compnetwork | 01 [Video/Action]

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01 [Video/Action]

[There are a million things wrong here, and Chromedome finds himself thinking of every single one of them. Was he kidnapped? Is his hallucinating? Perhaps he's been captured and having his mind messed with... though he's been paying attention to the little details, and they don't fit in with any mnemosurgery he knows. Yes, he's panicking just a ~~lot~~ little, but he manages to keep it to himself. For now.

He gathers that he's in some sort of organic colony, which is strange in itself. Still, he knows better than to run around where easily excitable organics can see him. Trying to duck behind buildings and stay out of sight is a hard thing when you're twenty-something feet tall. Eventually he gives up on that and figures out how to work this odd network device.

Casual as ever, he leans casually against a building and speaks as casually as he casually can.]

Hello! I'm Chromedome, I seem to have lost the ship I'm on and everyone on it. Any help retrieving them will be rewarded with hugs and friendship. So if anyone from the Lost Light is here I'd definitely like to hear your voice right about now.

Oh, and questions like "Where am I," and "What am I doing here" should probably be answered. As a general rule, it's never a good thing when you have to ask those questions.

One final thing: Yes, I am a giant robot. Nice to meet you.

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[Chromedome is quite for a moment, as if something Phantom Girl said has upset him. He refuses to touch on the subject though, he knows it's not good for him.]

It's okay, this conversation got a little more serious than I intended. Sorry about that.

Totally my fault, like I said.

But that's the Legion of Superheroes. ...Oh, and I think you were asking about the powers thing - See, most of the time, it's not really a 'superpower' more than it is a species trait. All Bgztlians can phase into the 4th dimension - that's me - all Saturnites are telepaths... So it's less that we're trying to be some kind of exclusive club or something and more that having the entire population of Saturn joining kind of defeats the purpose of the Legion. In a way, we're like the United Planets, but in... superhero form.

Oh I see. Taking the best of every species makes sense if you're protecting innocents. Colour me impressed, we probably couldn't get anything like that started where I come from.

So tell me more about your power, and maybe I'll tell you a bit about mine.

[If he had a face, he'd be grinning. In any case, his tone is playful and he offers her a robot wink. See? Look he's all cheerful now. Depressing time has passed.]

Well... It seems like something that would be easier for, um, soft, fleshy, small creatures like me. I don't know how well a Legion of giant robots would work. It would look pretty cool, though.

Anyway. I'm a Bgztlian, like I said. ...And it might be easier to show rather than tell, so why don't I come out and find you?

[Chromedome may notice that the video of Phantom Girl has changed from a view of the street to one of the sky, after which she hovers in midair for a few moments, revolving in place.]

Now let's see... Which giant robot are y -- Oh, there.

[Flying organics. Well, that's new, but so is just about everything else that's happening so far. He cheerfully waves her over and holds out his palm for her to land on if she wants.]

Nice to meet you in person.

[She had worked with Colossal Boy enough to feel somewhat less squeamish about the possibility of getting squished by a giant, but still, it was a little unnerving. Phantom Girl alights on Chromedome's palm and tries to speak as loudly as she can.]

I'd say it's nice to meet you in the flesh, but, you know.

[haha Phantom Girl does a little curtsey anyway.]

So... Like I said earlier, I'm a Bgztlian. To put it as simply as possible, I go through things.

[And as she speaks, she begins to sink down straight through his palm.]

[Chromedome's about to say something charming and witty, but he's visor widens when she phases through his hand. That right there is awesome and where can he sign up for powers like that.]

Wow that's pretty...

Wow.

[He laughs and holds a hand under her again, just in case she needs something to stand on. Silly, of course, but it's the the thought that counts.]

You know, you're pretty cute in person. I like your outfit.

[And Chromedome likes small things.]

Aww, that's sweet! Thank you. ...I like your... exterior plating and polish.

[Phantom Girl obviously didn't have the least idea what she was talking about, but regardless, she floats back up through the palm and continues until she's a bit more at face-level.]

