2014.09.21 - To the Moon, and Beyond

Lightning flashes high in the sky, and in the ground the Guardians can feel pressure dropping quickly when Braniac’s giant spaceship begins moving again, forcing cubic miles of air to displace at supersonic speeds. The weather is going to be foul and crazy in the region for a week, the damage to the ozone layer will take years to repair.

Moondragon’s ship is a tiny insect in comparison to the giant city-stealer. Braniac’s spaceship is almost a hundred miles long ovoid-shaped titan. Nevertheless, the Guardians scramble on board to attempt the impossible.

And yet, they don’t even have the chance. A few thousand miles from Earth atmosphere it becomes obvious that ship is not just large, incredible as it sounds given its mass, it is also faster than the Sensia, and then it goes invisible, just before shifting into the Bleed barely causing a disturbance in the local space-time.  Cosmo sounds faintly awestruck in the passports comlinks. It is not something that has ever happened before!

Jo frequently stops in to the 20th century Legion HQ. It makes him feel at home. Often he stays for a while, checking on repairs and seeing who has stopped by. So he was there when the alarms started going off. He checks, it is from Brainy's lab. Taking the tub up to the lab, he says, "What is wrong COMPUTO?"

The computer replies, "There is a major disturbance in the time stream, estimates place it in the vicinity of Chronopolis."

Jo still owes a debt of sorts to Immortus, possibly this is a chance to help him out. He orders, "Track it with the time monitor."

Moondragon is an excellent pilot. There are better, of course, but they aren't growing on trees anywhere, and no one else had a ship and reason to volunteer to head to Earth with it to help out. Her maneuvers to get into Earth's atmosphere and pick up the Guardians and their allies were top notch, and she didn't waste any time hauling them aboard and making a crash translation back out of atmosphere and streaking off after the behemoth city-stealer ship. But then it disappears. Just ... gone. And when Kosmo reports that the ship is gone even from Knowwhere's sensors ... the bald woman in the pilot seat just stares. << Alright, people. Where would it be going? I need a course, or we're doing no one any good, here. >>

The massive ship begins to fade from most sight. Thara though is still watching it. Her gaze doesn't break. "I'm going to need to recharge and quick." She states to no one in particular. Finally her gaze breaks. "I think our first course of action is to go see what that little guy wanted. If we need to track Brainiac, I can do so. Superman had kept the ship I stole in hopes of going after Brainiac himself. I can get the transponder which should lead us straight to that big nasty ship." She stops and shakes her head. "Stupid, foolish, jackass! If that is what being a military leader is on this world then I want no part of it!" She idly considers getting on board the ship. "I am just going to hold onto the outside. I need some sun." She smirks a little.

Still trying to shake off the aftereffects of her reckless, pointless, and all around less than glorious attempt to stop Brainiac from stealing the city, as soon as Rachel got herself on board Moondragon's ship she collapsed into the nearest spare seat and has spent the intervening minutes sitting with her index fingers pressed against her temples, sternly telling herself that her brain's not /actually/ trying to batter its way out of her skull. It's only when Cosmo's transmission comes in that she stirs herself and makes her way forward. Moondragon's mental contact makes her wince, but mercifully her headache is starting to fade. "Don't look at me." She says, not sarcastically, for this the genuinely outside of her experience. "Adam...?" She asks automatically, then realises that they seem to be one short. She'd been too busy dealing with her headache to take in Thara's decision to ride outside, but a quick mental scan locates her. After a second or two, Rachel just shrugs. It's hardly the most unusual thing that's happened today.

Adam looks pretty busy himself, as he attempts to use his cosmic awareness to figure out where is Brainiac heading. But the spaceship moves deeper into the Bleed than anything that he has seen before, its power signature fading away in seconds. “Small wonder no one has ever been able to recover one of the cities,” he murmurs. “Thara, we might need to see that... no, I have a better idea. Moondragon, open a channel with the Legion building in New York, please. And set a course for the Blue Area of the Moon.”

Jo gets a page from the Robotic secretary, "Sir, there is an incoming call from a nearby space craft. Shall I patch it through?"

Jo replies, "Please do so." He wonders who he knows in this time with a space ship. Well, possibly the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"Drop into the Engineer's couch, Adam, and make your own comm circuits. I don't know any 'Legion', but the configuration of my systems should be close enough to what you're used to, you should be able to direct a comm-laser wherever you need it." Moondragon instructs, as people start shouting instructions. Meanwhile, she lays in a course to turn her beeline into a parabola, sweeping around the outermost edges of the planet's gravity well as she homes in on Luna, the singular natural satellite of Earth, and makes for the small section on its furthest, perpetually 'Dark' side. "I'm not cleared to land inside." No one is. "I'll put us down within tube range of the edge. It's the best I can do."

