Fly me to the moon

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

Conrad Laughlin was a man on a mission.  More than anyone besides his specialists knew of.  The Justice League's Watchtower satellite required minute-by-minute updates and maintenance.  This is not something normally handled by its members, so tech support is always moving through.  

The background check is well and truly exhausting.  One day's work requires a month of informational requests, as well as interviews with family, and what appeared to be a "spirit sniffing" from a rhyming gargoyle.  That was the strangest part of the entire day so far.  The fact Laughlin's packed lunch now bore the faint smell of brimstone was just an added bonus. 

He wasn't able to bring any of his own tools as everything necessary would be provided by the League staff, and a schematic as to what he'd be facing was completely out of the question.  Conrad was working blind here, but when your client bases itself on universal security, its a moot point. 

Turning to the worker next to him in a rather bright orange (with garish blonde work-boots), he spoke quickly.  "If the pay for this wasn't ridiculous, I'd almost do it for the sights.  Where are you out of?"

Comments

[keystonesfinest.livejournal.com]

"Happy Harbor. I think Vibe's trying to get the World Cup or something and the team's cable plan isn't up to snuff. Everybody needs to call the cable guy, right? Ray Henson. Good to meet you." He gives him a friendly nod back, before trying to decipher the different colored buttons on his hand-held.

[keystonesfinest.livejournal.com]

"Central Brewery. Coldest beer in the industry." Another workman nods, chiming in. "I guess we caught 'em on a day off."

The second man's face appears to ripple slightly, before he gives a sharp poke at it. "Damn allergies."

[jla-blackgate.livejournal.com]

The third workman flinches as his colleague's face ripples. "Cuba. Just goes to show we ain't all bad, eh? Heh heh heh." His forced jocularity comes to an abrupt halt when he notices his workmate's face ripple again.

"Sorry, ese. I ain't takin' no risks with this one." Moon-jumping over to Conrad, Brutale draws a dagger from his spacesuit and cuts the oxygen lines running from the back of the workman's. With a kick, he launches the guy into outer space.

"Mis disculpas, asshole." Guillermo sends the signal back down to the Legion of Doom Headquarters that entry time is drawing near.

Meanwhile, in the Watchtower...

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

Kip Blackwell, the satellite's resident IT guru and Oracle's on-site aide, is manning the command center alone, for all intents and purposes, thanks to the crisis in Chicago. With his Braille system set up to one side and most of the other systems voice-activated and capable of spewing all sorts of information via audio, he is able to monitor the activities planet-side without much effort. It's a job he's done in the past and no doubt will have to do again.

The fact that his beloved jazz is not playing would be a strong indication of the seriousness of the issues the Justice League faces. But that doesn't prevent him from whistling a bit of Duke Ellington while he waits. At his side in another chair sits a large orange tabby, as if helping monitor the crisis.

Re: Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom HQ...

[jla-miscreants.livejournal.com]

"Ladies and gentlemen, the witching hour is at hand. It is time to breach the Watchtower." Back at the Legion of Doom HQ in the bayou of Louisiana, the Clock King puts his fob watch in his pocket, and sends Brutale, Captain Cold and Rainbow Raider the signal to activate their half of the teleportation relay.

The signal gets through, as the Clock King, Queen Bee, Clayface, Fadeaway Man, the Eel, Fiddler, Sonar and others find themselves beamed to the breach that the three moon-based villains have created silently. The Clock King clicks one of his stop-watches, and time halts briefly, as with a struggle he inflates the portable airlock around them so that they don't need to worry about lack of oxygen as they enter through the small hole.

The JLA Watchtower Laboratories

[jla-miscreants.livejournal.com]

The warped monstrosity known as the Eel leads the group through the breach and into one of the many laboratories on the Watchtower. "We... have to move... fast. Clock King's time... manipulation and Fadeaway's... sensor blanking tech... will only hide us for so... long. As will Clay... face's disguises. Split... up. Take... Damage... Kill what you can!"

With that, the Eel heads off towards one of the other laboratories. Maybe he will be able to find a chemical that can stabilise his powers.