So... you were saying something about your powers? I'm guessing it's to squish things flat?

[Chromedome raises an eye ridge at her and flexes the hand hovering under her. There's a sliiiiiikt sound as a two and a half foot long needle sprouts from the tips of each of his fingers.]

I'm a mnemosurgeon. Mnemosurgery is the science of... Well, going into a subject's mind and viewing or altering their memories. I can also inject into dead bodies and learn what the victim saw and heard in the last few minutes before his death.

The worse the death, the more painful the memories.

Anyway, I do that by injecting into key points on their head and then going from there. It's very difficult to do, and I'm said to be one of the best Mnemosurgeons out there, if not the best.

[He says that last part bitterly, he takes no pride in it at all.]

It's been a long war...

Whoa.

[Phantom Girl flinches and skips upwards a half dozen feet or so unnecessarily as the - from her perspective - giant spikes burst out from his fingertips.]

'Mnemosurgeon'...? 'Mnemo' like 'mnemonics', right?

[A short pause as she continues to hover in midair with her arms crossed.]

I think I understand. It's for other robots, right? If you worked with... small, fleshy creatures at all, we'd probably just call you a hacker. But you've been hacking living beings...

You fleshlings definitely don't have anything to worry about, I can only do this on Cybertronians. Don't even ask me to try it on an ordinary machine, because I can't do that. Seriously, don't ask me.

[He shrugs carelessly and his needles disappear.]

The only way my needles can be a threat to organics is if I tried stabbing you. Which would suck for everyone because I'd have to spend hours cleaning all your fluids and flesh off of them.

Morals and ethics are a thing too of course.

[Phantom Girl makes a small gulping noise as she settles lightly back on his palm. ...Being able to go through things had certain advantages; not getting impaled by needle fingers being rather foremost among them.]

...I'll try not to leave any fluids and flesh scattered around if I can help it. It's bad for my complexion - and I'm already pretty pale.

[Phantom Girl promptly sits down on his palm without asking because, honestly, palms weren't the steadiest things to stand on top of.]

It kind of sounds like a skill you'd rather not have learned. ...I know the war was like, a kajillion years or so, but... How long were you involved?

If you don't mind me asking.

[Chromedome curls his fingers ever so slightly, as if somehow afraid she'll fall off or something. Which is a stupid thing to worry about considering what he knows about her.]

I was there for the whole four million. In fact, you can even say that I probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to learn Mnemosurgery if the riots and rebellions hadn't started. At the beginning I thought my skills were being used for the greater good, that I was doing something to help my side. I totally believed I was doing the right thing...

Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. I want to leave it in the past now, but it's hard to do.

[She slowly lifts her head until her gaze meets Chromedome's; at the same time, her jaw drops almost

You've been alive for four million years? Do we use the same mathematical notation? Million is like, six zeros, right? One-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-ze -- wait that's seven no, but --

Four million?!

How did you not go insane or something?

We Cybertronians are very long lived. At least compared to you organic species. Four million is, I don't know, pretty normal for us. I mean, how else can a civil war go for that long?

[He doesn't answer the question regarding his sanity. That right there is a very touchy subject.]

((I appear to have deleted a large part of my response somehow, augh. =( ))

Four million years is longer than civilized life has been known in my universe. ...It's almost longer than the evolution of the first sapient species!

[Phantom Girl continues to look dumbfounded for a few moments.]

That's incredible. You must be like, a mega-ultra-genius or something by now. I can't even remember four years ago that well.

[He'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying her reaction.]

Hmm genius? I'm smarter than a lot of people, but I'm hardly a genius. We Cybertronians have just been around for a while. My partner Rewind is actually a lot older than I am.

Please. You have to be at least...

[Phantom Girl does some quick inaccurate mathematics.]

300,000 times as smart as me. ...Or at least, remember 300,000 times as many things. ...Not that that's necessarily a good thing.

Wait, so can you actually... you know. Die? Or is that not a thing that happens to robots?

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01 [Video/Action]

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