Thara nods and clings to the aircraft where she can. She won't be thrown off easily, that s to say the least. Already her power is beginning to come back. That is the important thing for her right now. "What was Tiny doing on Earth, that is my only question."

Rachel smirks a bit at Moondragon's tart reply to Adam's orders, and gets out of the way of what she assumes is the engineer's couch that he's been directed to. Despite having gotten used to Knowhere she still feels more than a bit out of place on a spaceship. She finds a place to wedge herself where she can see what Adam's doing, even though it'll probably mean little enough to her. "I doubt it means anything good." She opines in answer to Thara's question.

Adam takes a seat at the nearest communication console and opens a channel to the Legion's headquarters, asking Computo for one of the Legionaries he knows. A few seconds later he finds himself talking with Jo. "Jo Nah, it is fortunate you are there. We are currently leaving Earth orbit in pursuit of a spaceship of unknown origin. Do you have information about the creature known in the present times as Brainiac?"

He cuts the transmission to answer Thara. "The Watchers often appear to observe in person events of universal importance. They are sworn not to interfere, but sometimes one of them is willing to bend their vows to help lesser beings. If we are fortunate, this will be one of those occasions."

Jo replies, "Quite a bit, though that information is for my home time stream. He is an artificial intelligence from the world of Colu in my ime stream, he was eventually overthrown by his own adopted son, who he used as a cover when he was doin infiltration. He has a 12 level intellect, giving him access to considerable technology and allowing him to think far faster than a normal humanoid or even any current earth computer."

The sun's light and energy is far more intense without the atmosphere filtering a lot of it. Thara finally feels good enough to let go of the ship and fly on her own. She quickly accelerates and flies alongside the nose of the ship. "Ahhhh I feel a lot better. I'd really be out of luck if big red had taken all my energy. Thankfully he only took enough to weaken me." She thinks a few moments. "I see. Well I suppose we are going to find out. Any word from your contact? Do I need to fly back to earth and get that transponder?"

As promised, Heather Douglass pilots her ship around and lands smoothly - and pretty damned quickly - on the surface of the moon, mere meters away from the atmospheric envelope of the so-called 'Blue Area' on its dark side. There is no skin, here, no forcefield and no docking hatch. Yet still, the Sensia is able to extend from its airlock a docking tube that penetrates that atmosphere and hangs in place. Just don't ask Moondragon to do anything telekinetically at the moment. She's busy. << We are down. Cycle through the hatch at your convenience. >> She spends a few extra moments shutting down ship's systems to a ready state that is still sufficient for necessary stealth, before following everyone.

Adam brings up to the computer displays what they know about Colu. Mostly for the others, as he already had heard the rumors Brainiac was from Colu and did some research weeks ago. “But Colu vanished almost a century ago in this timeline, Jo Nah. Either it was destroyed or their inhabitants moved the entire planet elsewhere, perhaps to avoid conflict with the Dominators. Querl Dox is the first Coluan I have seen. They were a reclusive race.”

It takes the Sensia just five minutes to reach the Blue Area of the Moon. And there is nothing there but ancient Kree ruins, of course. Uatu keeps his home hidden from casual observation, but currently his presence is a very poorly kept secret. “Very well. Unless someone has a better idea,” he looks around to the others, “lets see if Uatu had something important to tell Thara.”

Jo responds, "I know where Colu is in my future, not sure if that is the present location, or some place they moved it to later. I can transmit the coordinates so you can check and see if it is the one you have."

Jo asks COMPUTO if it has a destination on the time disturbance yet.

The Kryptonian of the group has not landed yet. Nope she decided to hang back and catch a few more rays before she drops down. She could hear the telepathic message and she thinks a response hoping she will be heard. "I will be down in a minute. No harm in a little extra energy right?" Most people go for red bull when it comes to getting some extra energy. Or 5 hour energy. Or any of the countless energy drinks out there. Thara prefers Sunny Delight... the Delight of soaking up the sun!

