i hear the train a comin', it's rolling round the bend

[monopolyonsnark]

WHO: Noseless aliens x2 and then eventually the Scarab and Iron Man?
WHERE: northish... City... in a warehouse/factory IDK THERE IS A GLOWING BLUE CAGE
WHEN: the 11th ...?
WARNINGS: Violence! Destruction! Bad Life Decisions!
SUMMARY: Saint Walker comes to save the damsel in distress Negotiator
FORMAT: Quick?


[ In the City, northeast-ish and in an old, abandoned factory hidden among all sorts of old factories and businesses, there is a very upset and trapped alien.

The Negotiator has been in the glowing blue construct of a cage for what he approximates to about 36 days, from what he can gather from the Network. He sits in the box, legs folded, debating using his claws to scrap the singular pregnancy issue of TIME magazine into pieces.

He’s stuck, but the Negotiator realizes he should have used the Network earlier (even if the Scarab wouldn’t permit a cry for help). He’s long since gone over all the possible methods of escape, aside from one very ill-advised option. No solution had come up.

But finally, finally there is the flicker of hope on the horizon. ]

Comments

[clement]

[it had taken a full day and several hours' change of exploration through the City, letting his ring pull him with the tides of hope, working on intuition alone.

Put lightly, Walker isn't the sort to give up easily, and in due time his patience and perseverance pay off. The unassuming building tugs at him with the hope for this situation changing, with strength enough that he can't afford to pass it up, starting inside to explore without fear. It could be a homeless vagrant, it could be a runaway, it could be any number of things. His ring doesn't discriminate that finely.]

Hmmm.

[he doesn't call--the better to not tip Negotiator's captor, if he's there, though he still holds out hope that reason will win the day--still, it takes several minutes before he finds the right room, and when he sees the blue construct, he hesitates in the doorway. That's an odd coincidence.]

Negotiator?

[monopolyonsnark]

[ He immediately sits up and goes to the side of the cage that he heard the voice from.

For a moment he needs to re-access and realign the probabilities of being found, and of the pros and cons of who it was that discovered him -- but ultimately, Lantern or not, this was a good thing. ]

Lantern?

[clement]

Shh... yes. [he steps in slowly, looking around for possible attack, not naturally paranoid but certainly cautious in this instance. Not having a Green Lantern at his back reminds him that every problem here is a problem he has to handle alone.]

Your hope was sufficient, brother, as I knew it would be. [he steps closer, dropping to a crouch by the cage, not yet touching it] ...Now, then... let's see how to make you free. This looks not dissimilar from my own ring's constructs.

[monopolyonsnark]

[ He immediately recognizes that need for caution -- he didn't think the Scarab was around but there was always the possibility of a return.

He speaks softer than he has before: ]

I would make a suggestion but I do not know the full capabilities of your ring. It is similar to a Green Lantern ring, correct?

[clement]

In many respects, an analogue. [he's just dying to touch one of those bars, but he waits to hear the Negotiator out] Although as the Sinestro Corps' rings are empowered by the fear-and-fearfulness of the user and their surrounding lifeforms, so is my ring empowered by the hope of those I serve.

I'm listening.

[monopolyonsnark]

[ He thinks. The fact that the ring is powered by hope is unsurprising to him, if only because of that question - what do you hope for. ]

There is a possibility, then, of it being strong enough to be able to break through this cage. I am unfamiliar with the exact mechanics of it, either, so it is difficult to estimate. Unfortunately, we may not have the time to properly try the more subtle options.

[clement]

All right. [he oriented himself to the Negotiator's hope, closing his eyes to better focus, and then held out the ring, and a hard light construct of a large, bulky Reach with neck spines and a gruff, soldier look about him. The construct of Dawur lost no time in approaching the cage and beginning to attempt to pry it open, looking in with a grin at the Negotiator and speaking with the ethereal hum of the blue lantern's ring;

"The Reach are coming."]

[scarabsuited]

[the ex-Reach are coming, too.

whatever task Khaji Da had set out to do was instantly null as the construct cage was readily being tampered with. without ceremony or warning, the Blue Beetle veers off-course, making a (pun acknowledged) bee-line to the factory district where the Negotatior is hidden.

t-minus two minutes and counting. the Negotiator will not be permitted to escape, no matter what.]

[monopolyonsnark]

Dawur --

[ Negotiator stares, gaping for a moment. He wasn't expecting that.

For a moment there's a rush of vindication at those words, the absolute trust in the might of the Reach coming back like a wave - before he remembers it's just a construct. He hadn't realized how much he had hoped for some sign of his people, for the Porter to bring in Dawur or anyone really. If the AI brought in one of the minions he'd be grateful. Well, for the first five minutes, anyway. ]

[clement]

[it always surprises Walker, when the people he brings hope to are themselves surprised by what they hope for--as if they were intentionally blind to their own dreams. But it pleases him, too, as waking that hope is his primary purpose. He watches as one of the bars begins to bend and give, under the Dawur construct's unrelenting force. If Khaji Da and its host were both active, his ring might have been able to detect the incoming threat, but as it is, it doesn't know what to look for and he receives no warning at all.]

It may be beneficial to have words with your warden after you are safe.... I'm confident this is all a misunderstanding.

