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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 3 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 13)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 12) || (AO3)

Chapter 13 (2594 words)

A metallic claw latched itself solidly onto Emmet’s arm and, with a hydraulic hiss, lifted him into a bone-crunching hug.

The dull, leaden feeling in his limbs was quickly receding, but Emmet was still glad for the solid arms wrapped around him, unsure how well he would have been able to keep his numb, noodly legs underneath himself without them. With jerky motions, he looked around at his rescuers.

“Catastrophe? Nova?” He asked breathlessly, a dopey grin smeared across his face. They hadn’t parted on the best terms previously, but his earlier anger paled in comparison to the joy he felt seeing them now. “But how did you guys find me?”

“We saw the whole thing,” Nova explained. “Our glasstroid wasn’t too far from where your ship exploded.”

“KA-BOOM!” Catastrophe added very helpfully.

“But,” Emmet frowned, still swaying slightly in the Major’s grip. “I thought the Gemini couldn't fly?”

Nova’s face darkened. “O-oh, we um,” her voice petered out awkwardly, and her gaze fell sharply from Emmet’s face, as though she had suddenly become fascinated by the abstract shapes her boot traced in the dust. “S- Some parts of your ship landed near our crash site. We uh, we used them to repair the Gemini.”

Catastrophe’s grip shifted slightly, enough that they could face Emmet eye-to-eye. “WE ARE DEEPLY SORRY FOR TAKING YOUR PARTS, HAZMAT. ”

Emmet tried to laugh, but found himself wheezing instead, due the Major’s vise-like embrace. “I don’t think you guys need to apologize for saving my life.”

“No, it’s- ” Nova sighed, her boot pausing halfway through its current line. “We’re also sorry about before.”

“Oh,” Emmet breathed.

He could remember that night on the Gemini well, each moment of hurt and betrayal having been preserved in his mind clear as crystal. But now, try as he might, he couldn’t summon up any of those old emotions. Like paints dried in the bottle, they retained their shape, but not their function. He was simply too happy to be able to move and speak again, to be able to leave.

“We just got so excited about finally fixing the Gemini.” Nova continued, oblivious to Emmet’s thoughts. “We never really considered that you might not be excited too. But still… we should have asked.”

She looked up at him, stretching out a gloved hand. ”We’re sorry that we didn’t ask, and we’re sorry that we hurt you.”

Emmet took her hand in his own. Hearing the aliens’ intentions didn't technically change anything in the past, but it felt good to know that they hadn't meant to hurt him. He wriggled slightly, and with a gentle touch, pulled himself out of Catastrophe's arms, turning to face both of the aliens.

“I’m sorry too.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the pair jerked back in surprise.

“UH,” Catastrophe’s expression was hidden under his mask, but no doubt it was as contorted with confusion as Nova’s. “W-WHY?”

Emmet thought back to that night, to the empty way the aliens had stared at the dark broken engine, like a light had gone out of them as well.

“I was upset at you guys but… I didn’t have to break your stuff. I could have just taken the fuelcell back, or heard you guys out, but I… I felt hurt and I wanted to hurt you too. So, I’m sorry for that.”

Nova’s smile was small, but genuine. “Thanks Emmet,” she murmured.

“WE CAN ALL BE SORRY TOGETHER!” Catastrophe bellered enthusiastically. “SHARING IS INTEGRAL TO OUR ABILITY TO FUNCTION AS A TEAM AFTER ALL!”

“A team?” Emmet chuckled.

“Oh...” Nova paled. “Yeah, so um…. There might be a little bit of um...”

“AN IMMINENT WAR.” Catastrophe interjected eagerly.

Emmet’s laughter faltered awkwardly. “That’s funny... I could’ve sworn you just said ‘war’.”

“I DID!” The lights on the Major’s mask lit up, pleased with themself.

Dumbfounded, Emmet to Nova for clarification.

“It’s the Queen,” she explained. “We heard her on the comms once our ship turned back on. It…. We don't know why but there's a fleet of warships heading directly to Bricksb- er, Apocalypseburg, I mean."

“Okay…” Emmet strained to keep his voice level. “That’s probably not good...”

From the back of his mind, the remnants of his nightmare on the Gemini lurched forwards. The images of Apocalypseburg shattering replayed in a horrible loop, set to a soundtrack of Lucy's terrified scream.

He forced himself to take a deep breath. “What are we planning to do?”

Nova and Catastrophe exchanged a quick look. “We... we’re not sure."

"WE'RE CLOSER TO BRICKSBURG THAN THE FLEET IS," Catastrophe stated matter-of-factly. "SO WE COULD PROBABLY BEAT THEM THERE IF YOU WANT TO GO HOME."

Nova nodded. "Or," she added, "we could try to meet up with the fleet before they ever even get into range of the city.”

"OR WE COULD RUN AWAY, GET CONCEALING FACIAL HAIR, ADOPT NEW NAMES AND ACCENTS, AND BEGIN A NEW LIFE AS NON-TRADITIONAL COLLEGE STUDENTS."

This suggestion was met with a pair of blank stares.

"I'M NOT SAYING WE SHOULD, BUT IT IS TECHNICALLY AN OPTION."

Emmet groaned. Saving the world had been hard enough the first time, and now his Systarian friends' world hung in the balance too.

“Gosh," he muttered. "This sure is an important decision that I should definitely make right now, in order to avoid any potential ambiguity.”

“OF COURSE,” Catastrophe nodded solemnly. “SO, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?”

---

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” Unikitty’s form shifted rapidly, her size and color fluctuating as her rage intensified.

“Guys, listen,” Lucy begged. She’d finally confessed to the others about letting Rex go, and needless to say, they weren’t taking the news well.

“We’ve been listening!” Batman groaned. “We listened the whole time you were saying ‘hey, I let the prisoner go!’”

“AGAIN.” Unikitty tacked on with a growl.

“I be starting t’ think we oughtn’t let Wyldstyle guard the brig anymore,” Metalbeard added, crossing four of his robotic arms in double the disappointment.

“Just let me explain,” she continued, trying to speak over their protests. “Rex is… he is Emmet. Just… just from some kind of awful alternate future.”

The others stared at her with concern, but Lucy could see understanding dawning in their eyes.

“Let me guess,” Batman started, “he’s from a future where some big-chinned, superpowered alien tried to wipe out half the universe in a weak attempt at a Hegelian tragedy?”

“No,” Unikitty interjected. “I bet it’s a future where scientists bred a new kind of super dinosaur that inevitably escaped and ate everyone in an elaborate allegory for the folly of man.”

“Mmm-mm,” Metalbeard hummed in disagreement. “He probably got trapped in the worst hell of them all - a career in government bureaucracy.”

“NO!” Lucy felt her face growing hot. “He’s from the future where… where he listened to me.” Ashamed, she sank to the floor, ducking her face into her lap and pulling her arms up to hide the hot tears that had started spilling out. The other Masterbuilders exchanged concerned looks.

“Wyldstyle,” Unikitty shrunk back down to her normal size. Her voice was much calmer now. “What do you mean?”

“He,” her voice caught in her throat, the sound threatening to become a full sob. “He got tougher. Like I’d told him to. And… and now he’s come back to protect Emmet from that fate. To protect him from us.” Now her voice did break. “To protect him from me.”

There was a moment of silence. Lucy struggled valiantly not to disturb it, to remain composed.

“Ugh,” Batman eventually broke the silence with a groan. “Morally complex villains are not really my thing. More of a Marvel trope to be honest.”

“So, what?” Unikitty ignored him. “We’re just not supposed to rescue Emmet?”

“I don’t know,” Lucy whispered. “I just… I never realized that I was hurting him, so like, how can I take that risk, knowing that I could hurt him this badly again?” She lifted her head from her hands slightly, but still couldn’t bring herself to meet their eyes. “Would we really be rescuing him, or just hurting him more?”

The three other Masterbuilders stepped forwards, each taking a seat on the ground near Lucy. Something about the presence of her friends eased the tension in her chest, making it just a bit easier for her to breathe.

“Do you really think the best possible future for Emmet is for all of us to just leave him all alone?” Unikitty asked, her face serious.

"Well no, but-”

“You can isolate yourself out of fear of being hurt, but the loneliness doesn’t hurt any less.” Batman added. “Uh, so I’ve heard... From my many friends.”

“He- He wouldn’t have to be alone!” Lucy stammered. “He could have better friends! He deserves better friends.”

“The ability to hurt others isn’t something that only bad people have.” Unikitty replied. “Absolutely everyone has the capacity to hurt the people they care about, even unintentionally.”

“Yar, indeed our actions have a tendency t' outrun or exceed the ends through which we attempt to govern them.” Metalbeard added, nodding sagely.

“Wuh-" Lucy couldn't help but stare at him blankly for a moment. "What?”

“Tis just the basic principle of impropriety. Ya know, the concept defined by philosopher Patchen Markell in order t' describe the fallacious idea that we have any kind of control over the consequences of our actions, much less their reception or interpretation by others."

Now the others stared too.

“Oh, so the pirate can’t know philosophy huh?” Metalbeard scoffed. “I have lotsa interests, ya know. I’m not some kinda bilge-ridden, one-dimensional, side character!" He huffed to himself grumpily, but remained firmly planted at Lucy's side.

"Wyldstyle," Unikitty began softly, "do you really think that Emmet would rather never talk to you again?"

Lucy shook her head. “But... I’m scared," she replied, her voice low and ashamed.

"I know it sucks to think that you can hurt your friends without meaning to, but that doesn't mean that you should stop being their friend. It just means that you need to try and pay closer attention to the things that they say, and the way that your words and actions affect them. It's hard work sometimes, but it's the right thing to do."

Unikitty rested a comforting paw against her friend's knee. "I think it's something that we've ALL been failing at recently," she finished.

Lucy looked up, meeting Unikitty's eyes and seeing the same shame reflected there. Glancing to the other two Masterbuilders, she could see that they also shared the same guilt, and the same conviction.

With a deep breath, Lucy rubbed her face dry and pulled herself to her feet.

"Emmet deserves better than how we’ve been treating him, but he also deserves better than being alone. You guys are right - we need to find him."

Her newfound determination was contagious, and the others leapt to their feet beside her.

"I want to do right by him," Lucy resolved. "No matter how many tries it tak-”

“UM GUYS?!”