Rachel keeps quieter than usual as Warlock talks to his unknown ally and Moondragon guides the ship toward the moon, partly due to her fading headache, mostly because she recognises that right at this minute she has nothing useful to contribute. Ordinarily she might be questioning Adam, but after her run-in with Brainiac's ship, she's unusually subdued. They need more information before Round Two, and she's not about to get in the way of it being gathered. She masks her surprise at how quickly the ship makes it to the moon - even though the instantaneous transfers to Knowhere she's experienced covered a far greater distance in less time, there's something about an actual ship reaching the moon in a matter of minutes that's somehow more impressive.

Despite having heard of the properties of the Blue Area of the moon, Rachel still hesitates when Moondragon gives her 'everybody off' command, glancing around as if hoping for a conveniently spare spacesuit, before becoming annoyed with herself and marching over to the hatch. She still holds her breath as she passes through, though, irritating her further. Walking out amidst the dust and rock of the lunar surface, Rachel looks around - and then up. With so little life around, it'd be harder to NOT pick up Thara telepathically, and as she skims her mind she picks up on her thoughts. << After last time? Feel free to overdose. >> She opens her mind to the others. << Thara's on her way. I'll keep us all linked... just in case the big guy doesn't feel like visitors. >>

<< Thank you, Rachel. >> Heather offers, as she finishes her work inside the ship, and then bounces her way to the hatch and follows down the docking tube to the Blue Area. Since her uniform /is/ a space suit, she doesn't pack many spares, and those she has are kept in lockers at the rear of the ship close to the other berthing compartments, not up near the cockpit. She swims through the tube to the end and steps out, eying the area carefully. << I presume someone knows where in this massive, seemingly abandoned city, the Watcher can be found>>> she offers, because she certainly has no idea.

Adam is willing to wait for Thara. She is correct at loading up with solar energy, they might be traveling far from yellow stars for a while. They have some walking to do before they reach the gates of the Watcher’s residence anyway. “I know the way,” he replies Heather. The Blue Area has an Earthly atmosphere, but low, low gravity. Rachel might be surprised, and it takes a while to get used to weighing 1/16th of normal.

Computo notes the temporal anomaly was taken into Brainiac spaceship and vanished from its sensors. It sounds almost cheerful at informing Jo that even 21st century Coluan technology is light years ahead of what they have in the Legion building, sensor-wise, even with the upgrades Querl did months ago. The computer also helpfully informs the Rimborian that there seems to be an area of artificial atmosphere in a crater at the far side of the moon it wasn’t in its memory banks.

Finally, Thara is comfortable enough to leave her glowing yellow security blanket. With a burst of speed she is caught up with the group. "Ahhh that was nice. I needed that." She looks around. "And I thought brooklyn was run down." She snickers a little. "So. The big guy, any idea where to start looking?" She asks curiously.

Jo asks Computo to plot a course based on the last known flight path, and check for probably destinations for Brainiac along that path. It may or may not help. He also asks if the records have any notations on appearances of Brainiac in the near future. Jo informs Adam, "I can not track Brainiac's location directly, but am trying indirect means." Colu has the second or third highest known technology, after Apokalypse and the Controllers, it is no surprise it is ablve what is available to him.

Rachel actually gets several steps away from the end of the docking tube before she thinks about the low gravity, and it's only then that she stumbles. Up until that point she was doing pretty well. It's almost as if some unconscious part of her was already accustomed to variations in gravity. Fortunately, her telekinesis is more than up to the job of preventing her going head first into the dust, and she catches herself easily. "I'd better stop trying to look at the view and walk at the same time." She says to herself, annoyed, but her eyes are still drawn to the impossible cityscape around her. It's another time where knowing what to expect isn't much help at all.

As Thara comes in for a landing, Rachel looks over at her. "Feeling better?" She asks, not really expecting an answer as the change in Thara is clearly visible. She shrugs. << Follow Adam, I guess. It's what I usually do. >> She includes the others in her telekinetic speech, and begins picking her way after him, moving more carefully now.

Moondragon is only to happy to follow after Adam, keeping an eye on things. She knows about the Blue Area, of course; it is Kree in origin, after all, and she has made something of a habit of awareness of all things Kree, Skrull and the like. But the actual demense of the Watcher is not in her knowledge, so she follows, calmly. She is apparently very used to differences in gravity, and covers the ground with distance-eating bounds. She could fly, sure, but her telekinesis is busy holding that docking tube in proper place.

Adam keeps in contact with the Legion HQ through his passport. “I know the Coluans reputation as technologists, and I am afraid right now we need a way to get through it. We might lose communication soon, but join us if you would.”

