Rue/Brainiac - Keeping an Eye Out

Gathering / Conference

With the possible return of Dr. Oslac Quade looming over them, given recent events, Rue decides to enlist some more experienced help in hunting him down before he uses the Gorgon's eyes for his own nefarious purposes.

Having just collected their new phone from Kelly at the Vigilant Tower, Rue is about to leave the building when they see a familiar pink blur heading towards the lifts. Changing direction, Rue calls out to Brainiac, effectively drawing her attention as they make a beeline for the hero.   "Oh, Rue!" she says in a voice that seems unnaturally chirpy for this time in the morning. As always, the pink-haired superhuman's smile beams, her levitation rising by several inches as she turns to face them, "How are you today?"   “I’m fine, thanks,” Rue says dismissively, offering half a smile before turning serious again. “I was going to text you later, but since you’re here, I was hoping we could speak a little more about Gorgon's eyes. I have some new information on their whereabouts.”   "That's wonderful," she says, floating slightly closer and speaking a little more quietly, "Maybe not something to discuss in the foyer though? Wanna come upstairs?"   “Of course, sorry.” Rue says sheepishly, following Brainiac into the lift. They stifle a yawn as the hero presses the button, fidgeting idly with the zipper of the navy blue hoodie they changed into before their patrol last night.   Moments later, the pair find themselves back in Brainiac's dojo, she floats inside and smiles back at the other superhuman, "Welcome back to the office. Can I offer you a chair?"   “That’s alright, I don’t think this will take long.” Rue replies politely, sadly taking in the view of Bathala out of the window.   By the time they pull themself out of their thoughts, Rue looks a little more closed off, a strange professionalism masking any emotions as they ask Brainiac “How much do you know about Dr. Oslac Quade?”   "Quade, you say?" she mutters, reclining in mid-air as a desk and chair materialise below her, allowing her to put her feet up as she ponders, "Can't say it rings a bell. Should it?"   “He’s the man who experimented on me,” Rue states, clenching their jaw but otherwise remaining uncannily levelheaded. “He harvests organs of people with powers and transplants them into his subjects… I have reason to believe he’s currently got Gorgon’s eyes.”   Brainiac's sunny disposition falters somewhat as she hears what Rue has to say, "Well that is... unsettling," she says, looking a lot more serious than Rue has ever seen her, "So what you're saying is that the eyes could be in... anyone?"   “They could be,” Rue nods solemnly, “Or he could be saving them for a specific project. Either way, it’s not good.”   "So, what do you think we should do?" She says, "You know the guy better than any of us. It seems he's managed to fly under the Vigil's radar."   “I think it’s time that he’s put on the radar,” Rue says, swallowing thickly before adding “I can tell you what I know, but I can’t be a part of any search for him.”   "You don't have to be a psychic to get an ominous feeling from that," she says, her brow furrowing with concern, "Lingering trauma?"   “I’d rather go back  to Hell a thousand times over than spend a second near him…” Rue admits, averting their gaze. “I’ve talked about him before, but never in detail… not even Rachel knows everything. If it can help to find him and stop him from using the eyes, then I’ll talk, but… I can’t do any more than that.”   "Wow," Brainiac remarks, taking a breath, "Alright then. We can take what you know and cross-reference with a few databases, see if we can't find out some more about this Quade guy. In the meantime, we can put out an alert for law enforcement to keep an eye out for him. If we find him, we might be able to recover the eyes before he does... whatever he's planning."   “Thank you,” Rue says, adding with a nervous smile “Maybe I should take a seat after all, this could take a while.”   "Alright then," she says, concentrating momentarily as a comfy-looking armchair manifests before them, "Let's get to it."   Despite the softness of the armchair, Rue struggles to get even remotely comfortable in it as they sit down, shifting a couple of times before giving up. It takes them a little while to find the right words, but slowly they start recounting their past experiences with Quade, their eyes downcast as they try hard to keep it together.   Rue isn’t far into their reporting when they feel a tremor through their body, the air around them becoming thicker as they carry on. Flashes of the experiments race through their mind, accompanied with the terror they’d felt at the time, and Rue is silently glad they haven’t eaten anything yet that morning.   “The lab he used when he experimented on me is gone,” They utter at one point, their shaky hands balling into fists. “Combat apparently turned it into his hideout for a while, but when Pagan and I followed a lead there yesterday  , someone tried to lock us in and blew up the place…”   They swallow down the bile rising up in their throat, taking a breath before they continue, “Alec sent CSI over to the lab several years ago  , though, so that might be useful…”   "It's okay, Rue. Try to relax a little," Brainiac says, knowing it's of little help but clearly wanting to step short of actually reaching into their mind and forcing them to calm down, "I'll liaise with Alec and see what we can dig up. Maybe knowing what the place was used for might shine some light on the situation..." she takes a moment to let Rue calm down before continuing, "Whatever he's doing with them, we'll stop him, Rue. You know you can always call me if the eyes become an issue."   “I just hope he can be found before he does anything with them…” Rue mumbles wearily, getting up from the chair and pacing around the room. “It took me some time before I got a decent grasp on my powers. Quade kept putting me through these ‘tests’ which forced me to use them, like the room he locked me in…” Taking a shuddering breath, Rue remembers their own desperate screams as they clawed at the door of the pitch black room, “I don’t want to think about what he’d do to test out Gorgon’s powers…”   "Do you think he's got his hands on some other test subject?" Brainiac asks, her face growing concerned as she considers the possibility of some poor soul getting their eyes replaced against their will.   “I hope not,” Rue says, a flicker of pain flashing through their eyes at the idea, “But I know he didn’t stop. There was a time when I still worked for Spider when we came across someone who had suddenly gained a new power…” Flashes of a skull getting caved in  by Creel come to mind, their hand instinctively moving to their side as they mutter “I’d recognise his stitching anywhere…”   "Another experiment?" She says, "Where are they now? They might be able to give us a lead."   “He ummm… he got his head kicked in after crossing the Spider.” Rue explains, awkwardly rubbing the back of their neck. They walk back towards the chair, leaning against one of the arms as they ponder something, momentarily getting lost in thought, “I’m not sure how much help it will be, but I’ve got two more things to offer in terms of information on Quade…”   "Ah..." Brainiac says, grimacing slightly at the visual, "Well, whatever you can give us will certainly be appreciated."   “I have some of his old documents,” Rue starts, smiling sadly as they explain how they took the from the safe  in the burnt down lab before CSI could find them. The prospect of having the files added to some database sends a shiver down their spine, but they push the feeling down, determined to keep going.   “The other thing I could offer is a little… unusual,” Their shoulders tense as they continue, “I’m not sure if they would all agree, but… I could get you witness accounts of a bunch of his victims - the ones he killed to harvest their organs.”   Nodding along attentively at first, Brainiac does cock a brow slightly at the mention of the victims, "The ones he...." she mutters, trailing off before suddenly looking quite significantly uneasy, "Rue, are you talking about ghosts?"   “I am,” Rue confirms quietly, the tension in the room palpable. “The spirits of his victims somehow ended up tethered to me… I’m not entirely sure how, but Ghost - the Vigil’s Ghost, I mean - Jeremy -" Closing their eyes, they take a deep breath to stop their ramblings, “He says there’s something about me that draws them in. So yeah… if it would help, we could get their accounts of what happened to them.”   "Well, I suppose he would know," Brainiac says, her eyes drifting away briefly as she thinks on her old friend, "Are they... with us right now?" she asks, looking all around the room.   “I can’t always see them,” Rue replies, “but they’re here. I don’t actually know how far they can get away from me.”   "Huh..." she says, her gaze returning to the other hero, "Usually spirits gets a little... warped when I'm around. That's all," she shrugs, "We think it's something about all that psychic energy without a... container, for lack of a better word."   ''Warped?'' Rue asks, intrigued. ''It doesn't hurt them, does it?'' They turn their head to the side, curiosity getting the better of them as they ask ''Jazz? You okay?''   Brainiac shrugs, but before she gets a chance to say anything Jasmine manifests herself, looking distinctly uncomfortable, wincing and flickering in and out of view, her body seeming like it was suffering some sort of graphical computer glitch, "Yeah, I'm... Err... Yeah, I'll talk to you later," she says, before quickly vanishing once more.   ''I... Should go.'' Rue says, standing upright and taking a few steps away from Brainiac, ''I can get you the files later today, and we'll figure something out about the witness statements.''   "Maybe get Jeremy involved?" She suggests, standing up from the desk as the furnishings dissipate, "Did you hear? He finally woke up from his coma  . He's already looking forward to being released, though the docs say that it may still be a little while."   ''Oh, that's great news,'' They say, taking another step back. ''The waking up, that is. It'd be good to have his help with this, too.''   "Yeah, we're all pretty relieved," she says, hovering behind Rue as they prepare to leave, "We haven't announced it yet, but I'm setting up a press conference for him to speak to the city. You should come. It'll look good to have a member of your team there for solidarity reasons. Really show that the Vigil is one big family."   ''Of course, I'll be there.'' Rue nods, quickly moving towards the door, ''I'd better get going, I've taken up enough of your time already.''   "Thanks, Rue. I'll text you the time," she says as the two near the elevator, "I'll talk to Alec about Quade. Let me know if you need anything else."   ''Thanks, and uhh, better get my new number from Kelly,'' They huff, fishing their new phone out of their pocket and holding it up for her to see. They impatiently wait for the lift to arrive, stepping in and quickly pressing the button for the lobby. ''I'll see you around.''   "See you around, Rue," she says, waving lightly as she wanders off further into the building.   Making their way down to the lobby, Rue practically dashes out of the door, turning down a nearby alley, ''Jazz?'' They try again, anxiously looking around, ''You here? Are you okay?''   "Heya Kiddo," comes the same familiar voice accompanied by the scent of daisies as Rue turns and sees her demonically-tainted friend smiling at her from atop a nearby air conditioning unit, "Sorry about back there. That was... weird."   ''Oh thank fuck...'' Rue heaves a sigh of relief, still looking fairly wound up as they pepper Jasmine with questions, ''Are you alright? It didn't hurt, did it? Did it mess with the uh, link? I'm so sorry, Jazz, I had no idea.''   "Woah, Rue. Woah," Jasmine says, holding her hands up to stop the barrage, "I'm fine. It was just... strange. Like being stood out in really extreme sunlight. Felt... I dunno, burny?" She chuckles, "Either way. I'm fine now. Just, maybe don't call on us when she's around?"   ''Yeah, of course, sorry...'' Rue says, running a shaky hand over their face. ''I really had no idea, I'm so, so sorry,'' After calming down a little more, they try looking for the rest of their entourage. ''Guys? I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I won't force you to do anything if you don't want to, but if any of you want to give your account on what happened with Quade, it might help...''   With a blink of the eye, the alley is suddenly filled with the twenty-four ghosts comprising Rue's following, taking position all around the space, stood against walls, atop of bins, and even hovering overhead.   As per usual, Kate steps forward to act as the group's mouthpiece, smiling at Rue like an old friend, "We've said before, Rue, we're here to help you. And I think I speak for everyone here when I say that seeing Quade punished for his crimes would make a lot of us feel a whole lot better. We're not sure how much use we'll be, but whatever we can do to help, we will."   “Good…” Rue says with a small smile, nodding their gratitude. “I guess we’ll get Jeremy to help take the statements when he’s well enough to do so, or I’ll let Alec use the glasses for a while or something… it won’t be Brainiac, that’s for sure.”   The collective nods along, smiling as they slowly begin to fade away once again, leaving Rue alone with Jasmine once again, "You okay, Kid? I know it wasn't easy seeing him again."   “I-“ They cut themself off, grimacing as the mere thought sends a shiver down their spine. “No. It wasn’t easy… I’m frankly terrified of what he’ll do when the article comes out, but I’ll just have to deal with it.” They smile mirthlessly. “It’s just another problem for the pile.”   "That pile's becoming a fire hazard," Jazz says, chuckling in an attempt to diffuse the tension, "Shame you can't just burn it down."   “Now wouldn’t that be great?” Rue snorts. “Promise you won’t tell Rach about him for now? I don’t want her to worry any more than she already does, she should be focused on her own well-being right now.”   "I agree that she should avoid stress as much as possible," Jazz replies, her tone pensive, "But don't you think you should warn her? We don't know what form Creel's retaliation might take."   “True… but I was thinking maybe Transonic could keep a closer eye on her, just in case…” The thought of Spider going after Rachel to get back at them makes their stomach churn, fury and fear swirling together within. “It would make sense for him to spend more time with her now that she’s getting closer to her third trimester. I’d feel bad about keeping her in the dark, but I’d feel even worse if the stress ended up causing complications.”   "He's a pretty busy guy, Rue," she says, a frown forming on her features, "Why do you think you don't see much of him around the flat?" she pauses for a moment before continuing, "Plus, we both know Rachel. She'd work out something was fucky and you know it."   “Yeah, I do…” Rue lets out a frustrated groan followed by an impressive list of expletives, running a hand through their messy curls as they pace back and forth, “Fine,” They say eventually, a little harsher than they intended. “I’ll warn her.”   "I'm sorry, Rue," Jasmine commiserates, "I just don't think it's worth the risk... But Rachel's come up against Creel before. I'm sure she'll be fine."   “She wasn’t pregnant last time…” Rue mutters dejectedly. Heaving another sigh, they start walking out of the alley, “better go tell her and get those files then… This should be fun.”