General Mayhem burst into the room, completely out of breath. “Benny and I… huff… just got the long range scanners back online.”

For the first time in years, Lucy felt hope leap in her chest.

"Did you find Emmet?" Unikitty bounded towards the alien, stars literally glimmering in her eyes from excitement.

Mayhem grimaced. “Not exactly...” She fidgeted for a moment, trying to work out what to say, before giving up with a shrug. “It... it might just be easier to show you.”

The Masterbuilders nodded, and followed the General back towards her ship or, at least, what had originally been her ship. Repairing it was a much more difficult task now that her control device had been broken, and since they were starting from scratch anyways, she and Benny had decided to change the design in order to increase the occupancy load.

As the group entered the half-finished thing, they could see the blue spaceman tucked under a panel of bright blinking lights. He seemed to hear them enter, and pulled himself out in time to greet them. Mayhem strode over to the console and pressed a combination of controls. The screen flashed to life behind her, and glowing lines began to crawl across it, scrawling out a rough map.

"Okay," Mayhem gestured up towards the lower left corner of the screen. "This green spot here is Apocalypseburg. And this bit," her hand trailed up across the length of the screen, "is the Stairgate."

“And what are all those little red triangles coming out of the Stairgate?” Unikitty asked, reaching up to paw at the blinky lights.

"Um... well," Mayhem stammered.

“Oh!" Benny interjected. “That's the Systarian War Fleet!”

“Heck yeah.” Batman cracked his knuckles in anticipation of a fight.

“Heck NO.” Lucy replied, shooting him a quick glare before turning to look at Mayhem helplessly. “Why the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is there a WAR FLEET heading towards us?

“W-Well, remember when I said that Queen Whatevra might um, possibly, maybe retaliate for you guys um…. kidnapping me a little?"

“But!" Unikitty exclaimed. "We totally un-kidnapped you right after!"

"They don't know that!" Mayhem explained. "We've got the scanners back online, but the communication array is still in pieces. I haven't been able to send them any messages yet."

Lucy had a bad feeling about this. She stared at the ships on the map, burning the image into her retinas. The screen blinked, and they all moved about a pixel closer to the green splotch at the bottom.

“Mayhem,” she started, “if you aren't able to send a message before the fleet arrives, will… will it be…”

The General nodded grimly. “It could mean Ourmomaggedon.”

“How long will it take to fix?" Unikitty asked nervously.

“I don't know." Mayhem looked tired and close to tears. "I've always had my remote control, so I've never had to build the ship myself. Benny can help some, but apparently this technology is not his 'thing'."

Benny nodded. "Definitely produced after the 1980's."

Lucy cupped her chin in her palm, deep in thought. There was an idea growing in the back of her mind, but it would definitely be risky.

"Okay guys," she broke the tense silence, "hear me out."

"Oh no," Batman groaned. "How are you gonna one up ‘I let the evil Emmet clone go’ this time?"

“Sorry," Mayhem interjected. "What was that?"

"Uh, nevermind!" Lucy pressed past the question. "I have a plan!" She turned to the spaceman beside her. "Benny, how long would it take you to get this ship flying?"

He shrugged. “Probably not too long. I've already been building our rescue ship, so we could just pull the engine off of there. Why?”

“Um, could we go back to the part about letting the evil guy go?” Mayhem's question fell on deaf ears.

“I think we'll have to deliver this message ourselves.” Lucy finished. "We'll meet the war fleet head-on and try to explain everything."

“It be worth a shot!” Metalbeard agreed. "I'll be stayin' here though t' rally the crew. If you landlubbers get blown to tiny heroic smithereens, the rest of the city needn't be caught unawares."

Mayhem looked unsettled at the implication, but couldn't deny the possibility that the Systarians might shoot first and ask questions later.

“But what about Emmet?" Unikitty asked.

The other Masterbuilders fell silent. On the screen, the red ships moved another space forwards.

“Well,” Benny broke the silence. “He’s in space, we’re going to space... maybe we’ll just bump into him!”

Batman scoffed. “Right, like that will happen.”

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #took me year to get back to this but by god Im gonna finish it #eventually.....

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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bro, if this isn’t considered maximum wholesome then I’m scared to see what would be...

its Jack’s birthday and I wanted to do something!!!! but my brain rot only allowed me to think of b99 meme… but also wanted wholesome, and this was the middle ground lol

#bioshock #jack wynand #jack bioshock #jack ryan #bioshock fanart #bioshock little sister #bioshock 1 #im love this #he is a soft boy #he is a perfect boy #he is a sweater boy

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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I’ve been on a big Bioshock kick lately, and I decided to make some custom Subject Delta and Eleanor minifigs!

Delta’s helmet, drill, belt, and Eleanor’s hair, were all molded using oven-bake clay and then painted with acrylics. To make Delta a Big Boy larger than the standard minifigure, I stole the extra long arms and legs off a Woody minifig and painted them to match the rest of the body.

The glowing details were done with a special glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint. They look really nice IRL, but I did have to edit the picture somewhat as the original pic was literally just a black square lol

#bioshock #subject delta #eleanor lamb #lego #I kind of wish Eleanor's eyes/eyebrows were a bit darker #but I can always paint over them later if it really bothers me #regardless I'm really happy with how these came out!

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 12)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 11) || (AO3)

Chapter 12 (2953 words)

There’s this cool movie, the kind that even older kids don’t usually get to watch, where a bunch of evil space aliens show up, eat people, and ruin everything. You know it’s hardcore because the poster has the tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream.”

Now, an angsty teen seeing this poster hanging over the horror movie section of the film store might assume that the screams in question are going unheard on account of everybody getting eaten by aliens.

This however, is not completely true.

Within the scientific community, experts agree that - evil aliens aside - sound simply cannot travel through space. Unlike light or heat, sound waves travel by causing surrounding particles to vibrate until some of these particles happen to smack into someone else’s eardrums.

So, if you happened to be aboard a spaceship whose engines have just imploded, ripping massive holes in the hull, forcibly venting the atmosphere, and leaving you hopelessly adrift in the vacuum of space, then there would be no particles left for your screams to vibrate.

This again, is not completely true.

Even in space, there are a few things left which can transmit sound - namely, the human skeleton. Microscopic vibrations are capable of traveling through the skull, from the jaw up to the tiny bones within the ear. This is the same principle behind those delightful singing toothbrushes, and is the reason why your voice always sounds different in recordings.

The point here is that the truest thing to say, would be that in space, no one can hear you scream except yourself.

Of course, this particular detail was of little importance to Emmet Brickowski as he found himself hurtling through the void of space, his own panicked wails ringing in his ears.

The noise stopped abruptly as he slammed into ground, knocking the wind out of himself. He bounced at least three times, each impact as jarring as the first. Eventually though, his momentum dissipated and he began to slide on his back, leaving clean streaks in the dust and dirt before skidding to a stop in some kind of dark, cavernous space.

It was quiet here, and for a moment, that came as a comfort to Emmet.

Then, with a mounting sense of dread, he took note of his leaden limbs and uncooperative vocal cords.

He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He was paralyzed - a sensation both alarming and familiar.

“I’ve been here before,” he thought. And, while he didn’t recognize his immediate surroundings, the sentiment still rang true.

Years ago, he’d leapt from Lord Business’s tower into the Abyss below. His memory of the fall was vague, perhaps due to the time that had passed since or to the surreal, ephemeral nature of the fall itself. His memory of the place he’d found himself afterwards was much stronger. Just like now, he’d lain paralyzed on the ground, an unwitting witness to the events unfolding around him.

He’d eventually escaped from that place, sent back by one of its strange inhabitants.

Emmet stared up at the vast thing looming over him, unable to turn or look anywhere else. A cold voice in the back of his mind asked how any of those beings would be able to find him here.

“It’s okay,” he told himself. “The raptors sent me out on this mission. They'll notice that I’m gone. They’re the ones that pre-programmed the flightplan, so they’ll already know where to look.”

At the time, he’d thought it was weird how the raptors had been rushing him around, especially considering that the ship seemed like it had been prepped a while ago. They’d been in such a hurry that no one had even explained what this new mission was or why none of the crew could come with.

Emmet’s lips twitched in an attempted frown. His past concerns all felt so trivial in the light of this new situation.

“They’ll find me soon,” he tried again to reassure himself. “I just have to be patient.”

---

Ironically, Emmet found himself thinking about Vitruvius pretty regularly.

It was ironic considering that Vitruvius was the only one of his friends that couldn’t possibly come to his rescue. Regardless, he was the one at the start of all this, and so Emmet’s thoughts routinely returned to the old man and his “fake but real” prophecy.

Vitruvius had understood that these states were not mutually exclusive - a clarity granted to him after spending countless hours meditating, dwelling on the nature of the universe, and occasionally napping in a super enlightened manner. Trapped here in Undar, Emmet had nothing better to do than meditate himself, and as a result, he was beginning to better understand the truth that Vitruvius had seen.

“The only thing anyone needs to be special is to believe that you can be,” Vitruvius had told him. “I know that sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true.”

The cat poster, like most things, existed somewhere beyond Emmet’s current prison - out of sight and out of reach. But, even here, he clung to his ability to believe.

The thing about belief is that its power is firmly rooted in the mind. It is something that you choose to do, and by choosing, you give power to the belief.

These beliefs can be personal - like a New Year’s resolution. You convince yourself that you will eat better or exercise more and, as long as you remain committed to that belief, the resolution maintains its power.

Beyond that though, there are many things in the world maintained only by the power of collective belief. Things like laws and money might seem like indisputable facts of nature, but in fact, their strength depends on society considering them as such.

Take language for example. We know that every word was at some point invented by a person but, if everyone simultaneously started making up their own words instead of using those commonly agreed upon, then conversing might get eh fideckal discvanger upso.

It’s like the prophecy - something simultaneously made up and real.

At first, Emmet was comfortable with this realization. It gave him a sense of comradery, this idea that society was based on mutual agreement and trust. But, the longer that he ruminated, the more that these thoughts ate at him. After all, the power of belief could only go so far…

The thing about belief is that it can’t go beyond the mind. Believing that 2 plus 2 equals 5 won’t make your math teacher give you back points on your exam. Believing that you can fly won’t suddenly cause the laws of gravity to flip.

