Watch your feet

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

When the white light clears away this time, the abductees find themselves standing in an environment that is, if possible, even blander than the soul-destroying corporate cube farm. The horizon and sky--or is it a ceiling?--overhead are smooth and white, though with a slight curve to it suggesting that they are looking up at the inside of an enormous eggshell.

The floor, however, is not quite so featureless, though still quite bland. It seems to be made up of oval tiles, a pale cream in color, fit together quite closely. Each of the abductees can feel a slight thrumming vibration beneath their feet, suggestive of an orchestra tuning up.

Comments

[flame-of-green.livejournal.com]

"Didn't I see this in The Cube?" Fire asks, just as much to hear her own voice as anything.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

He blinks, trying to refocus his vision, then scowls up at the vanilla sky.

"What the-- hey! I was promised a cookie for answering the twenty silent questions, goddammit."

[azarath-raven.livejournal.com]

"Clearly our abductors have other plans for use," Raven says, also staring up at the sky.

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

A plate of chocolate chip cookies appears on an oval tile three steps away from him.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Huh.

He approaches and peers at them warily.

"I'll know if these are the Pilsbury prefab kind," he cautions, looking around him. He crouches, picks one up and sniffs it.

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

As they begin to move about, and not just in the direction of the cookies, the oval tiles begin to move, too ... vertically. Instead of a smooth floor, the abductees now find themselves standing on (or trying to stand on) an uneven forest of oval pillars. Some pillars stretch for what seems like miles overhead, while others are only a few inches lower than their feet. Still others are so far down that the gap might as well be bottomless.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Good thing he's got an excellent natural sense of balance. He peers down from his sudden lofty perch. What the hell? He looks at the cookie in his hand still, shrugs, and then stuffs it in his mouth. In for a penny, at this point.

Huh. It's not that bad, either.

"Whoa. Hey, this is kind of like that scene in The Golden Child."

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

"As long as it's not that stone hopscotch scene in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade..."

Flash's balance is pretty solid, too. Being quick helps that. Even if he's still trying to shake off the imagery he was just subjected to.

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

With a rise in that humming sound, the pillars shift again, each of them moving to different heights.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

Superman's eyes gleam all the colors of the rainbow. "I...I think it's this way!" Clark shouts out, trying to lead the Green Lanterns through a dozen bizarre possibilities through the power of his Super Vision!

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

A dizzying array of environments swirls past the Man of Steel, until finally he enters a vast "room" filled with oval stone pillars.

[guy-lantern.livejournal.com]

"I still have no idea what we're doin."

Not that it lessens his enthusiasm any.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"Our best." Superman offers, because he feels like he should have SOMETHING to say during situations like these. The oval pillars make Superman frown, as he sends a mental plea to the Martian Manhunter! 'J'onn, are you following this?'

[flame-of-green.livejournal.com]

Fire has been flying around since they've entered this room, trying to find a way out of it. She's played drums on the pillars, she's listened to her ex sing a surprisingly sweet rendition of Stairway to Heaven, and she's been getting more and more pissed.

In a moment, she stops. She hangs in midair, green flames crackling with the pent up energy she feels. Impossible. There are three people in the entire world that she wishes she could see, and she thinks she's seen one of them. The blue stands out sharply, and the white hair is lost in the background, but she can see a flying person, and she's flying Ice's colors.

"GUYS!" She shouts down to the rest of the group. "ARE ANY OF YOU SEEING THAT?" She points in the direction of the rescue team.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Flash isn't sure if his relationship with Bea was enough to be considered an 'ex' instead of an 'amusing diversion,' but that's neither here nor there.

Fire's shout shakes him out of his own painful little reverie, sqinting to try and make out what she's seeing.

"Give 'em a sign!" he shouts, hoping the pillars won't start to get angry that he's stopped singing.

[sinister-aglet.livejournal.com]

The Question pulls a small gun out of his pocket and points it into the air, pulling the trigger - sending up a magnesium flare.

"Don't ask why I carry that."

[flame-of-green.livejournal.com]

Ex, as in, past tense.

Flame grins as the Question shoots of a flare. As if to counterpoint it, she focuses on her flames, and sends them shooting out as far as she can from her hands, pushing the color farther and farther down the room, closer to the figures.

[anaturalgreen.livejournal.com]

Waiting back at the portal, Jade's busily stringing thin strands of green energy between herself and , creating a across the few feet between them. Anything to keep focused, and to help keep the construct solid.

She's got an eye on the others, though, and at the sight of the pirate ship drawing closer, the spiderweb disappears with a snap of her fingers.

[guy-lantern.livejournal.com]

Brandishing an , Guy adds an to the ensemble.

"Arrrrrr!!!!" he says eloquently, and the fill up. It lurches into a sudden bout of speed and the caper about screeching and chittering as they make sure nobody goes over the side. In short order the Pirate Ship Gardner makes it's way through the portal and back into newtonian reality.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bird_of_flame_/]

"Jade, do you see anything?"

The readings indicate something is happening, probably coming back out but she can't really see it yet.

[anaturalgreen.livejournal.com]

Waiting until the ship was through, Jade slips through the portal herself, flying after in a wave of green.

"They're on their way, Flamebird. You ought to see them here pretty quickly."

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

The artifact proceeds into deep space. Judging by the play of light against its facets, it is still rotating as it continues along its trajectory.

[anaturalgreen.livejournal.com]

Jade follows it, if only to track what direction it might be heading in.

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

Judging by its direction, it is headed for outside the galaxy.

However, the further it gets away from the solar system, the slower it seems to be moving.

[anaturalgreen.livejournal.com]

Jade sends a message back on her comms.

Artifact seems to be headed back out of the galaxy. Ending pursuit now.

She slows and then stops, continuing to watch the artifact as it turns.