feels a pang of guilt--and maybe a little envy, too. Despite everything, there's about nothing she wouldn't give to see her home again. Kara swallows that selfish thought back, though, because this isn't about her. Mon-El had been right: she isn't a saint. But she can do the best she can to help people in spite of it.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly. For a long minute, silence seems to hang in the air, and she focuses on the way her breath mists in the air before her. But then she glances back at the console, and mutters something under her breath. There are crystals here that hold data, like advanced flash drives. And she's retrieving one right now to download every last bit of data about this Republic she can--including the route to actually get to its region of the galaxy.

Kara's able to smile now, even if it's faint. She's bouncing back from earlier. "This wasn't a wasted trip, at least. How's Kelex?" A wince pinches her features. She'd had to use her heat vision on him. It can't be pretty.

[ooc: hah, I had to go back and play that bit of the episode to see exactly what she did to him again]

"Well, I think I'm going to need more than just the tools we brought. The holes on the outside," he points to where her heat vision had penetrated, "aren't the immediate problem, but there's a few things melted on the inside...those are going to need replacing."

Anakin stands and kind of looks around the cavern, "I don't suppose there's a closet somewhere with replacement parts for robots, is there?"

( ooc: She really mangled him up, yeah. :s )

"Uhhhh. I actually don't know. But considering we've already found some things I had no idea were ever here to begin with..." She trails off, heading in the direction of Kal-El's pod. Scanning the room with her x-ray vision takes less time, so she pivots on the balls of her feet and slowly does a 360 degree pan of the open space. Nothing. But--that's not all there is. Past the consoles and the memorabilia, there's got to be another room, at least. She'd seen Kelex wander back there before when he'd refused to tell her about Myriad.

"There's another room back here, I--" Poking her head around a corner, her eyes widen. She'd been right; partially. While spare parts aren't neatly stored in Rubbermaid containers or anything, there's several older Kelex models lining one wall. Some could even be fixed in their own right, couldn't they? If she or Kal-El learn how, that is. Her earlier dip in mood is long forgotten, and now she's almost jumping up and down in her excitement.

"Hey! You think these will do the trick?" Even if a lot of them are broken down, their parts could still possibly be salvaged.

Anakin follows in her wake and then looks over Kara's shoulder when she finds the back room. "Hmm," he murmurs as he steps around her to look over the probably-defunct robots.

"I think I can rig something up with one of these." He points at the one that seems most like the robot he's thinking of currently as 'her' Kelex. "Mind helping me get that one out there?"

"You bet." Kara picks up the machine as if it weighs nothing--it doesn't, to her--and follows him back out into the main chamber of the cavern. To have so many of these here, Kal-El must have been busy. She sets the robot down next to her Kelex, and smiles almost fondly.

"They helped us with everything back home. This one's one job, I guess, is to preserve the memory of my family."

Because Rao knows that neither she nor Clark know the half of it. Kara seats herself back down in the snow, and sets to work building a miniature snowman while he gets back to work. It's something positive to do, and away from J'onn and Alex, she can be a bit less of an adult. Right?

Anakin certainly won't begrudge her a bit of fun. And he gets pretty focused on his work when he's fixing things, anyway. Machines are often easier than people for him to understand, even a machine he's never worked with before or seen its like.

Now that he has parts to work with, he doesn't waste any time. At some point when he's got his hands in Kelex's guts as he replaces wires and circuits he ends up pulling off the glove on his right hand. The cybernetic limb, after all, doesn't feel cold and its sensors help with this sort of delicate work.

He doesn't really think about how Kara might find it odd but eventually he lets out a triumphant sound as he closes Kelex back up. "Okay. I think he's ready to go. Probably."

Oh, you know. Just a little odd. But, hey--at least he's not a cyborg. She doesn't trust those after the first three she's met all tried to kill her. Though that means somewhere along the line, he must have gotten hurt pretty badly. Kara winces, and it hits her all at once: the brutality so many people must be facing out there. People who might be losing their worlds. She has to swallow hard and force a smile to keep herself from wallowing too much in negativity. She'd been right in her initial reservations about coming here; it reminds her too much of things she can't change or fix.

"You do?" Blinking, she watches as Kelex's optical sensors light up. There's a tense moment, in which she wonders if he's still programmed to kill her. 'Hello, Lady Kara. How can I help you today?'

She sags in relief, and grins over at him brightly. "You do! Thank you! And, ah... Kelex, you can rest. I'm just glad you're okay."

Actually? Wait. "And if someone ever comes here without me or Kal-El, lock this place down. Please." The robot holds up one of its hands, and then disappears into the back of the cavern.

There's a moment or two of silence, in which Kara can't stop smiling. Then finally, she balls up some snow in one of her hands and tosses it his way. He should have some fun, too.

The Force is good for things like whispering a warning when you're about to get shot with a blaster bolt or three.

It apparently doesn't bother extending the same courtesy when it comes to snowballs.

And he'd been busy tugging his glove back on, not paying Kara any particular attention. So he yelps when it makes contact with his back and some of it manages to trickle its way under his coat and down his spine. "Hey!"

But he's grinning, at least, as he scoops up some snow of his own and tosses it back at her.

Supersenses: 1. The Force: 0. Kara is more than pleased with herself at this observation, and her smile broadens.

"Gotcha!"

To be fair, she doesn't lift herself off the ground. But that's where 'fair' ends, when she rolls over, the snow he tosses at her hitting her back instead of the top of her head. And she's laughing, as she sits back up with a fresh armful of ammo. All told, Kara tosses about three more snowballs his way before using her speed to use Kal-El's pod as cover.

It delights her that he can just roll with this and behave like he's a child, too. She'll never pretend to be the epitome of adulthood. It'd be pretty boring.

"Is that all you've got?"

[for clobbers] the multiverse has it in for him

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

woo, I'm back!

welcome back!

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)