13857/The Sanctuary of Solitude

The Sanctuary of Solitude
Date of Scene:	11 February 2023
Location:	The Sanctuary of Solitude, Antarctica
Synopsis:	The Sanctuary of Solitude is found, but it was corrupted by Kryptonite and has become an ecological nightmare that is the responsibility of the Kryptonians to clean up. It will take years.
Cast of Characters:	Alura In-Ze, Conner Kent, Monet St. Croix, Divine

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Alura In-Ze has posed:
The wind whips about the desolate snowscape of Antarctica. The skies above are a wild aurora and there is no life as far as the eye can see - well, unless you're Kryptonian. It's very cold though, which doesn't bother Alura so much even though she knows it probably should.

Her holographic display is active and she glances at those who have come all this way with her, "Well, according to the Fortress, the signal is right here." She looks down beneath her feet, "Somewhere down there is the Sanctuary of Solitude. Laying forgotten. There should be a hidden entrance around here somewhere though."

Conner Kent has posed:
Antartica. It is kind of nice, despite the chill. But it is summer here, so sunlight, and that is a plus in Conner's book. What is not so nice is the lack of GPS signal for his Starkphone. It took him a while to find Alura!

Maybe he should have taken one of those satellite-linked comm. devices the Outsiders have. But this is not an Outsider mission, besides... he didn't even think about it. Next time!

"Oh, here you are!" He greets, offering the Kryptonian woman a smile. "Are Kal and Kara in this field trip too? It has been a while."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix has come along to explore things. She doesn't have the same resistance to the elements that the others do, so she has to take it careful. She would glance about then as the group would gather. "And are there going to be any sorts of threats within the sanctuary or other things I should be aware of? If it will respond only to Kryptonian DNA I should probably hold back."

Divine has posed:
By invitation, the -other- Kryptonian clone is here. She wants to learn more about her Kryptonian heritage, and what better way to do so than by finding something like this? For Antarctica, it's honestly not too bad, not that she notices the temperature too much anyway.

Divine is dressed more or less the same as she always is. Big hoodie, black leggings, combat boots. She floats in the air, just looking around. She peers at both Monet and Connor, people she doesn't know. Her eyes are a little suspicious, but then again, she's always fairly suspicious of strangers. She's silent for the moment. That'll assuredly change.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura smiles as she sees Conner catch up to them. "No Kal, he's busy with some League business. Kara, may be, she was unsure if she'd make it- my daughter is a busy woman." She looks proud of this fact and then shakes her head to Monet, "There's next to no power signature coming from the facility - it should be safe. If it's not, then stay behind me. Once we're inside I'll shut off security and turn on the environmentals - so it's not so cold for you."

Alura motions between the people, "Superboy, M, Divine." Two half Kryptonians and a mutant. It's a good team and Alura is pleased they all agreed to come along with her on this exploration.

"And if I'm lucky there'll be a flight record of Kara's journey to Earth - I can get some answers about why she arrived so late," she says as she starts to kick about the permafrost until her foot crunches on something different. A crystal like structure is revealed beneath the snow and ice. Alura bends down and digs her fingers in to the cracks. With a yank she rips the doorway open. A dark tunnel is revealed beyond curving down underneath the ice.

Crouching down she looks in to the darkness, then back to the three with her, "Are we ready? This facility likely arrived not too long after Superman came to Earth - it's been here a while, but has been powered down for who knows how long. It's meant to be a home away from home, a touch of Krypton. There should be nothing to fear."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner smiles at Monet, "fancy meeting you here, M? Did you find a college you liked?" And then Divine, who is like Power Girl? That makes him blink slowly. Older Kara has a daughter and never told him? Not that they are close or anything, but still... "er, hello. Nice to meet you. Divine is a cool codename, too." He is really outgrowing the 'boy' part of his own name, but what can you do?

And then Alura is digging. Not a lot of time for introductions! "That was quick," he comments. Must have been because X-ray vision or something.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
It's fascinating to M. The physics are well beyond her. But she can very much appreciate a design that came from however many light years, impacted a planet, and kept it's cargo and information intact, even in a powered down space. She goes to watch as Superwoman rips her way on through, and Monet goes to murmur..

"Fascinating." Then she goes to focus, starting to sweep on down and ahead to sense telepathically. She goes to send probes sweeping for life signs. There's likely not going to be anything that the Kryptonians don't pick up, but there's no sense in taking a risk. She would muse softly over while scanning on down.

Divine she vaguely recalls from having seen her with Emma, Superboy she had met in passing previously. And it's time to get ready to go on down as M purses her lips once more. A fascinating intellectual exercise, and one she's looking forwards to very much.