Believing that your friends will come save you won’t make them appear.

As time passed, Emmet felt the weight of this truth sink further and further into his chest. Here in Undar, he was quite literally trapped in his own mind. But, as he continued contemplating his situation, he began thinking that maybe he always had been.

Maybe that’s why the other Apocalypseburgers had been tougher than him. Maybe they’d already recognized the lies inherent to the concept of belief. Maybe they’d all seen the truth of the world while Emmet just kept clinging to stupid things like instructions and turn signals.

He lived in the world of belief - either too naive or too afraid to face reality, to face the fact that maybe just believing that you are special, that you are worthwhile, that you are loved… doesn’t make any of those things true.

But now, trapped here, staring helplessly upwards into the maw of the machine above, he had no choice. Now reality screamed at him in the wind, and there was no amount of belief that could save him.

---

“What are you going to do with him?”

The voice, muffled by the thick cell door, snapped Rex out of his reminiscing.

Taped to the prison wall, Rex found himself slipping into thoughts about Undar far more easily than he was comfortable with. It made sense, considering that he was once again trapped and motionless, an unwilling witness to his friends talking, laughing, and joking with each other just beyond his reach.

The familiarity burned, a deep, hot ache in his chest. He pressed his eyes closed and forced himself to breathe, struggling to maintain his composure.

He’d escaped from Undar, and he knew he could escape from this prison too. It was just a question of time, and if there was anything that he’d learned in Undar, it was patience.

He started trying to free his hands again. They were taped across his chest, his fingers tucked into his armpits. With every attempt to move, he could feel the fine hairs on his arms being ripped out. It hurt like heck, but it was only physical pain and so Rex could push past it.

Dimly, he noticed the sound of the door opening. His eyes flashed open, and he forced himself to be still.

Lucy walked in, leveling a hateful gaze his way. Clearly, he thought, she was still upset about his little trick.

“Okay, listen,” Lucy started, her voice rusty. “I don’t know what your deal is, but I know that Emmet doesn’t deserve to get caught up in all this.”

She walked up to the Tape-estry, resting a hand on its edge. “Just tell us where he is,” she said, peeling the corner back slightly, “and maybe we’ll let you go.”

Rex frowned. If the others rescued Emmet from Undar, then things would play out like they had in the last timeline - except that this time, he’d be trapped and unable to access the flux capacitor. Rex wasn’t sure what would happen to him in a “Rex-less” timeline, but… he had a hypothesis.

“Tough luck, sister,” he spat. “I think you'll find I’m a pretty tough nut to crack.”

“Oh, you’re nutty for sure.” Lucy sneered, resealing the edge of the tape.

She turned her back to the prisoner, stepping away as if to leave. Rex’s pulse sped up at the thought, and he cursed his treacherous heart.

She stopped in the middle of the room, getting just enough distance to try and clear her head. She was certain that Rex was their only hope of finding Emmet. Benny may be able to track his ship, but that was less than useless if Emmet wasn’t on said ship.

But how could she get Rex to talk? She knew nothing about the man except that he was dangerous and cruel. It seemed like he knew Emmet, but she just couldn’t understand how anyone familiar with her special best friend could do something as heartless as kidnapping him, or worse.

“Can you...” She started. “Can you at least tell me why Emmet?”

Rex shrugged, wincing as the thoughtless motion caused the tape to pull at his skin again. “To protect him from all of you.”

“From… us?” She stepped back, physically shaken by the utter ridiculousness of the idea. “From his own friends? We wouldn’t hurt Emmet. We- we miss him! We just want him back! Want him to be safe!”

“You don’t want him back.” Rex muttered, exhausted by how obvious it all was. “You guys don’t even like him.”

“How would you know?” Lucy hissed. “You don’t know us! You don’t know Emmet!”

“I am Emmet.” Rex stated flatly, the confession coming easier than he would have expected.

Lucy’s fists clenched at her sides. She scowled, forcing herself to ignore the way her nails bit into her palms. “You’re an idiot if you think I’m falling for that again.”

“I mean, I was Emmet. ” He replied dryly. “It’s time travel stuff, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Emmet could never do the things you've done. He would never lie… never hurt people.”

“If you want,” Rex pressed on. “I could prove it. I could tell you something that only Emmet would know...”

Lucy didn’t turn. She couldn’t let him see the way his words wormed into her brain. She knew Rex was an imposter, a liar, but… she couldn’t deny that she wanted to hear what he’d say next.

“Like what?”

Rex smiled, the scent of blood in the air as the prey lumbered into a well placed trap.

“I could tell you that he liked his coffee with just a touch of cream and 26 sugars.”

“Lots- Lots of people know that.”

“I could tell you that, back before the world ended - the first time that is - he told you that you were the first person to ever tell him that he could be special.”

Lucy kept her eyes pointed down. “That’s not proof, he could have tol-”

“I could tell you that I loved you.” Rex answered, his voice increasing in volume, the raw intensity of the sentiment overpowering his usual stoicism. “Even long after you stopped loving me. Even after you left me behind.”

Lucy whirled around, her face dark with rage. “How DARE yo-”

She stopped abruptly, staring at the trapped man in shock. She was so ready to be angry, but the pain and grief on Rex’s face was dreadfully genuine.

“Why wasn’t I good enough?” Rex screamed, his voice cracking under the strain. “Why?” “Why wasn’t I good enough to come back for?” At some point, he’d stopped forcing his voice and it had slipped back into something unmistakably like Emmet’s, though Lucy had never heard Emmet like this.

“S-Stop talking like that! You’re not Emmet.” She pressed her fists into her temples, trying to convince herself as much as Rex. “You’re just a vindictive jerk!”

“Well, Emmet wasn’t good enough either was he?!” Rex roared.

“I-” Her voice trembled. “You don't know what you’re talking abo-”

Rex laughed mirthlessly, interrupting her. He was rapidly losing his composure, but couldn’t seem to care. He managed to find a point of vulnerability, a chink in her armor. “Soft little Emmet… that poor, sweet guy. What a Hufflepuff he was. What a stupid loser he was.”

“Hey!” Lucy spat. “You don’t get to talk about him like that.”

“But everyone else does?” Rex met her eyes, pinning her in place with his steely gaze. “But you do?”

“I don't….”

“What,” Rex asked in a low voice, “was the last thing you talked to Emmet about? Your Emmet? The real Emmet?”

Lucy froze. The last time she’d seen Emmet had been over a week ago, and the memory came to her slowly. He’d asked her yet again if he could come with her on a patrol, hadn’t he… which meant that…

“I told him that he couldn’t come with me.” Lucy droned, almost mechanically. “I told him that he wasn’t tough enough for patrols…”

“Exactly.”

“But that's not the same thing!” Lucy cried. Pricks burned at her eyes. “I was trying to protect him. Telling him that he's not tough isn’t the same as calling him a loser!”

“It is if you hear it enough.”

Rex’s voice was soft. Lucy took a pause. It was a hard thought to come to terms with.

“You… really are him, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Rex pushed. “And that’s why you need to trust that what I’m doing is in his best interest. If you go after Emmet,” Rex looked her directly in the eyes, “you'll only hurt him more.”

The tears started now. Lucy could do little more than tremble as they coursed down her cheeks.

“Okay,” she whispered, no fight left in her voice.

She stepped forward, and pulled Rex free from the tape. As he stepped down, he stretched out, flexing feeling back into his arms and legs. He turned towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“You made the right choice, Lucy.”

She shivered and watched him leave.

---

The winds had started up again, a persistent, rumbling thunder that shoved any thoughts out of his mind.

If Emmet could have cried, he would have.

There was another sound somewhere in the distance, and Emmet braced himself for another one of those terrible, crawling monsters to appear.

The sound came again, closer and clearer this time. It was a high-pitched droning noise, and with a flash, Emmet recognized it as the whine of an engine.

The drone cut off, abruptly replaced by the whirr of a docking mechanism and the hiss of an opening airlock.

His heart soared in his chest. He knew the raptors would come for him. He knew it!

Unable to look over, Emmet strained his ears, listening for footsteps or voices, willing them to come closer.

A sudden fear struck him. What if they didn't find him? This place was huge and dark, and, unable to move or speak, Emmet had no way to signal them. Frantically, he tried to move, to scream.

His arm twitched.

It wasn’t a lot, but it was more than he’d been able to do before.

His resolve strengthened, Emmet redoubled his efforts. He tried harder than he’d ever tried anything before.

His leg kicked, followed by a flick of a wrist and a twist of his neck. Slowly but surely, he regained some kind of control over his body. He grunted, instantly delighted by the sound of his own voice.

In his self sustained commotion, he failed to notice the sound of approaching footsteps.

“THERE HE IS!” The voice that rang out was muffled, likely by a helmet, but Emmet still vaguely felt like he should recognize it.

A figure ran up to him, kneeling at his side. They reached down, taking his hand. Instinctively, Emmet grasped back, not even noticing how much easier the motion had become.

“DO NOT WORRY,” the speaker continued. They loomed over him, a set of glowing green eyes peering out of the darkness. “WE ARE HERE TO RESCUE YOU, GROMMET!”

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #rex dangervest #wyldstyle #emmet brickowski #I aint dead just yet #just........incredibly slow

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

Text

Guess who's been overthinking the Lego Movies again???

Okay, so I've been thinking about Rex - specifically whether or not he would have known that Ourmommageddon was something that could be escaped/corrected.

I have the following beliefs about Rex's original timeline: 1. Ourmommageddon doesn't happen 2. Finn and Bianca don't make up 3. Finn stops playing with Legos altogether

Reasoning is below!

1. In Rex's timeline, the only character that could theoretically kickstart Ourmommageddon would be Lucy. However, as the movie's timeline shows, Lucy is convinced of the Systarian's true intentions via a combination of interacting with Mayhem, meeting back up with her non-brainwashed friends, and seeing the Queen's original form.

Although we don't know what Lucy was planning to do before she happened to meet up with Rex and Emmet, it would be logical to assume that it involved finding her friends and confronting Mayhem and/or the Queen. As such, most if not all of the elements necessary to convince her not to disrupt the wedding would be present.