The JLA Watchtower Cells

[jla-blackgate.livejournal.com]

"Bueno. I'll be heading for the cells, chicas. I'm gonna be bringing some spice to this little party of ours..." Brutale runs off down a corridor, practically springing from wall-to-wall. The other villains wouldn't have seen how agile the Hasaraguan can be, but the way he moves and handles his knives is deadly and really quite frightening.

"Ah, me gusta." With a grin, Brutale walks into the sealed prison section, where criminals too dangerous to be sent back down to Earth and too Earth-related to be sent to Oa are kept. He can only see some of the figures in their transparent cells, but begins to work on the control panel with the grace of an accomplished hacker.

The JLA Watchtower Trophy Room

[jla-alcatraz.livejournal.com]

Anton displaces himself in space and time so as to avoid any unnecessarily hazardous security systems, merely observing the corridors, rooms and such, until he finds what he's looking for.

The trophy room.

Villains who had been to the Watchtower before had told the Fadeaway Man about some of the rare artefacts on display, in their secure casings. Some of them had even had their weapons removed, and placed there. Wriggling his fingers like Homer Simpson eyeing up a particularly appealing doughnut, Anton caresses the Cosmic Treadmill, before another choice item catches his eye.

Is that a yellow power ring?

The JLA Watchtower Control Room

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

Loping through the magnificent spectacle that is the JLA Watchtower, pausing every now and then to look at the stars, Clayface, in the form of Black Lightning, finds himself on the control deck, hearing the sounds of the battle in Chicago.

And there's a man sat there.

"Hey there." Clayface / Black Lightning holds up a hand in greeting to Kip.

The JLA Watchtower Special Containment Unit

[keystonesfinest.livejournal.com]

Heat Wave isn't bothering with the clay disguise, the wriggling mass on his face irritating him to no end. It had been surprisingly cold on his skin, and cold bothers him.

So in his normal costume, he walks on through the Watchtower, occasionally melting a camera or sensor with one of his guns, and ends up in a room he'd rather not be in. It's refrigerated, and there's nothing in it but a large cylinder containing what appears to be a very muscular man, frozen solid. In front of the cylinder is a plaque that reads 'Triumph'.

"This place needs some heating." Mick raises both of his guns, and fires jets of burning fuel into the room. Due to the intensity of the heat, the temperature starts rising dramatically. Heat Wave does nothing but watch as the flames lick across the floor, up the walls, and up to the containment cylinder.

The JLA Watchtower Multiverse Observation Chamber

[jla-miscreants.livejournal.com]

The Clock King saunters through the Watchtower, stopping when he reaches what appears to be some kind of observation room, containing a massive mechanical timepiece.

Examining each piece carefully, he actually gasps in wonderment when he realises what it is. "This clock... It times every dimension. It tells me all I need to know about the multiverse!" His face widens with a cheshire cat-like grin, and then turns to a frown.

"How do I take this with me...? The parts... Too intricate. Hm." Tapping is watch in thought, he stands there for a good five minutes before starting to get impatient. "Damn it all! The greatest wonder in the multiverse and I can't have it!! Well if I can't, nobody can!"

The Clock King takes a time-bomb from his belt, and places it carefully in one of the cogs of the multiversal clock. "Maybe this will disrupt some world, somewhere. I do hope so." He steps back, and waits for the detonation.

Cavalry Time

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

The auxiliary teleporter system activates as Blue Beetle responds to the information circulating on the comm-channels - namely, that the big attack on Chicago was a distraction to lead heroes away from the real assault.

The stealth systems on his robot surrogate cloak him in invisibility and he stalks the halls of the Watchtower, looking to take down as many villains as he can.

Re: Cavalry Time

[jla-miscreants.livejournal.com]

The Eel is still not bothered by the gas unleashed by Kip, due largely to his bizarre physiology. As he slinks and skulks his way through the Watchtower, hopefully towards a point where his teleportation relay will activate again now that he has all of the chemicals he was after, he starts to feel increasingly agitated.

There's something in the corridor with him, but he can't tell where. "Is that... you... Fadeaway-zzaaAArrggghh!!!" The Eel takes a massive electrical jolt through his body.