Divine has posed:
"Codename? No, that's just my name," Divine replies to Connor. "I don't have a codename. Not even sure why I should, honestly."

She even sounds like Power Girl, if a little less ... surly than the blone usually seems to be. Not quite meek, but a little soft-spoken and deliberate.

Well, until she gets riled up, anyway.

As the hatch opens, she floats closer, peering down into it and waiting her turn to descend. She's in no rush. She's absolutely sure that whatever traps this place may have are designed for full blooded Kryptonians, which means they could do her serious harm at the very least.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Inside the tunnel it is still cool but those harsh winds are blowing over Monet anymore. Alura glances at her holographic display - nothing. She pauses in what seems to be a broader entry hall, hexagonal crystal patterns under their feet - but everything is dark.

A dull light pulses through the walls occasionally which makes Alura hmm thoughtfully. "Sanctuary, this is your Administrator. Acknowledge," she says in Kryptonian. There is no response.

Alura walks over to a wall and says, "There should be a panel around here somewhere that I can use to tap in to the sanctuaries systems." She taps her finger along the crystaline walls until part of it crumbles. This surprises Alura and behind it she sees black crystals, inky dark things. With a touch they crumble too, clashing to the ground. Like dead coral, there is something sickly and wrong about them. "Huh."

It is then that the group is joined in the room by a floating robot. It looks like Kelex, if half of Kelex had melted during production. A red eye scans across the group and in Kryptonian it states /ACCESS DENIED/ That one working eye powers up to blast at the intruders.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Really? My real name is Conner," offers Superboy, addressing Divine, "you look a lot like Power Girl, are you related?" And of course there had to be a malfunctioning robot. Which shouldn't take him by surprise, really, as this kind of exploration trip never goes smoothly.

"Access... oh, uh..." he looks at Alura, "say... did you design this place as with Kryptonian weapons and robots?" He doesn't like how that eye is charging up, when he does that is to shoot heat beams.

So, he punches the robot. Or at least he attempts to.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Going to sweep on down, Monet St. Croix frowns, "I'm detecting faint animal life." That's unusual. There isn't much of any sort of animal life in the Antarctic; at least that burrows. The ground is too hard and too cold so few things have taken that route of evolution. "At this distance I cannot tell what kind. I do however somewhat doubt that it is the norm for this area due to climate."

As the robot comes out she would look over at it quizzically then and glance to Alura. Monet's eye goes over to evaluate it. TEchnology beyond her ken.

If Hank were along he would have so much fun here.. As Conner goes to charge on in M looks in surprise.. Right as the mechanical things go hostile and the group moves to engage. Oh lovely. It's going to be one of those days. But after SEntinels this is almost wlecome.

However, she moves to stay behind Divine, looking for a quick attack vector.

Divine has posed:
"Uh. ... Kinda. I'm her clone. Half-human clone, anyway," Divine answers Conner a little sheepishly. She doesn't say any more about it as they move through, going quiet to watch Alura work. She tilts her head at the crumbling crystals, and when the brutalized robot shows up and angry shouts in a language she doesn't know, she follows her instincts.

Her eyes burn red and twin lances of heat vision race for the robot.

"I guess it's not friendly!"

Alura In-Ze has posed:
The faulty Kelex robot becomes engaged with Conner. It is designed to defend an outpost against alien invasion, or possibly even Kryptonian invasion - it was not designed to fight back against superhuman strength or heat vision. The weapon, however, is more than capable of hurting even Superwoman.

Battered by the punch, it floats off the ground and crashes back against the crystal wall leaving a cracked dent in its wake. The weapon bursts forth, missing its intended target and the beam bounces around the room.

Alura turns in surprise and feels the energy weapon hit her right in the chest. This should have been deadly - and would have been if she were on Krypton. Here it merely hurts. She winces and being the fastest here she dashes across the room and pulls the robot out in front of Divine's heat vision so that it can be sliced in two.

She places the ruined robot down on the ground and frowns at its construction. "That was quick thinking Conner. And good instincts Divine." Her hand rubs at her chest on the ending tip of the S. "Something has corrupted this facility. I've never seen crystal components crumble like that and I've never seen a Kelex that looks like this before."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod gently, "The processor will have corrupted. But extensive physical damage should have rendered it if not inoepratble then not have simply made it attack anythign hostile." However if someone or osmething specifically corrupted it to attack intruders, then they would have performed basic maintenance upon it or had others react in a swarm rather than simply have a damaged one engage them.