An even stronger argument for this point is that, in Rex's flashback, the Apocalypseburg Statue of Liberty is visible on the basement worktable, and it remains whole throughout the duration of the montage. As we know from the movie timeline, the Statue would have been demolished if Ourmommageddon had occurred.

The consequence of this point is that Rex would not know that Ourmommageddon is a temporary condition. His only knowledge of the event would be the "5:15" nightmare that he had before everything else happened.

2. In the flashback, we see a series of shots of Finn and Bianca in the basement. However, in none of these shots are they playing together. In fact, not a single shot of the montage even shows both characters together on screen. If they had made up like they do in the movie timeline, then there would be no reason for them to be consistently shown alone.

3. In those same shots, Finn isn't shown to be playing with the Legos at all. Bianca's shots all show her eagerly jumping around or interacting with some new Lego creation. In Finn's shots, he just sort of stands there, not even near the worktable. When Rex describes the state of his friends, he says they "danced and sang at the hands of a monster". Singular. No comment about or implication of Finn's involvement.

I believe Finn's character arc in this timeline parallels Rex's arc in that they both get *mature*. He decides that "it's time to put away childish things," so he stops playing with Legos and does tough guy stuff instead - like watching the Matrix maybe?

If Finn did stop playing and gave sole control of the Legos over to Bianca, then this could also explain why none of Rex's friends look for him. We've already been shown that character's personalities depend on which child is currently playing with them - for example how Superman and Lex Luthor are enemies in Apocalypseburg but "Sillyman" and Lex are friends in the Systar System.

Since Bianca likely wouldn't know that Finn had lost a "random" construction worker, it's entirely conceivable that Rex's friends - while under her control - don't even realize that he's gone.

To be fair, this might be overestimating the influence the kids have on the Lego characters, but also... just imagine the angst...

Or don’t imagine it because you KNOW I already wrote fanfic about this lmao

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #rex dangervest #this train of thought was 100% inspired #by that great Ace Attorney video that was making the rounds a while ago

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 11)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 10) || (AO3)

I’m stuck in my apartment currently, so I figured there was no better time than the present to write about people being stuck in places :/

Chapter 11 (2534 words)

“Who are you?” Lucy’s voice cut through the silence.

“What do you mean?” Rex asked, a forced smile etched into his face. “I’m Emmet, obviously. Your special best friend.”

“B-but,” Lucy stammered, “your face...”

Rex frowned, reaching a hand up to probe at his jaw. Sure enough, paint flecks came away in his hand, revealing the stubble and defined cheekbones underneath.

“Aw shucks,” he drawled, staring at the paint in his hand. “Guess I can’t fool you anymore.” His voice shifted, now distinctly different from Emmet’s. “My name is Rex Dangervest. Of course, I can’t blame you for being fooled. After all, I do a really good Emmet impression.” His lips twisted into a wide cat’s grin, and he started walking towards her.

“An imposter?” Lucy thought. “But when had he...” Her mind reeled momentarily before settling on her memory of that morning one week ago when Emmet hadn’t shown up for coffee.

“Last monday,” she whispered to herself, shaking her head.

“Yup!” Rex replied with a frenetic kind of cheer. “Perceptive as usual. And don’t lie to me, Lucy, but it’s been better with me here, hasn’t it?”

“What?” Lucy’s head snapped up in shock and anger. “How can you say that? Emmet is my best friend, and-”

Rex scoffed. “Oh sure, sure… That’s why you’re constantly telling him to toughen up, right?”

“No, I-”

“And that’s why it took me risking his neck in Business's relic vault for you to say that you were proud of him, to say that you loved him.”

“No! That’s not-”

“And that’s why he LEAPT at the chance to learn how to be tough. Why he was so, so easy to lure out of town...”

Lucy’s voice froze in her throat. This guy, this Rex, was horrible.

But, was he wrong?

She’d been spending time with him all week, and she hadn’t noticed anything weird or wrong until just recently. Had she really been enjoying her time with this fake while Emmet was out there, missing somewhere?

Rex leaned in, looming over her. “You pushed him away. You didn’t realize that he’d been replaced. Be honest, you never really liked him, did you?”

“Why are you doing this?” Lucy whispered, her voice shaking in pain and anger.

He smiled. “Because this time, I’m going to win. Because this time, you aren’t going to get in my way. This time,” he raised his fists in preparation, “Ourmomaggedon will end this pitiful excuse of a world once and for all.”

“SHUT UP!” In a quick, fluid motion, Lucy slapped him across the face. The sound of hand against cheek echoed like a gunshot in the quiet room.

Slowly, he turned back to face her. As his cold eyes met hers, Lucy’s heart skipped a beat. Rex was still wearing Emmet’s clothes, but in this moment they couldn’t have looked more different.

“You call that an attack?” Rex sneered. “This is an attack.” Lightning quick, he reared back before bringing his arm down with a sharp and sudden crack. The back of his hand struck Lucy square in the side of her head, the force of the blow sending her reeling. She collided with the far wall, pain radiating from her temple to her jaw.

She felt sick. Her head hurt like hell, but the ache in her heart went even deeper. With a sort of numb resolve, she started crawling towards Mayhem’s cell. This Rex jerk might have gotten the jump on her, but this wasn’t a fight Lucy was planning on losing.

“L- Lucy?” A trembling voice sounded from inside the cell. “Are you ok?”

Rex laughed, an answer that did nothing to assuage Mayhem’s concerns, and brought his fist down towards Lucy. He smacked the ground with enough strength to rattle even the foundational bricks of the prison. In the last moment, Lucy rolled clear, but the sheer force of the blast still shook her. Behind them, even Mayhem cried out in pain.

A plan started to crystallize in Lucy’s mind. This Rex guy was dangerous for sure, but he, like any weapon, could be made to work in her favor.

“You’re wrong, you know,” Lucy spat out. “I do like Emmet.” Shakily, she pulled herself to her feet and rubbed a hand across her face, trying to wipe it clean of sweat and tears.

Carefully, she moved to one side, placing herself directly between Rex and the prison cell. “And,” she continued, meeting Rex’s hateful gaze with a look of cool determination. “Once I’m finished with you, I’m gonna go out there and bring him home.”

Rex’s face twisted in bafflement and rage. With an animalistic roar, he lunged forward. Lucy leapt sideways, narrowly avoiding being hit again. Behind her, Rex’s fist connected with the wall, sending bricks and smoke high into the air. Debris scattered, a few pieces striking Lucy as they fell.

“Now, Mayhem!” She cried. “Get out now!”

The smoke cleared, revealing the lovely new hole punched out of the cell wall. With the flutter of metallic wings, Mayhem flew in a wobbling line, lurching out of the hole and up through the ceiling.

“NO!” Rex screamed. It was an angry, heartbroken sound, and it shook Lucy worse than his fists ever could.

Silence fell, and for a moment, the only sounds were the two of them panting from exertion.

“You ruined everything.” His voice was low and quiet. “You always ruin everything.”

A shiver ran down Lucy’s spine. There was no doubt in her mind that this guy wanted nothing more than to break her into as many pieces as possible.

“Well,” she said, a confidence in her voice that she didn’t truly feel. ”It sounds to me like I’ve stopped this Ourmomaggedon thing, so I might argue that I’ve done the opposite of ruining, actually.”

Rex did not look amused. “There are worse things than Ourmomaggedon, Lucy.” He turned, glaring at her with cold, lightless eyes. “I think you might realize that soon.”

Lucy raised her own fists, although she knew she couldn’t hit like he did. She had no idea how he hit so hard, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to learn the technique fast enough to try it herself. On the edge of desperation, she started looking around for building materials and inspiration.

Suddenly, something above them went splat, and a glittery star-shaped sticker went sailing into Rex’s face. He cried out, but was quickly silenced by the barrage of stickers assailing him, effectively pinning him to the floor.

“Lucy?” Mayhem’s artificial voice filtered out from her helmet as she flew down into the room. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, slowly unclenching her fists. “Thanks to you.”

Mayhem blushed, thankful for once that her mask obscured her face.

“But,” Lucy continued. “You were supposed to leave! As long as you stay here, Ourmomaggedon gets closer. Isn’t that what you said?”

“I- ” Mayhem faltered. “I wasn’t just going to leave you, Lucy. Not after you’ve risked so much to help me.”

“Oh,” a faint smile crept onto Lucy’s face. “Um, thanks.”

“You already said that, silly!”

Before Lucy could respond, the lock that she’d built earlier suddenly broke, allowing the door to the room to swing open. A gaggle of assorted Master Builders streamed in, crowding themselves between her, the General, and Rex’s fallen form.

“Wyldstyle!” Benny pulled himself away from the group, clutching Metalbeard’s head under one arm. “Are you okay?”

“Of course she be alright.” Metalbeard groused, clearly still upset about his short-lived career as a shotput.

“I’m fine,” Lucy answered frantically, quickly losing control over the situation. “Listen, don’t-”

“Why is the alien out?” Batman growled, taking Mayhem roughly by the shoulders and ripping the sticker gun from her hands.

“Guys, don’t-” Lucy tried again to interject.

“What happened?” Benny spun around, taking in the full extent of the damage.

“Be we under attack again?” Metalbeard inquired.

“Was it the alien?” Another voice sounded from somewhere in the crowd.

“What did she do?” Someone else piped up.

“What did you do?” A third voice demanded.

“Guys!” Lucy cried out, desperate to be heard above the clamor. “Please, just calm down. I can explain everything.”

“Hey!” She heard a voice cry out from the other side of the crowd. “What happened to Emmet? Someone help me get him up.”

“NO!”

The words ripped themselves from her throat. The other Master Builders froze in their tracks. “Don’t,” she panted. “Don’t let him out.”

“Wyldstyle,” Batman growled. “You need to explain.”

“I’ve been trying to!” She snapped. “I… It’s… That isn’t Emmet. His name is Rex.”

The crowd abruptly fell silent. Lucy knew they were waiting for her to continue, to explain further, but the words were stuck in her throat. If she said that Emmet was gone, then it would really be true - irrevocably, irreversibly true.

Swallowing hard, she pressed on. “He kidnapped Emmet a week ago.”

There was a shuffling sound as a number of people shifted awkwardly away from the huddled wad of stickers. In a sort of silent consensus, everyone’s eyes turned to her.

“What should we do, Wyldstyle?”