Re: Cavalry Time

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

The security floors - if they're active, that's a good sign. Ted's robotic surrogate leaps over the Eel and carries on down the corridor, making his way towards the monitor womb. The gravity's fluctuated as well - but the robot's frame can take 10 times Earth's normal gravity, at least.

Meanwhile, in the Monitor Womb

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

Getting past Girder wasn't too hard once the metal man's eyes had been frozen shut. Now Beetle bypasses the security on the Monitor Womb, slipping inside.

"This is Beetle, I've got the Monitor System. I'm going to see how much damage that explosion did.."

Re: Meanwhile, in the Monitor Womb

[chanciekins.livejournal.com]

Adam appears in the room with Blue Beetle as the room is bathed in Zeta Beam light.

Adam had used the Beam to try and get a jump on the villains in Watchtower, but for some reason it had an error.

Adam appears with his ray gun drawn, unaware of the malfunction. Scanning the area all he initially finds is signs of the Blue Beetle.

"Wait were am I? how did I get here? Where are the others?" Adam says to himself in his confusion.

Re: Meanwhile, in the Monitor Womb

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

The freezing agent over Girder's face has now been pulled off, along with a great deal of his metallic visage, revealing even more metal underneath but lacking features such as eyes or a nose.

"Sorry to interrupt this happy reunion!! RAAARRRR!!" He charges blindly into the Monitor Womb now that Beetle has gained entry, thrashing and swinging his heavy iron arms.

[zauriel1971.livejournal.com]

The ride up is fast, smoother than Owlman expected. When GL arrives with the group of other GL's and others coming with them, Owlman says, "Thanks for the lift. Where to?"

[beware-my-power.livejournal.com]

Hal has no time to answer the question once he's delivered the heroes to the Watchtower, as he's immediately gone to engage Dr. Light in combat. (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1441585.html?thread=46578737#t46578737)

In the Watchtower Antechamber

[amirrorcracked.livejournal.com]

"'Ello lads. Ah think it's time we got goin'." Mirror Master appears in one of the reflective surfaces of the Watchtower Antechamber, especially treated by Captain Cold to allow his mirror gun effects to work. The Watchtower is usually impervious to McCulloch's technology.

McCulloch pokes his head out of the wall and smiles his gap-toothed grin at Captain Cold. "Come on, Cold. We've done our damage, so let's no' stay around for the fireworks."

Re: In the Watchtower Antechamber

[keystonesfinest.livejournal.com]

"Got it, McCulloch. I think the message has been delivered, and there are enough surprises left here to give the Justice League some pause for thought before writing the Rogues off again." Cold gives one last look to the magnificent interior of the Watchtower, and steps through the portal into McCulloch's mirror dimension.

[zauriel1971.livejournal.com]

"NO!" Yells out Owlman, but it's too late he sees the portals shut, doors get either frozen or melted, and sees scrambling 2nd rate villains.

'Like rats fleeing a sinking ship,' he thinks. He quickly runs to a nearby control panel and looks at the gauge. He calls up sensor readings and sees a sight that makes him numb, enough 'surprises' throughout the Watchtower to make it implode if set off in the right sequence.

"Owlman to any Flash - we have a huge problem. It needs your speed to get rid of them in time. Can any of you teleport up here?"

[swiftjustice.livejournal.com]

"I'm already on it, son."

Jay rode up with Green Lantern and the rest, and is now moving at top speed through the Watchtower, taking care of the little surprises left behind.

There's a nagging feeling as he does so - something tugging at the edge of his perception.

Backin up Blackwell

[chanciekins.livejournal.com]

Adam knew that Kip was the best chance the Watchtower had to come out in one piece. First rule of chess, protect the King, Adam though as he zipped through hallways with his Jet Pack trail streaming behind him.

Adam was going along very smoothly as was drawing very close to the location Kip was at provided to him by The Blue Beetle. So Adam tried to raise Kip on the comm saying, "Kip this is Adam Strange, I am almost to your location prepare for evac!"

Re: Backin up Blackwell

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

"Thank you, sir," says a grateful Kip. "Cake and I are about ready to go. Gear's secured."