She goes to once more telepathically sweep ahead, trying to get a better sense of where the animal that she picked up earlier is. Presuming she can, she goes to try and link her mind with Conner, Divine, and Alura and goes to try and give them an approximate position of what she's getting. <<I think there's something there, but I can't get specifics on it>> Presuming she can give a relative location of it through all the blockage and the remnants of everything.

"How many more sentinel or defensive units would there be normally deployed in such a craft?"

Conner Kent has posed:
"Looks like something seriously damaged the robot," offers Conner, "perhaps it was malfunctioning; there shouldn't be anyone here. People can't live this far into the ice. Well, not regular humans." Which actually doesn't mean much nowadays. Maybe there is an Inhuman City around the corner.

After thinking a moment, "on the other hand, the sanctuary has been here for a while. And superhumans are everywhere. Someone might be down there," he touches the wall to extend his telekinesis, trying to see the areas ahead. "Can you see through the walls, aunt Alura? I never quite figured out how to."

Divine has posed:
Divine finally lands, feet touching the floor after the combinded effort puts the robot down. She looks at Alura, a brief flicker of concern crossing her face until she realizes that the other woman is fine. She just nods once at the praise.

"Something is definitely off, here," she says, peering about. She quirks an eyebrow at Conner about his lack of X-Ray vision. "Huh, guess we come in different flavors. I thought all Kryptonians could see through stuff."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
The crystal material used to construct the sanctuary conducts Conner's telekinetic touch quite well revealing to him what Alura and Divine see when they looks around, though perhaps with more detail. The tightly compacted ice layers are so dense they act like a heavy metal and obscure much of the facility from her.

The facility, though, seems to be almost maze like with corridors and tunnels and drops and rooms all over the place. It's extensive, significantly bigger than the Fortress of Solitude and there appears to be no rhyme or reason to any of its design. Not simply 'alien' but more like 'corrupted programming'.

The most relevant feature, though, is a big void in the middle of the facility. Alura sees it and its absence is felt by Conner. It's also where Monet felt life. Alura gives Conner a confused look and then says to Monet and Divine, "There's a cavern below us - given how strange this place is I can't guarantee there won't be another protector here but we'll deal with that if we have to. Come on, let's check out this cavern."

A labyrinth always leads you to the center, which does not accurately describe this place. It's a good thing everyone here can fly because some of the vertical shafts are quite perilous. The crystal walls are not always smooth - sometimes they have sharp spikes jutting out of them.

As they draw closer to the cavern, though, Monet can sense many creatures. Animals. Weird animals. A mixture of Earth-like and.. not. The floor simply ends opening up to an under ice oasis. It's warm, with rocky beaches and a lake that extends off in to the distance. At its center is something decidedly Kryptonian - a lopsided crystaline structure that looks like may be it broke away from the Sanctuary at some point.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance through it and then go to hold her hand up to guide herself and help focus as she would gesture over. "This is.. Not natural. I.. Would presume there's some sort of seepage. A.. Gestalt of the surrounding area. Absorption.." she can just feel things and they don't -feel- natural. That doesn't mean tha tit's wrong, however. Just that something here has happened that she can only grasp at.

<<Like the.. Savage Land.>> Some sort of combination of things which are other. She would look about and pause. "I'll defer to your analysis, of course. Is the.. Area stable?" Such a broad question, but one she doesn't really know how to ask more specifically.

Divine has posed:
The group traverses the tunnels, floating through drops and being wary around blind corners. The clone has a frown of concentration on her face as she tries to keep tabs on what's going on and maybe what's ahead.

When they hit the end of the floor, her eyes widen as she looks down at the almost tropical oasis down there. "What the hell happened here? This is wild."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner shrugs, "well, I have tactile telekinesis," he offers. "This place is pretty large," he adds, frowning. He never did this with the Fortress, but it looks larger, definitely.

Again he follows Alura, now much more warily, ready to step in. Alura is probably more powerful than himself, but she has not been taking yellow sunlight that long. And Conner has been in the business for six years now. "Okay, this didn't form like it should, did it? Look at those walls. And... might have those animals being caught in the impact?"

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura tap taps a foot on the edge of the floor. It crumbles and falls down below. After a moment, there's ~sploosh~ sound as it hits the lake. "I would say this place is not stable, no." Her eyes fall upon Conner again and she notes he seemed to know what was coming despite not being able to see through things. "What is... never mind. Something for us to discuss another time."