Lord Business told a lot of lies in his time as a ruler, some more obvious than others. However, one thing he never lied about was his relics. If he said a relic could hurt you or kill you, then it absolutely could.

Lucy would always hold a lot of resentment towards Business, but in this moment, watching Rex Dangervest struggle futilely to escape from the Tape-estry of Ducks, she couldn’t help but feel some small amount of gratitude.

“You really think this will hold him?” Benny asked, a tremor in his voice.

“Yeah,” she answered resolutely. “If he could get out, then he already would have.”

Rex glowered at them. They had taped him from the shoulders down, in a standing position with his arms crossed against his chest. He could feel the wall pressing against his back, but he couldn’t break it without being able to move at least a little. Anger and resentment were integral parts of Master Breaking, but so was momentum.

“Are these all of his things?” Benny asked, looking down at the small pile of assorted items lying on the floor.

“All that I could find,” Lucy shrugged, her gaze never wavering from the prisoner. At the insistence of Batman, MetalBeard and some of the other Master Builders, she and Benny had been tasked with guarding Rex and looking for clues while the others dealt with the General and started diving themselves up into search teams.

Benny knelt down next to the pile. After a moment of looking through everything, one item in particular drew his eye.

“Hey Wyldstyle,” he called. “Check this out, it looks like some kind of communicator.” Benny picked the radio up delicately, as if he were afraid it might explode at any moment. Turning it over in his hands, he carefully started fiddling with the buttons and dials, trying to elicit any kind of response from the device.

Behind the tape, Rex was unconcerned. His radio was triple encrypted, requiring a string of intricate passwords before it would allow the user to make any calls. The only way that the Master Builders would be able to get anything useful out of it was if-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Rex’s face fell. Oh, fu-

“Hey,” Benny exclaimed. “It’s ringing!”

“Can you answer it?” Lucy pressed, nearly breathless with sudden excitement. Eagerly, she knelt down beside the spaceman, watching him tinker with the device.

“I think so!” Benny clicked a button on the side of the remote and the ringing was replaced by a burst of live static.

“Hello?” Emmet’s voice came through the speaker. “Are you there, Rex?”

“EMMET!” Their voices rang out simultaneously.

Lucy grabbed the remote, clutching it to her chest like it was the most valuable thing in the universe. “Emmet,” she cried. “Is that really you? Are you okay? Where are you?” The questions spilled out of her faster than she could control.

“Lucy?” Emmet replied, confusion clear in his voice. “I- I’m fine. Didn’t Rex tell you? I’m on his ship right now. It’s super cool and tough, Lucy. I really think you would like it!” He paused for a moment, losing some of the chipperness in his voice. “Hey, is everything okay? You sound kind of sad.”

“Listen Emmet,” Lucy cradled the radio, trying to ignore the rogue tear that had started slipping down her cheek. “Rex is-”

“HEY!” Rex shouted from across the room. The Master Builders all jumped instinctively, having almost forgotten his presence in their excitement. “HEY RIPLEY!,” he called again. “If you can hear this, I need you to drop off my laundry!”

There was an inhuman screech on the other end of the radio, another burst of static, and then silence.

“Emmet?” Lucy asked in numb disbelief. There was no answer except for the dead air.

Gently, Benny took the communicator from her. With a look of concern, he set to figuring out the device with a renewed vigor.

Still stunned, Lucy slowly stood up and turned to face their prisoner. Rex’s grim expression almost matched her own, but she was beyond noticing.

“What did you do?” She breathed.

“It wasn’t supposed to come to this.” His voice was uncharacteristically soft. “You forced my hand.”

“Just tell me where Emmet is!” Lucy screamed, a sense of burning, passionate anger breaking through the numbness until it was the only thing she could feel.

“Somewhere you’ll never find him.”

Lucy felt like she was suffocating, or burning alive, or maybe both at the same time. There was a thick, constrictive heat overwhelming her, squeezing the air from her lungs and the tears from her eyes. She choked back a sob, trying futilely to maintain any sense of composure.

Emmet had been so close. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed his face, his voice, his cheerful smile... until Rex had taken it all away again.

“You’re a monster.” She hissed.

“I know.” Rex’s voice was quiet, to the point that Lucy thought she might have just imagined him saying anything at all. Regardless, she had nothing left to say to him.

“Benny,” she called out. The spaceman jumped at the sound of his name. “Do you think you could use that device to track down Rex’s ship?”

“I can try,” Benny answered morosely, dwelling in a grief of his own.

“Great.” Lucy strode over to the cell door. “I’ll also need you to start building a rescue ship. If you-”

Benny perked up at the sound of that. “A spaceship? I’m on it!” Before Lucy could finish her thought, he had already launched himself out of the room.

She stood by the door a moment longer. She could feel Rex’s gaze nearly burning a hole through her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look back at him. She didn’t trust herself to say anything to him either, at least, not anything that would be appropriate for a children’s movie.

And so, without so much as a backwards glance, she stepped out of the room, slammed the door, and left Rex Dangervest to stew by himself.

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #rex dangervest #wyldstyle #general mayhem

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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Fun Fact! You’ve just reinvented one of Nietzsche’s best philosophical concepts!

(Second Fun Fact! I wrote a very long paper about Nietzsche and the Lego movies and I am About To Go Back On My Bullshit!)

Basically, Nietzsche believed that all the things in the world were either Real or Illusions. He compared these two using the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus, but for simplicities sake, we’ll just use “Real” and “Illusion”. Real things are anything naturally present in the universe - good things like Nature or Creativity, but also scary things like Death and Entropy and Chaos. Illusions are anything created by humankind - including conceptual things like Justice, Laws, or Money.

Nietzsche believed that humans created and continue to create our world of Illusions “in order to not die of the Truth.” We like to believe that we have control over our lives, and it can be frightening to realize that we really don't. As you mention, Emmet first realizes the Truth of his universe when he sees Finn controlling his friends in the first movie. Then, while stuck in Undar, he has “an awakening[, where he] learned how the universe really works.” As you say, he realizes “the absolute lack of control his world has,” and he chooses to go back to believing in the “Matrix” because that Truth is too terrible to bare.

On some level, all people inherently recognize that society and the rules that govern us are nothing more than concepts fabricated by our own minds. There’s lots of media that explores this kind of idea - with an obvious example being The Matrix! Despite this recognition however, we continue to believe in our Illusions. We are like Emmet in that way. As you say, “he knows the nature of his world, but is still happy to rejoin it.”

Nietzsche compares this continued belief to lucid dreaming, to people “say[ing] to themselves in self-encouragement, and not without success: ‘It is a dream! I will dream on!” This idea is SUPER present in the Lego movies - after all everything is awesome “when you’re living out a dream.”

Warning! Long ramble about Rex ahead!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this scene. I'll try my best to organize my thoughts!

(heads up: This is operating under the assumption that (basically) everything that happens in the movies is real.)

To begin with, we gotta address the irony of this line... Like, Rex, you do realize that you're just a piece of plastic too, right? And so is Emmet?

But before I look at that, I wanna touch on the line he says right after that,

"You still wanna go back to the Matrix when you know the truth???"

Now, I haven't seen The Matrix, I'll admit to that. But because it's ingrained in pop culture, I know the gist of it.

But anyway, one obvious truth from it is that once you're aware the world is a simulation, you can never really go back completely, not without sacrifice, because you know it's not real.

Now, call me captain obvious, but by his line there, he clearly can't be referring to his time on Undar--because Emmet hadn't experienced that, nor had he understood when Rex told him about it. I'm convinced he has to be referring to the first movie, and their experience in the Realm of the Man Upstairs.

While he was there in the first movie Emmet saw his world for what it was. He saw Finn playing with Benny's spaceship, hinting at the kind of control Finn had over his world. but Emmet himself interacts with Finn himself.

As far as Emmet knows... He's different. He's not under Finn's control. All of his friends? Things made up by a giant unknown creature. But not him.

He knows the nature of his world, but is still happy to rejoin it, so long as he has a place in it...

But then came Undar.

On Undar he sees, yet again, the absolute lack of control his world has. The moment Finn leaves the picture and Bianca takes over, it's as if he never existed in the first place. He doesn't recognize his friends, because the personalities he'd come to know, literally, the people he knew, were completely gone.

It's there that he realizes that they truly are pieces of plastic.

I can't imagine how fucking lonely that must have felt. To see how little your life truly mattered in the universe, that you could be warped and changed without recognition and be none the wiser, to know who you were was as inconsequential as a thought.

As far as Rex knows, he and Emmet are the only Real ones in existence. The only ones that can retain who they are.

Rather ironic, again, when we see how much Rex changes himself.

So when he says "You still wanna go back to The Matrix?" it's more so incredulity that he, as Emmet, ever wanted to go back, that he ever put any value into the world that was nothing but an illusion.

This could also explain why Rex was so quick to turn on Emmet in Undar. Once he saw Emmet wasn't going to change, was never going to give up on his fantasy world, he had no problem seeking to destroy him. In the Realm of the Man Upstairs, knew he would live on, since he's Real. He could get rid of this failure, further cementing himself as Rex, and move on to the next timeline to try again.

It's when Lucy enters the picture and brings back Imagination that things go to shit for Rex. Outside of the Realm of the Man Upstairs they're under the giant beings' control again. What happens here is out of Rex's ability to change.

And, sure enough, Finn has him disappear.

It's just... So, so fucking sad. Can you just imagine how many nights Emmet must have lain awake during those five years, bearing the weight of his knowledge of the entire world on his shoulders? Knowing everything was an illusion?? His home, his friends, Lucy, all just the product of a child's imagination???

No wonder Emmet was able to move on so easily once Rex disappeared.

It really was easier for him to forget the nature of The Matrix and just rejoin it and be happy. Having to deal with the weight of it would crush and mangle him, the way it had Rex.

#tlm2 #rex dangervest #emmet brickowski #Secret Third Fun Fact!#The Lego movies are such a good embodiment of Nietzsche's Dichotomy of Apollo and Dionysus #that I was able to predict the Bins of Storajj without knowing anything about TLM2 #Also #I ran out of room to say this but that bit about Lucy bringing back Imagination #directly correlates with how Nietzsche describes the Apollinian as #a redeeming and healing enchantress #whos approach transforms these horrible reflections on the terror and absurdity of existence into representations with which man may live #ok I need to shut up now #someday I will make a two hour long Unraveled style video where I just get to rant about philosophy and legos #someday

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

Text

Try, Try Again (pt. 10)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 9) || (AO3)

Very excited to say that this is the last chapter where I have to worry about whether to refer to Rex as “Emmet” or by his actual name...