The Watcher’s residence becomes visible when the group is close enough. A wall of white... glass? Light? Super-senses fail to discern, and technological sensors fail even harder. “Now, we learn if we are welcomed or not,” notes Adam walking straight into the wall. And through the wall, as if it wasn’t there. So maybe welcomed? The other Guardians can follow him, it is like walking through a wall of water. Dry water. Yes, it confuses normal senses too.

Then they are within something close to Earth gravity. Also, they can feel like cavemen visiting the NASA control center. The Watchers are up there with the Oans and the Celestials in technology development. Uatu keeps his home well-lit, neatly organized and... weird for beings less cosmic than himself.

Jo says, "I am checking the time monitors, they can look up to 30 days into the future, the technology was developed in part by Querl Dox. If anything can tell us where Brainiac Will be, it is probably those."

Thara doesn't really land so much as hover. Too much hassle bouncing around on low gravity. So best just to float. Upon seeing the building she is a little awed. The Kryptonians are not exactly second rate in technological advancement but this place has them beat. "Well... Looks like we are allowed entry." She comments.

<< Carefully. >> is Moondragon's only comment, and that telepathic-only, to those Rachel has networked together, before she follows the plunge through the wall of 'dry water' and into the Watcher's domain. Given Adam's commentary on the subject, she makes a point of watching carefully, taking in what she can of every monitor she can perceive, in the hope she will see something that will turn out useful. Her talking would not be useful, so she keeps her green-painted lips shut, thanks.

Rachel quickly accustoms herself to moving in the reduced gravity, though she's not nearly so accomplished as Moondragon. She, too, could employ her telekinesis - but after her earlier near-miss, she's far too stubborn to do so until she's confident that she's mastered the new environment. Besides, concentrating on that takes her mind off the formidable strength of the mind that Adam's leading them towards. She can feel the pressure on her telepathic shields just from the Watcher's proximity, and instinctively she reinforces her mind's defences.

When their destination comes into view, Rachel just stops and looks at it for a moment, before Adam's slightly ominous words draw her attention back to him. "Do you want me to 'knock'...?" She asks, tapping her temple for emphasis, but Adam's already walking forward. "Guess not." Rachel mutters to herself as she watches him, and then Moondragon pass through the wall - and reaches out telepathically to make sure they survived the trip. "I can still sense them." She confirms to Thara with a shrug, and then follows the others inside.

For the telepaths, the watcher seems to be all around them. They might also get the faint impression their mental shields mean very little for him. He is just as close as omniscient as someone can be.

But he is polite enough to materialize to receive the ‘visitors’, too. As usual he takes the shape of a large humanoid in a white and blue robe, with an oversized bald head, a placid and wise expression in his somewhat alien features. “Greetings,” he begins, “you honor me with your presence, but I am afraid I can’t allow you to remain here for long.”

Jo monitors the collapsing of the time stream and records what he can to take with him, perhaps the information will be useful somehow. He makes certain his gear is intact and leaves the building by taking a tube to the top. Once there, he takes off for the moon. It should be only a matter of about ten seconds, most of which is spend getting out of the atmosphere so he can hit light speed...

Thara looks at the large being. Rather then be looked down on, she flies upward to look him in the eye. "Greetings, We will not be long. You signaled for us to come here so here we are. I hope you may have some information on Brainiac. I know he is a threat to the entire universe." She states and awaits a response.

Spotting nothing yet of direct import, Heather continues to check out every monitor she can spot, even lifting off to gain altitude so she can look at yet more monitors. With her ability to psionically adapt her physiology for brief periods, she extends her visual acuity as well. She'll pay for it later, but this could be important. She leaves the diplomacy with the omniscient presence of the Watcher for others; as Phyla would declare without hesitation, Heather is /godawful/ at diplomacy.

Rachel's not used to feeling like she's an open book for any being, even one so clearly above the human level as the Watcher. The physical size disparity doesn't help, either. But then... her mother was the Phoenix, and she 'died' in this place. And if Adam's right when he calls her 'Starchild' and speaks of her connection to the cosmic firebird... it's time to stop playing the overawed tourist and start acting the part. A faint smile touches Rachel's lips as she feels her confidence, somewhat bruised from her failure against Brainiac's ship, return to her.

As first Thara and then Moondragon both take flight, Rachel decides she's not about to be left behind. A little theatrically, she stretches out her arms and lets an aura of telekinetic fire flare into existence around her as she rises upwards. She lets Thara speak, after all the Watcher singled her out, but she figures the backup can't hurt.

The Watcher nods to Thara, "not yet, but he will if he obtains Chronopolis time-traveling technology, it could destroy the universe in his greed." A pause, "unfortunately, I am not allowed to interfere, as I am sure you know."