She shakes her head, "No. This is not how this place is meant to form at all. But perhaps the core can give us some answers-" she says pointing to the structure in the middle of the lake. She steps off the edge and floats down. The water is shallow, going up to mid-thigh. It has a tingle to it as if it's energised somehow. She runs her fingers through it and then her eyes snap to the local wildlife.

Swimming in the dark water is a weird fish penguin crystaline creature. Whatever it was meant to be it seems to have been corrupted by the presence of the Kryptonian technology. It swims up to Alura and tries to bite her thigh but with little success despite its frighteningly sharp looking teeth.

"This is an ecological nightmare..." she says with hushed tones that echo in the giant cavern.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance over at the merged creatures as they came upon them.. "No, it is not. I do not know if this locale requires sterilization.." She would frown as she would look at the.. Infected things? No.. Mutated. She hovers up several inches away from the ground.

The Kryptonians might be invulnerable to them,b ut the same did not go over for her. "How long ago would the impact have happened?" She works at trying to do the math in her head for figuring out how long the interaction process took place that would have resulted in these..

Transmutations. She goes to look around.. Trying to assess if there's some sort of higher consciousness present of any sort.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner floats forward to grab the crystal-penguin-piranha (?) thing, just in case it is dangerous enough. "Not friendly pets either," he notes. "Well, at least there are no more armed robots. Can you get control of the place? We can fix this mess later."

Or at least put the crystal fish in a bowl. He looks for a suitable place, as well as more strange hybrids. "If this is the main control... core, we should secure it. How many doors are there?"

Divine has posed:
Divine floats down after Alura, her expression interested, but wary as they approach the lake. As a creature tries to eat Superwoman, Divine just floats above the water for the moment. She peers at the core, curious about it, but not knowing anything about crystals or technology beyond modern earth stuff. This is literally beyond her.

AND she can't speak the language.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura looks at Conner holding the crystal-penguin-piranha (?) thing and then back out at the lake. Ripples in the water tell her there's a lot more of them living here. "I wonder what they eat...," she says with concern. Big sharp teeth like that have to evolve for a reason.

"Perhaps twenty years? I won't know until I can read the logs - if there are any. And yes, we should fix this mess. It'll take years but ... my family caused this mess when we sent the sanctuary to Earth, it's therefore my responsibility to undo this."

She strides forward to the central building in the middle of the lack and grabs the doorway. "Just the one door Conner." With a crack, she shatters one of the crystals and enters in. The space is similar to the main gallery of the Fortress of Solitude. However, instead of a hologram of Jor-El, there is a weird holographic shadow being caste elongated against the wall. Glitching on and off like a broken fluorescent light.

At the center is a console with crystals set in it. Some are clear, some are black. Alura looks to the others and motions for them to come in. Water from the lake starts to pool about her feet as she enters.

As she approaches she begins to feel something a little odd. An almost pain within her. Her veins start to glow green and she doubles down on to the floor. "Aah... t..." she grits her teeth.

Kryptonite. A small sliver of it is embedded in to one of the control crystals and its poisonous radiation, for Kryptonians, floods the space.

Divine has posed:
Divine follows Alura, ducking through the door as she floats above the water. She takes it all in, the almost macabre ambiance and frowns, her face going cold. She moves closer to Alura as the reaction begins, and she's confused.

Until it hits her.

The clone drops to the ground, her powers failing her. She writhes in the rising water, encountering the worst pain she has ever felt in her short life. She claws at the ground uselessly, her whole self going under the rising water and making it froth in her throes of pain.

Conner Kent has posed:
No bowls on sight, so Conner ends up tossing the fish thing back to the pool. He stays behind for a few seconds, looking at the fishes. Someone must be feeding them, yes. Who knows what.

Kryptonite next room? Conner has felt it before, so he might be the first to notice. "Wait, don't get closer!" He shouts at warming, grabbing Alura and trying to pull her back to the pool room. Walking, as his powers vanish almost immediately. He also looks pained, but he is able to handle the Kryptonite radiation a little better than a regular Kryptonian. "That's Kryptonite. It is quite deadly for us. M, please, get Divine out."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And she know what that is. From research and just a litlte of experience. "Let me." From what she knows it's not lethal to humans.. At least other than after extended periods of exposure. There's no metal around to wrap it on.. But M just goes to charge at it at high speed. Said glowing green Kryptonite is grabbed, and then Monet is going to fly up towards the surface at high speed. They've been through the passageway, she knows the route.
    So she's flying up and out at slightly below supersonic speeds, going to take it about three kilometers away from the opening and put it over along one of the frozen pieces of debris where she goes to press it underneath a rock.