Chapter 10 (2252 words)

Lucy sat with her back to the cell. The walls were solid steel, and the metal felt cool even through her jacket. It was a reassuring feeling, one of security.

Every feature of the cell was designed to prevent the alien inside from breaking out. There were no windows. The door had been all but welded shut. The walls were much too high to climb, and Mayhem couldn’t exactly fly far considering that her broken wing was in storage upstairs with all the rest of her weapons and equipment.

Mayhem was unarmed. She was contained. By all accounts, Lucy should have felt confident in keeping watch, but the fight earlier had shaken her more than she was willing to admit.

Emmet seemed to have finally really committed to toughening up, but it felt… weird. At first, Lucy had felt relieved, but now this new attitude of his was rubbing her the wrong way, and she just couldn’t understand why.

Absentmindedly, Lucy pulled at her jacket zipper. The smooth motion and gentle clicking sound were soothing sensations.

“Is...Is someone out there?” The voice was muffled by the thick walls, but still understandable.

Lucy shifted awkwardly, pulling herself slightly away from the cell, but she didn’t respond.

“Please, I- I can’t stay here.” The voice pleaded. “You need to let me out.”

Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. In her anxious and upset state, the noise slipped past her lips before she could stop it.

“Please!” Mayhem’s tone grew insistent. “I know you can hear me!”

“I, uh, I don’t think you really understand how being a prisoner works, pal.” Lucy leaned back against the cell. There was no point in keeping quiet anymore.

She was met with an indignant scoff. “Of course I know how this works. I’m trying to warn you about what will happen if you keep holding me prisoner.”

“Oh?” Lucy asked, factitious concern thick in her voice. “Let me guess, the end of the world?”

“I, uh…” Mayhem seemed stunned. “Actually, yeah.”

“Welp!” Lucy pushed herself to her feet. “Color me convinced! I’ll let you out right now.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Wait... Like, really?”

“No! Of course not!” She turned, facing the cell with such an incredulous expression that Mayhem could somehow still feel the derision through the thick steel.

Lucy groaned. “Do you seriously believe that I would let you out just so you and your alien buddies can keep terrorizing us?”

“I- ” Mayhem’s voice cut off, but even that single syllable was enough to convey her anger.

A tense moment passed, and Lucy started moving to sit back down when Mayhem spoke again in a low voice.

“I should have known better than to try and reason with one of you...”

The unexpected darkness in the prisoner’s tone threw Lucy for a moment, before the implication of the words reignited her anger.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lucy snarled.

“I mean that none of you meanies care about anything that isn’t being crabby or breaking things!”

“OH,” she huffed. “We wouldn’t have even needed to break your ship if you guys weren’t always coming here to break our stuff!”

“I wasn’t- That’s not-” Mayhem cut herself off once more.

When her voice sounded again, it was small and scared. “I… I didn’t come here to break anything... I just wanted to prevent everything and… and now… It’s gonna happen anyways, and it’ll be my fault.”

Lucy went still. There was no denying that Mayhem was crying now. The show of genuine distress was shaking Lucy’s image of her as a heartless space invader.

“What,” she whispered. “What do you mean?”

“All we wanted was to unite our worlds in peace… before the endless bickering could bring us to the brink of disaster.” Mayhem hiccupped, a sob catching in her throat. “But I failed, and now I’m stuck here, and the Queen will probably retaliate, and then…” Her voice trembled. “It’ll be Ourmomaggedon.”

“What- what’s that?” Lucy’s mouth went dry, but she forced the words out regardless.

“It’s the end of everything.” Mayhem whispered, as if saying the words too loudly could cause her fears to manifest. “Everything in the universe will be destroyed, cast into the Bin of Storajj, into the void.”

Lucy stared, momentarily stunned speechless.

“And you waited ‘til NOW to tell us that?!”

“But, well I- ” Mayhem faltered. “I mean, apocalypses are like you guys’s whole thing. I- We thought that you wouldn’t care about this one, that you wouldn’t have listened.”

“Of course we would have listened!”

“Really?” The confusion in Mayhem’s voice was genuine. “I- I thought I had to be tough in order to get you guys to listen...”

The familiarity of those words struck Lucy like lightning.

“I thought you wanted me to be tough.”

Emmet’s voice echoed in her head. Something uncomfortably close to guilt roiled in her gut.

“This… this is a trick, isn’t it…”

"What?” Mayhem’s voice rang out. “No!"

Lucy laughed, but it was a mirthless sound. “Oh, what? You- You just happen to know about some kind of cataclysmic event that will completely destroy the universe if I don’t let you out of this prison cell? That seems a little convenient for my taste.”

"I- I'm not lying!"

"Prove it." Lucy crossed her arms and sat back down.

"I don’t... How?"

"That’s not my problem."

There was a long pause as Mayhem struggled to think.

“Oh!” She eventually cried out, her voice echoing around the cell. “I have the jingle!"

Lucy started to ask something when a strain of poppy upbeat music started blaring, and whatever question she’d had was blasted clean out of her brain.

"YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A MATRIMONIAL CEREMONY TONIGHT AT FIVE-FIFTEEN!" The song declared cheerily.

"I- I..." Lucy stuttered, utterly stupefied.

"Well?" Mayhem chirped, her self-satisfied smile clear in her voice.

Lucy made an incredulous noise. "How is that proof of anything?"

“That was my mission! I came here to invite your leader to our ceremony, not to wreck anything.”

“I don’t know about that...” Lucy balked.

Mayhem made a pained noise, and Lucy could hear her sliding down the wall in defeat. “Could you just… at least think about it?“

Before Lucy could reply, there was a knock at the door. Opening it, she found herself facing the guard relieving her of duty - some random cowboy with revolvers in place of his hands.

“She’s all yours buddy.” Lucy forced out a lackluster greeting, and reluctantly ducked out of the room.

"Yeah, no." Batman glowered, deeply unimpressed with Lucy’s story.

"But Bats, if she’s right- " She started to retort, but was interrupted by their other companion.

"I be agreeing with the Batman," Metalbeard declared. “The wench seems the type to engage in the fine art of deception.”

“Ok,” Lucy conceded, “but consider the worst case scenario. The universe could end!”

“If the universe tries to end, then we’ll just stop it.” Batman swirled his drink lazily. “Not like we haven’t done it before.”

“Maybe,” Lucy tried, “the best way to stop it would be to prevent it from ending in the first place.”

“T’would only be ‘preventing’ this mysterious calamity if’n yee assuming she were telling the truth. Otherwise yee simply be steering us further into the rocks.” His expression darkened. “Awful familiar rocks, if I do say.”

“Metalbeard,” she pleaded, “that’s not fair, she-”

“Face it Wyldstyle, she’s playing you.”

"Well, I think she’s right!" Lucy roared, her fists clenched at her sides.

"And why be that?" Metalbeard inquired calmly, one metallic eyebrow raised.

Lucy’s eyes narrowed. "Because she was right about you."

She turned, darting out of the room before either of her peers could object.

"Emmet."

Lucy found him on the Statue of Un-Liberty, perched on the edge of their balcony. At the sound of her voice, he straightened slightly but otherwise didn’t react.

“Emmet, please, I need your help.”

He turned now, his face lifted in curiosity. “And you’re sure you want my help?”

“I…” She sighed. “I know things are rough right now between us, but I’m worried things are about to get a lot worse for everyone.”

She stepped closer, lowering herself onto her knees. She reached out and, seeing that he wasn’t moving away, gently cupped his cheek in her hand. “I think you’re the only one who will believe me. We need…” She paused, steeling her nerves. “We need to let General Mayhem go. The others can’t understand why, but you- you’ve always been understanding. You’ve always been sweet, innocent, kind. That’s wh- “

Rex pulled away from her. “Seriously?” He asked, his voice low and rough in an attempt to conceal some genuine hurt. “Even after everything, you still don’t think I’m tough?”

“Emmet,” Lucy let out a tired, desperate laugh. “That’s not important right now. Mayhem says that if we don’t do something soon, then it will be Ourmomaggedon - the end of everything!”

Rex blinked in surprise. He hadn’t been planning to kick off the apocalypse just yet, but it seemed like the stars were aligning even without his intervention. After his last attempt at this whole scheme, he’d learned to tackle his goals one at a time. As such, he was going to let the “new” Rex handle Ourmomaggedon, but… Rex had never been one to look a gift velociraptor in the mouth.

“You said,” he sneered, “that the others don’t want to free her. If they’re so much tougher than I am, why don’t you just listen to them?”

“Can you cut out the tough thing for one minute?” The words tore out of her throat. She took a breath, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I know you care, Emmet. You always care.”

She locked eyes with him, and Rex could see how precariously close she was to tears.

“You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever known, and I know that you care about the world ending. I know you’ll do the right thing, even if the others disagree.”

“We’ve saved the world once already, Emmet.” She smiled and extended a timid hand. “Help me do it again.”

Rex stared at the open palm in front of him, struggling to keep his emotions from playing across his face.

“No.”

Lucy made a soft, sad sound and her hand dropped.

“No,” Rex repeated. “I won’t let you do this.” Pushing himself to his feet, he continued. “I’m going to tell the others what you’re planning.”

He turned, moving as if to leap off the statue.

“Emmet, stop!” Lucy panicked, reaching out to grab his arm. He flinched at her touch, ripping himself out of her grasp. She gasped when she saw how his face twisted. He was furious in a way she had never imagined Emmet could be.

“I- ” Lucy forced her brain work, forced herself past any feelings of hurt or betrayal. “Fine.” She set her brow in determination. “I’ll do it myself.”

Before Rex could react, Lucy leapt backwards into the air, grabbing one of the many cables decorating the statue and ripping it free of its tether. As she landed back on the balcony, she slipped the newly freed end of the cable through one of the many straps on Rex’s vest and tied it in a firm knot. With a swift kick to the chest, she sent him careening off the platform, into a nest of cables and wires.