[scarabsuited]

[all that hopeful connecting is short-lived; rather than take the time to weave through the open/near-open passages leading to the sub-level the Negotiator is stored, Khaji Da took the direct approach:

it blasted through the floor, in much the same way it did when first locating its prisoner weeks before. in this case, however, no time was taken to stop and make idle threats; it simply finished assessing the threat (Lantern? but the energy signature is...off.) and configured its forearm armor to what it deemed best.

battering-ram arms. right at the good Saint Walker.]

[monopolyonsnark]

[ Oh writ, it was back. He openly flinched, hiding behind his arm -- before immediately feeling shame at his fear and replacing it with a nice, calming beginning of an absolute rage.

He was close, so close. ]

No, no no no no no no no!

[clement]

[part of Ganthet's rigorous initiation training involved an immediate reaction to the unexpected that avoided collateral damage above all else, and even as the Dawur construct vanished in the eyeblink of the Negotiator's dashed hopes, unsustainable, Walker was channeling a bubble-field of protection around the cage, taking the brunt of the battering ram charge right backwards into it.

The field cracked but didn't shatter, and in the split-second decision between diplomacy, defense and retreat he again drew on Ganthet's training and went with a little from columns A and C, struggling to pull air into lungs that were spasming from the impact even as he kicked off from the ground to put some distance between himself and the--blue and black--machine?

What was that thing?] W--hh---wait--... wait--can we talk--

[scarabsuited]

[talk?

talk exhausted precious energy stores. and also, sounded rather atrocious when the one pulling all the strings had no coherent host to make it sound at all like it was supposed to. it was caveman speak, extra grunt. neither pleasant nor coherent.

no. talking isn't going to happen here. not with words anyway; Khaji Da can still make quite the statement...with spines rising out of the armor, Jaime's fingers were elongated and curved in an intimidating Infiltrator's display.

statement: get your glowy blue butt out of here.]

[monopolyonsnark]

[ Negotiator knows of the capabilities of an Infiltrator, and more importantly what Jaime Reyes had done to corrupt it. It isn't supposed to have a non-lethal setting, but somehow Reyes had messed with it. Taught it everything that was wrong.

And with a quiet horror he realizes that without Jaime Reyes the Scarab was far more dangerous, and in this moment he wishes Jaime Reyes was back and able to hold back the scarab from destroying the Negotiator's rescuer.

When, exactly, had things gone so wrong?

He shouts at the Blue Lantern instead. ]

Lantern! The scarab may be hindered by its lack of host, but even then it is well equipped to take you on!

[ Beat. ]

As you may have noticed.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH:

[scarabsuited]

[are you feeling neglected, Negotiator?

don't you worry; the Blue Beetle is en route in quite a hurry. if the sound of an incoming body isn't apparent yet, perhaps that rather distinct increase in glow and energy your cage is getting as it draws near!]

Re: MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH:

[monopolyonsnark]

[ Negotiator had sunk back down with his hands in his claws what his his life.

He had considered testing to see if the construct was weaker but he knew he didn't have the capability of messing with it.

So now he sits, sulking, up until he notices the cage glowing and then he starts to feel the fear come back. ]

Perfect. Excellent. Well done.

[scarabsuited]

[the daylight from that unfortunate ceiling hole is blotted out and filled up with the Beetle's shape, come quickly to land not far away.

expecting answers? HEH, DON'T BE SILLY.

instead, a construct tether is forming, linked to one arm. the other is blasting the excess ceiling to fit that cage, smoothing out to more of a cube, right on through.

WANNA GO FOR A RIDE, NEGOTIATOR? HUH? DO YA? DO YA? DO YA?]

[monopolyonsnark]

[ Ugh, it was the scarab and that meant the lantern had failed.

He had mixed feelings about that really, since evidently even broken Reach Technology was still superior, except in this particular circumstances it really needed to not be so superior.

And now he was being lifted off the ground and carried like some sort of larvae.

So now he's going to yell at the Scarab like a Responsible Adult. ]

I never should have allowed you to continue operating.

[scarabsuited]

[woulda coulda shoulda. W/E MAN. the suit gives no regard it even hears him, increasing altitude before leveling out and getting the hell outta Dodge.

way outta Dodge.

bye, City limits; we're goin' west.]

[monopolyonsnark]

[ Just. Shouting Reach obscenities at him.

As well as constant inquiries of WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, and getting increasingly frustrated. ]

[scarabsuited]

[surely that dies down after...three hours? three, three-and-a-half?

isn't the scenery lovely? wide, open Canada and whatnot. aren't you pleased to be dropped in the middle of nowhere near a power facility?]

[monopolyonsnark]

[ By this time Negotiator's got his arms folded and would be pouting but that would be childish and Negotiators shouldn't be childish.

(he's pouting)

Uh, no. No he's not. ]

Oh excellent. Scenery. I do appreciate the opportunity to take in this lovely planet.

[scarabsuited]

[ommmmmgggg shut up are you three-years-old you are grating even on this AI.

PLOP. right on the ground. no cushion. NO1CURR ABOUT YOUR COMFORT SIR.]

[monopolyonsnark]

[ He is filled with such hate right now, you cannot even know

RUBBING HIS BRUISED BUTT ]

If I die of starvation out here, I will personally rip you from Jaime Reyes' body if the Porter grants my return.