Out of the way and with some concelament just in case there's anyone or anything around. No sense in letting more of the stuff get out and vanish. <<I've removed it until you can give something safe to contain it within.>>

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Kal had sent her all kinds of information on Kryptonian. The variations of it, how dangerous it is, the effects on Kryptonian physiology. None of that prepares you for just how bad it hurts. Her blood feels like it's boiling and breathing is very hard. The water is pooling about her. The world is a flash of white light.

She vaguely hears voices through the pounding in her ears. Conner dragging her back away from the deadly mineral - until Monet clears it from the room.

She gasps for breath and slowly sits up. The green fades from her veins and she feels her body shaking. Sensing a chance, the fish creature swims in to the new space and bites at Alura again. But it's too late, its teeth can't sink in again. She gently pets the confused thing on the head.

"By the gods that...," she says looking at Divine and Conner with concern, though Conner seems to have survived it better than either of them. She rests a hand to her tummy as she tries to catch her breath.

Divine has posed:
Monet does good work. She gets the Kryptonite out of there. She has no idea what happened. What that was. Why she -hurts-. When it's clear, she rockets out of the water, gasping horribly. The water falling from her body, dripping from her hair and clothes, disguises the pained tears that stream from her eyes. The ache fades pretty rapidly, but she will remember that forever.

"W-what was that? I've never -hurt- like that before."

She pants, catching her breath, some of her color coming back.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner just looks a little paler than normal. Also, he has lost most of his solar charge, which means the place feels pretty damn cold for him right now, even though he can keep the water off his clothes with the telekinesis. "Lead box for that piece of killer glass," he grumbles.

"I wonder if that was the cause of the mess," he offers, "radiation might have damaged the crystal circuits. Good thing it is not very dangerous for humans. Still toxic, be careful with it, M."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would take a few moments to check in and return, "Are you all right?" She would go to take in each of the three in turn if she could. "I could feel the pain radiating off you. It was agonizing." she will never, ever think of something like a colored rock in any sort of jovial terms again.

Her face is scrunched up sympathetically. "I can get help if you need it if you can guide me through here."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura shakily stands back up and offers a hand to Divine. "It's called Kryptonite. I don't know enough about it yet but it hurts us. Though, having experienced it, I'd say 'hurts' is a bit of an understatement." She frowns even as color starts to return to her lips.

Her eyes turn to the control panel and she notes the way Conner is getting colder. She too can feel it, it's not an environment for unpowered Kryptonians. Striding forth she places her hands to the crystals. The damaged hologram shuts off and the lights come up.

"The facility is severely damaged - we'll have to reboot the core. That'll take some time. For now - I'll shut it all off. We can come back another time and begin repairing the damage done here." With a motion, the lights go out and the thrum of the Sanctuary goes silent.

With the dull light of the core off, glowing lichen can be seen underneath the water illuminating the cavern. Alura looks back to Conner and Divine, "Sorry. I had no idea it'd be this dangerous." She then thinks to Monet <<"Thank you, if you hadn't been there we could have been killed">>

Divine has posed:
Divine takes the help up. Her powers came back as soon as the Kryptonite was gone, but the echo of the pain will linger. She will likely wake up screaming in agony from it's mere memory. She never wants to feel that again.

She listens to Alura and nods once. "I never want to feel that again."

The core is shut down, not that the dark bothers her, and she looks around, her expression brightening a little bit. "Maybe I should learn the language."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would shake her head, "Thank you. Just how was that rock here, however? And so centrally placed?" The mechanics of how it came into being are beyond her. "Where can we put it to keep it safely contained? Or destroy it?" She would inquire over while going to shake her head to get some of the dizziness out of it.

Then focusing over on everyhting. "And this place is amazing. Your technology is.. Beyond nearly any that I have ever seen." Her tone is honest and in admiration. And also curiousity. Oh, to have Beast's ability to rapidly understand virtually everything..

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura wraps an arm about Conner to help him with flying. She can't keep him warm though her body is warmer than the average person. She navigates back out of the sanctuary with him, and with Divine. Once out she says to Monet, "Leave it there. We'll come back with some lead - then I'll toss it in to the sun."

She frowns though, "If I had to guess, the sanctuary is transported in the form of a single crystal - it's possible that fragment of Kryptonite encountered it while traveling to Earth. Or while Kara was in orbit in her pod. It's been at the heart of the sanctuary since it got here corrupting its programming."

She looks back to the doorway she broke open, "And now we need to undo the damage it has done. Earth does not need Krypton's pollution on top of its own." She smiles, "Thank you all for attending with me. Once we have protocols in place and the power restored, you are all invited to help undo the damage done here."