Hastily, she wiped at her eyes with the back of her gloved hand, and then dove off the statue herself. She twisted into a roll as she landed, then continued running directly towards the jail. With no time to spare, she opted to parkour up the side of the building and dive through a vent.

She straightened, and found herself in the hall outside of Mayhem’s room. Her instincts had served her well as usual. Wrenching the door open, she found herself face to face with Metalbeard’s… well, face.

Picking his head up, she quickly slapped a hand across his mouth. “Sorry about this,” she whispered, “but saving the world is kinda my MO.”

Before she could regret her decision, she spun about and chucked the pirate’s head into the vent she’d come through. A cacophony of metallic onomatopoeias and foul pirate language trailed behind him.

She locked the door behind her and, after a brief moment of consideration, built a second, larger lock on it as well.

“Lucy?” Mayhem’s voice floated out from inside the cell.

“Yeah,” Lucy muttered under her breath. “I’m here to get you out, but we have to act fast. The others are gonna be here soon.” She pulled out her copy of the cell key and started walking towards the cell door.

Suddenly, the ceiling above her exploded, the raw concussive force of it sending her tumbling backwards. The room filled with smoke, and she choked momentarily, struggling to catch her breath.

When it cleared, she could see Emmet standing in the epicenter of the explosion. He rose to his feet, meeting her eyes with an enraged expression.

“Mayhem isn’t going anywhere,” he stated, no room for negotiation in his voice.

“Lucy?” Mayhem called out. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Lucy couldn’t respond. She felt like she couldn’t even think.

Emmet looked... different. His lower jaw was patchy in places with stubble.

With a sinking sense of dread, a single thought formed in Lucy’s mind. It raced through her brain over and over, too bright and shrieking to let any others form.

That was not Emmet.

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #rex dangervest #wyldstyle #general mayhem #I know its a little silly to feel hype for your own fanfiction #but IT is ABOUT to POP OFF #what can I say #Im always a slut for Dramatic Irony

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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I know Rick Diggins is a “Click-O Man”, but I wanted to see what he would look like as a genuine Lego boy, so I drew it

Unfortunately, in doing so, the Bastard Man grew too powerful and has now manifested in the Real World

Someone please send help, they’ve found my thumbtacks

#dimension 20 #tiny heist #rick diggins #finally... more minifigures that will make #me feel just incredibly guilty if I ever lose them under something #now I gotta make a therapy office set that I can put them in

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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story: “And they were friends”

me, already weeping: “oh my god, they were friends”

bardic inspiration

Mothen shivered and re-wrapped the thick woolen scarf around his neck. It was not yet quite four hours past noon, but the sky was already dark enough that lamps were being lit across the marketplace, and the wind had picked up a bite. There was a certain feel in the air that told him there would likely be more snow on the way soon.

It had been a good day at the market. This close to the solstice, the marketplace was abuzz with the varied citizens of Lantern Point preparing for any one of the collection of winter holidays celebrated in the city, and consequently the cart full of family goods to sell that they had arrived with had emptied in remarkable time. Mothen had had both coin and time enough to fill the cart back up again with their own purchases while the stalls were still well-stocked. He’d even managed to secure two jars of the pickled fish he and Fhurl enjoyed, which usually got snapped up long before he could make it to the stall.

But it had also been a long day at the market, and though he was well-bundled against the cold, after so long outside in the chill it had begun to find its way through his warm woolen layers and settle under his skin. He was more than ready to be home with his feet warming before the hearth fire and a hot drink in his hands.

There was one more thing still to do before they could set off for home, however.

“Well, that seems to be the last thing on the list,” he said to his son Beah, who was standing in the cart and packing up the last few purchases with great care while an enormous shaggy black dog sat in the seat keeping a calm eye on the proceedings. Their stalwart pony Clara stood patiently in front of the cart, waiting to be hitched. “There’s not anything else we need to get, is there?”

The young halfling looked down over the side of the cart anxiously, wide brown eyes peeping out above the heavy scarf that concealed most of his face. “Da…”

Mothen put a hand to his chin as if he were thinking very hard. “Unless I’m forgetting something? But I can’t think what…”

“Da, you promised.”

“Did I make a promise? Hmm…” Beah was positively squirming by now. Mothen couldn’t hold his straight face any longer. “Ah yes, that’s right! I promised a certain little boy he would get a treat if he helped me out at the marketplace today.”

“I did help,” Beah said, a little uncertainly.

“You did indeed! You helped a great deal. And I always keep my promises.” Mothen reached up and lifted Beah down off the cart. “So, little merchant. Do you know what kind of reward you want for your hard work today?”

“Yes!” Beah took off the moment his boots touched the ground, making with absolute conviction back to the heart of the marketplace. Mothen paused long enough to murmur, “Stay, Clover,” to the dog before following Beah at a rather more sedate pace. He was not concerned about leaving the cart unattended; Clover would brook no interference with it as long as she was on guard, not that most thieves would have bothered in the first place once they saw a halfling-bred guard dog on duty.

Keep reading

#BOY this is that GOOD STUFF #talking about BARDS?#talking about different styles of STORYTELLING??#talking about how both oral tradition and fictional entertainment have VALUE AND WORTH???#wrapping it all up in a WHOLESOME STORY about some WHOLESOME KIDDOS????#you love to see it

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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OK OK OK I have some THOUGHTS about Tiny Heist ESPECIALLY about the BASTARD MAN HIMSELF, RICK DIGGINS

I am 100% convinced that Justin McElroy is toying with me (pun FUCKING intended) because Rick Diggins is a reference to Rex Dangervest (the main antagonist of The Lego Movie 2) and I CAN PROVE IT

- OBVIOUS NAME PARALLELS! Both have the initials RD, and Rick/Rex is such an obvious slant rhyme that Justin himself uses it in the alias Digginsaurus “Ricks”

- MULTIPLE PERSONAS! Rick Diggins “Man About Town” has the exact same vibes as Rex Dangervest “Man of the Soil” DON’T TRY AND TELL ME DIFFERENT

- EXPOSITION OVERLOAD! Both willing to give their entire life story at the drop of a literal hat

- THE EXACT! SAME! BACKSTORY! Both characters were lost somewhere isolated (under a dryer vs under a car seat), in a “half alive” state, unable to move or escape for a number of years

- THESE TOYS NEED THERAPY! As a result of their shared trauma, both are very nihilistic and have little to no regard for the wellbeing of other characters! Haha! They’re broken inside!

- I’d die for either one and both would let me

thank you for coming to my ted talk

#dimension 20 #tiny heist #rick diggins #rex dangervest #listen #do i care too much about the lego movies? Yes #but i also care about THE TRUTH #I SEE THROUGH YOU JUSTIN

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 9)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 2) | (Cpt 3) | (Cpt 4) | (Cpt 5) | (Cpt 6) | (Cpt 7) | (Cpt 8) || (AO3)

It’s Rex Time, babey!

Chapter 9 (2069 words)

It had been one week since Rex first landed in Apocalypseburg. One week since he’d taken Emmet’s place and started working to change the way everyone saw him.

The plan was simple - he’d get them all used to the idea of Emmet being tough, perform a few mind-blowing feats, and then when Emmet came back he could just step right into Rex’s newly vacated shoes.

Except that when he came back, he wouldn’t really be Emmet anymore. He’d be Rex by then, so technically he would be stepping back into his own shoes?

Time travel is confusing.

Regardless, Rex was super sure that his plan would work this time. And now, a week since his arrival, it was finally time for the real showstopper. All he needed was for his guest star to make her dramatic entrance.

As much as Rex was loath to admit it, his feelings towards his former friends were… complicated. His feelings towards General Mayhem, the Systarian who had utterly destroyed his life, were less so. Smashing her into the ground would prevent the Matrimonial Ceremony from taking place, further cement his “tough guy” image, and also scratch a very personal cathartic itch.

Rex was nearly beside himself with anticipation. Almost absentmindedly, he checked the wiring again on the jury-rigged apparatus he’d spent the whole morning prepping. Given the simplicity of the machine, he found his gaze quickly drifting back to the cloudless sky, hungrily watching for that tell-tale shooting star.

Any second now, he thought to himself, a thin and crooked smile on his lips.

“Okay Mayhem, you’ve totally got this. Just stay cool, act tough, bring the guest back to the palace. Easy peasy.”

Looking into the eyes of her reflection in the ship’s windshield, General Mayhem tried to steel her nerves with a small but mostly confident smile.

“You’ve been training for this for months,” she reminded herself. “Sure the Apocalyseburg guys are super tough and dirty and grouchy and scary and- ”

She cut herself off sharply with a hard yank on the ship’s yoke that sent it into a tight spiral. It swerved nimbly, narrowly avoiding a collision with a dark-blue pod that had suddenly darted out from behind a nearby glastroid. Mayhem righted her ship swiftly, her thumb already hovering over one of its many triggers, but the other ship seemed to have vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

Mayhem frowned, peering into the inky black void, but to no avail. She was alone again.

“I, uh,” she settled back into her seat. “I was getting off-topic anyways. The point is that everything is going to be just fine. Once they come to the Ceremony and talk to the Queen, they’ll totally understand what we’re trying to do. They have to.”

The thought firmly in place, she tried to just focus on piloting. Usually, she found flying to be quite soothing, and while today was no exception, she still found herself relieved to be nearing the alien planet.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself, firmly placing her helmet over her head. “It’s showtime.”

The ship fell out of hyperspeed and began to streak along the desert landscape. As she drew closer to the wreckage of Bricksburg, a myriad of flashing sensors began beeping steadily.

Slowly, she wove through the crumbled buildings. She hadn’t personally been here for a while, and from what she could see, the place was looking worse off than ever. The last time she had, uh, “visited”, the former citizens of Bricksburg had taken to hiding in secret bunkers scattered throughout the destroyed city. This meant, unfortunately, that she now had the unenviable task of trying to find one of those bunkers now.

She was peering at her scanner when an alarm on the dash suddenly began to wail. With a jolt of surprise, she whipped her head around to see an image illuminated on the viewscreen. There, helpfully outlined in red by the computer, was some kind of projectile that had been launched.

“Computer,” she commanded. “Enhance.”

The image immediately zoomed in and somehow increased exponentially in quality. Before she had time to study it, however, the mysterious object exploded in a flash of light and smoke, spelling out a message against the gray sky.