So why are they here? Adam seems thoughtful. Moondragon is being curious. Rachel receives a curious glance herself.

One of the monitors flickers as Moondragon watches. There is an alien planet there, some space-time coordinates from nearly a century ago. Some bizarre readings. The alien planet seems to shrink. And then it vanishes, leaving behind another strange power signature. But Moondragon has seen similar readings, although much lower scale. Humans have a name for the mechanisms that cause those matter-energy fluctuations: Pym Particles.

Jo reached the area over the unknown lunar city and hovered there on his flight ring. He Looked over the area with his Ultra Vision, but did not find the others, only their ship. He deduced that they must be in the area where he could not penetrate with his Ultra Vision and so switched to Ultra Speed to fly down. Entering through the barrier, he glanced at the Watcher (not a species he knows, but possibly related to the Controllers) and at the area in general before stepping over to Adam and handing him what looks like a tablet computer (it is a 30th century equivalent) into which he had downloaded everything he has on Braniac and on the time collapse...as well as some suggestions on how to use the warp drive of their ship to create a locally stabilized time pocket.

"Then why are we here? I am aware of your inability to interfere but I also know what Brainiac is capable of. I've been a captive of his for a long while. There are so many people and other creatures trapped aboard his ship that it is imperative that get there and shut him down." Thara responds looking curiously at the Watcher. Her eyes catch sight of Rachel and the fiery wings she sprouts. Unbeknownst to her, her own eyes flicker with flames. It is very temporary and could go completely unseen.

Rachel hovers effortlessly beside Thara, letting the other woman put their case to the huge being. As he confirms the danger they already know to exist, and makes his own dire prediction about the likely fate of the universe if Brainiac is left unchecked, the flames around Rachel flare a little brighter, reflecting her impatience, but before she can jump in, Thara speaks again, and Rachel subsides - until Thara's finished with her impassioned plea.

"Besides." She adds in a too-reasonable tone of voice. "If Brainiac /does/ destroy the universe, you won't have anything to watch. Sounds like that's nearly as bad for you as it is for us. And you don't have to interfere." Rachel grins as she looks at Thara, the fire reflected in the other woman's eyes almost stealing her attention, and she quickly returns her gaze to the Watcher. "We'll handle all the interference you can imagine, and then some. Just point us in the right direction." Somehow, she has an idea things won't be as simple as that, but she has to try - and she trusts that Adam brought them here for a reason. She wishes she could try a scan of the Watcher's mind, but she's not /that/ reckless.

<< Pym particles. >> Moondragon sends, to all those whose minds are networked together by Rachel's telepathy. << A planet on that monitor just shrank, to disappearing, as a result of readings that match Pym particles. There's no reason I can think of for that, and Chronopolis itself wouldn't seem a reason. But ... if Brainiac is already using that time travel technology, he could have gone back to obtain the tech, and used it. >> Used it a hundred years ago. Which to anyone but the Guardians of the Galaxy would imply they had already lost. Time travel does make the head hurt, to be sure.

“I do know what Brainiac is capable,” admits Uatu. “It is indeed imperative you stop him, Thara Ak-Var, Starchild. Otherwise, he will destroy us. Everything.” Uatu seems to be choosing his words carefully. “Unfortunately ‘pointing you the right direction’ would be interfering. However...” he gestures to a monitor, where the images flicker to the capture of Chronopolis, now an hour ago. The Watcher took very detailed and precise energy readings of the event. And they are highly discouraging. Looks like that tractor beam he used was thousands of times more powerful than... well. Most anything. “I am still studying the readings,” comments Uatu.

It is bad all around. About 5,000 full power Kryptonians like Superman would have been needed to prevent the city theft. The forcefield protecting the ship? Off charts too. The Guardians are badly outgunned here.

Meanwhile Adam is talking to Jo about the many reasons why he dislikes attempting time traveling to solve problems. He has a long, long list.

Moondragon telepathic comment makes the Watcher glance at her briefly. And Adam to go join her. << Shrinking something like a planet would have cause a dimensional shift as the Pym Barrier would have been... ah, but now I see what the Coluans did! >>

Thara nods, "It will be done." She looks away for a single moment. "Brainiac's ability to shrink things is nothing new. He's been doing it for a long time. I was shrunk down with the city of Kandor to miniature size. Shrinking a planet is just another object." She turns back to the display and to Uatu. "The only way to end this is to bring an end to Brainiac himself. It doesn't matter if we destroy his ship, free every race and species that had been captured. As long as he is free, he will continue doing this. I want to know why and I really want it to stop." There is that fire in her eyes again. Like something unseen is fueling a passionate unseen rage. "Alright you can't point us in the direction. That much power is more then I think I can handle but there is a way around it. We need to get inside the ship." A smile crosses her lips as she turns to Moondragon, "Would your ship be capable of camouflage?"

Heather Douglas glances towards Adam, pausing while giving him an intent look, before looking instead towards Thora, who has addressed her aloud. "Camouflage? Some, very limited. Sansia is not heavily equipped with electronic warfare systems, but she has enough that she is currently very well hidden, while unmoving here on the surface of Luna." Not yet sure what Thara has in mind - an interesting thing, given their minds are telepathically connected, but still true - that is the best answer Moondragon can offer. "I suspect that our goal must be within the Microverse. Which would, interestingly enough, account for our inability to track the ship's departure. Or find it anywhere in normal sapce."

Rachel knows what the Watcher's going to say before he says it - and not because she's a telepath. His phrasing tells her that he's NOT simply going to give them a helpful set of directions and send them on their way. And he calls her Starchild. Just like Adam. Her expression darkens a bit, impatience coming to the fore, before she's realises he's not /quite/ finished... and he's not being /quite/ so unhelpful as it might appear. While the readings don't mean a lot to her, the voice in her head proves that they evidently do to Moondragon and Adam. << I'm glad someone does. >> Rachel silently replies to Adam, then looks over at Thara. << I'm guessing this means we have something approaching a plan? >>

“I see...” considers the Watcher. “Alas, I am afraid you can’t remain here longer. You have an important task, and I have to keep my watch.” He claps his hands and the Guardians find themselves outside his home. Or maybe the Watcher’s home moved away. << But I bid you all farewell >> adds telepathically.

Adam looks around, disoriented for a moment. “I saw no evidence it was Brainiac taking that planet. Shrinking a planet past the Pym Barrier is a feat many orders of magnitude beyond shrinking a city. Still... I believe we must find Colu.”

Thara looks at the others and gives a little smile. "You don't need to disguise your ship too much." She glances towards Earth. "We are going to disguise your ship as one of Brainiac's Scout ships. I am going to go get the transponder from the real thing that I crashed in. It won't take long at all. We won't have to worry about breaking into his Skull ship. He will open the doors and let us in. The transponder should fool the instruments into letting us bypass. From there, we fight. We will come across a lot of his forces along the way. Do not hold back." Thara states as she looks at her new friends. "How is this for a plan?"

"Agreed. And an entire planet entering the Microverse is sure to have been noticed by the local inhabitants." In short, once the Guardians can /get/ there, surely they should be able to find Colu. And somehow, what they find on Colu should help them find Brainiac, and Chronopolis. Moondragon shrugs. "Our best bet, then, is to head to New York City's Baxter Building. The Fantastic Four have the means to transfer a ship and crew to the Microverse." How Heather knows this, she does not explain. "Where do I need to set you down to get this transponder?" she asks Thara, then. She's already bounding towards the boundary and the Sansia.

And then, Rachel's... outside. She blinks at the wall that suddenly - from her point of view - appears in front of her, and then the Watcher's voice arrives in her mind. She replies, telepathically, to just him alone, before she can think better of it. << Goodbye - for now. I might be back after we save the universe. I have... questions. >> About the whole Starchild thing. She'd managed to tell herself it was an odd quirk of Adam's, that it didn't mean what he'd said it meant, about her connection to the Phoenix - but she can't kid herself any longer.

Focusing back on her companions, Rachel rotates in mid-air to face them. And grins at Thara's plan. "Fight and don't hold back? Finally, I get to do something useful. Good plan." She puts in, then lets Moondragon and the others discuss the specifics, before joining the others in heading for the ship.

Adam is somewhat skeptic about using an old transponder to try to infiltrate Brainiac's ship. If as Jo says Brainiac is a super-computer, it would identify the signal, right? But it can't hurt to have the device so they can study how it works.

Now, to the Microverse! They can ask the Fantastic Four for access. Alternatively somewhere in Knowhere there must be a trader able to get enough Pym Particles to shrink their ship past the dimensional barrier. And find Colu. Then Brainiac.

Now they have about 12% of a plan. Maybe.

Thara takes off in the direction of Earth. "I will meet you in New York City!" With a burst of insane speed, she explodes towards earth.