“Happy New Year?” She squinted down at the viewscreen in confusion. “It’s like, late June...”

Regardless of some calendar confusion, this flare was a clear sign of life. Plugging its approximate coordinates into the computer, Mayhem began to steer her ship towards Apocalypseburg, into the jaws of a waiting trap.

Apocalypseburg was in chaos. Specifically, it was in more chaos than usual. Someone had set off a flare on the outskirts of the city, and now the lookouts on duty were reporting an alien ship approaching at high speed.

The custom vehicles that had been dispatched to deal with the threat had all been quickly and handedly destroyed. In the wake of their failure, the retreat signal had been given, and now a horde of citizens were thundering into the Bat Fortress.

Rex watched the pandemonium calmly. He’d already sabotaged the Fortress, jamming the gears so that the door wouldn’t be able to close. It simply wouldn’t do if his audience was unable to see him in his moment of victory.

Leaving his stash of stolen flares, he darted through the city, making his way to Batman’s spear turret. As he scaled the tower, it shuddered to life and started launching a barrage of sharp-tipped iron spikes towards the enemy ship.

“READ IT AND WEEP!” Batman was yelling, somehow still confident despite each of his spears crumbling against the ship’s reinforced shields.

With a sick backflip, Rex leapt through the air onto one of the spears. Racing down its length, he reached the tip at the moment of impact, just in time to slam his fist directly into the front windshield.

The window broke instantly, a spiderweb of cracks spreading across its surface and into the metal of the ship’s hull as well. For a second, he and the ship hung there, suspended in the air together.

Then, in a rush of sound and power, the ship exploded.

A cloud of sparkly blue smoke poured out, quickly filling the surrounding area. The citizens of Apocalypseburg paused in their desperate mad dash for survival, every eye turning to stare at the place where the ship used to be.

“Nailed it.” Batman fistpumped victoriously, then turned to address the stupefied crowds below. “Everyone saw me do that, right?”

Below him, Lucy bolted out of the Fortress, into the smoke. She’d been searching for Emmet in the crowd moments earlier, but seeing him leap at an alien spaceship like some kind of lunatic had clued her into the fact that she was looking in the wrong spot.

“EMMET!” She hollered, wading through the smoke. As she entered the area, her vision cleared slightly, enough that she could make out various chunks of rubble and debris strewn about her.

A sudden movement attracted her attention. The silhouette of the Systarian appeared, crawling out from underneath a chunk of twisted metal. As Lucy approached, the alien staggered to her feet.

Her visor, a deep reflective blue, had been split cleanly down the middle, and Lucy could make out a thin sliver of the face underneath. In a smooth motion, the alien drew a blaster from her hip and leveled it in Lucy’s direction.

“Not so fast!” Lucy called out as she leapt into the air. Twisting skillfully, she kicked the blaster cleanly out of her opponent’s grip.

Mayhem hissed in pain, and reached back down to her belt to retrieve her ship’s control device. Before she could activate the repair function however, a hand grabbed her wrist.

Rex stepped out of the smoke next to the two women, surprising them both with his silent approach. With his free hand, he easily plucked the device away from Mayhem and crushed it in his fist.

Behind her mask, Mayhem’s jaw dropped in shock. The Apocalypseburgers were prepared beyond anything she’d ever expected. She had no choice but to try and retreat.

With a grunt of exertion, she kicked up at Rex’s hand, breaking his grip on her arm just long enough for her to turn, activate her suit’s wings, and begin to fly off.

“She’s getting away!” Lucy whipped her head side to side, scanning the area for parts to make some kind of net or cage with. “Emmet, help me find- ”

Before she could finish her sentence, Rex leapt into action. Parkouring between the pieces of rubble, he quickly matched Mayhem’s altitude and jumped onto her back. One hand tightened on her wing, the sharp plastic edges digging uncomfortably into his palm. Unsurprisingly, his other hand balled into a fist and rammed directly into the center of her back.

Mayhem screamed, a distorted and garbled sound, one the speakers of her mask seemed ill-equipped to handle. One of her slender blue wings fell to the ground, followed soon after by Rex and herself.

Lucy ran over to where the two of them lay prone and fell to her knees beside them.

“Emmet?” She asked, her voice trembling, as she pulled him into her lap. “A-are you okay?”

He didn’t respond. For a second, it looked like he was going to pull away from her, to try and lunge at the alien again, but the smoke had cleared enough now that the rest of Apocalypseburg was beginning to descend upon the scene.

“You guys did it!” A voice cried out from the crowd.

“Let’s hear it for Emmet and Wyldstyle!” Another one crowed.

As everyone continued to cheer for the two heroes, a single figure broke away from the revelry, marching authoritatively towards Mayhem’s still form. Bending down beside her, Scribble Cop produced a pair of handcuffs and clicked them tight around her wrists. With a huff, he slung the alien up over his shoulder and began to carry her off.

“Where are you taking her?” Rex asked coldly, finally pulling himself out of Lucy’s embrace and to his feet. “To the Slammer?”

Scribble Cop answered with his usual frown and growl combo, but also nodded. Rex nearly followed after him, but Lucy’s sudden grip on his arm stalled him in his tracks.

“Emmet?”

He turned to face her, only to find some unfamiliar expression in her eyes. She glanced at the crowd momentarily, then pulled him behind her into an empty alleyway nearby.

“Emmet,” she asked again. “What was that out there?”

“What do you mean?” Rex answered, genuine confusion in his voice.

“I- you-” Lucy stammered. “You hit her.”

“Well, yeah.” Rex barely stopped himself from sneering. “She’s an enemy.”

“She’s also a person.” Lucy replied, bewilderment clear on her face. “It’s not like we were fighting a giant monster or a robot or something.”

“Are you… mad at me?” Rex drew back from her. “Why are you acting like this? Punching stuff is tough. It’s what we do.”

“No! I mean, yes, it is tough. I just meant that we could have stopped her in a different way.”

“I think,” her voice grew soft. “I think you might have really hurt her.”

Rex was quiet for a moment. What would Emmet do, he wondered. He’d probably just agree with Lucy. He’s say anything for her to be happy with him again.

His gut curdled at the thought.

He wasn’t sure he could even force the words out. Lucy was wrong, not Rex. If he hadn’t used his Master Breaker technique, then General Mayhem would already be well on her way back to the Systar System, ready to come back with more reinforcements in tow.

What Rex did was necessary.

“You wanted me to be tougher,” Rex’s chin trembled with barely suppressed rage. “But now that I am, you’re still unhappy?”

“Emmet,” Lucy sighed. “That’s not what I’m trying to say!”

“THEN WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?” Rex screamed. His whole face felt red-hot, like all of the anger he’d been pressing back had begun to literally boil over.

Lucy stepped back. Her mouth moved, trying and failing to form a response as her brain short-circuited on her. Rex watched for a second as she struggled, taking bitter satisfaction in the hurt and confusion in her eyes.

Finally, without a word from either of them, he turned on his heel and left.

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #rex dangervest #wyldstyle #general mayhem #whoo! General Mayhem finally makes an appearance!#only to IMMEDIATELY get dunked on #she'll have her moment tho #dont worry

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 8)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 2) | (Cpt 3) | (Cpt 4) | (Cpt 5) | (Cpt 6) | (Cpt 7) || (AO3) Thanks to everyone that left such lovely comments on the last chapter! You guys made my whole week :D

Also, I forgot to mention this last time, but Bonus Points to anyone that can guess why the ship is named the Gemini.... Chapter 8 (3314 words)

ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO

Bianca opened the door with one hand, carefully balancing her newest spaceship in the other. Finn would like this one, she was super sure.

Dad had helped her with the really tricky bits, since some Legos were still too small and finicky for a seven year-old to use, but she had built most of it herself. Plus, she had done all the stickers and decorating as well.

Looking down the stairs, she couldn’t see any sign of her brother. Tentatively, she set the Gemini aside, placing it on top of one of the many shelves lining the side of the staircase.

“Finn?” She called out his name as she flounced downstairs, running a careful hand along the banister. The basement was silent in response, aside from the low rumble of the dryer.

In her brother’s absence, Bianca’s attention turned to the large table where his Legos were set out. The city of Bricksburg looked pretty much the same as when she’d last seen it, which was to say that it looked pretty rough. The last time that they’d “played” together, they had ended up arguing over a particularly cool minifigure and Bianca had accidentally smashed her elbow into one of the taller skyscrapers, totally destroying it. And then, when Finn tried to swoop in and catch the top of the building, he had only succeeded in toppling its neighbor as well.

Bianca frowned at the memory. She hadn’t meant to break the tower, and she hadn’t meant to make Finn so grumpy either. It seemed like everything she did made him mad though, and he never wanted to play the same games as her either.

She looked over towards where Finn kept his favorite minifigures. He almost always played with the same ones, and he never let her play with any of them, even though he had so many.

Bianca reached over, plucking Batman’s figure from where he’d been positioned behind some kind of turret gun.

Batman was the coolest of all Finn’s superheros, Bianca thought. Her brother had given her some other ones, like Wonder Woman and the green guy, a while back so that she’d stop bothering him about it. And then, he hid Batman for a while. She didn’t know how long, but it seemed like approximately the amount of time it takes to produce a feature length animated film... or something.

Regardless, he was back now.

Bianca liked Batman because he seemed lonely, like he needed a friend to give him hugs or throw him a party. Sometimes she felt lonely like that, but she had her mom and dad, and from what she’d heard, Batman didn’t.

Holding him in her hand, Bianca wondered if Batman missed his superhero friends. They were all up in her room, maybe she ought to take-

The door to the stairs opened with a bang.

“Bianca?” Finn called out as he raced down the stairs. “You better not have broken anything. That new tank took me hours to build.”

He pulled up next to her, inspecting the area for damage.

“I didn’t break your dumb tank.” Bianca stuck her tongue out at his back. “I just came down here to show you something.” She turned to go retrieve the Gemini when Finn suddenly whipped around.

“Where’s Batman?” He exclaimed. “He’s supposed to be piloting the whole thing.”

“He’s right here!” Bianca extended her arm, the plastic figure still clenched in her hand.

“Give him back!” Finn grabbed her wrist with one hand and began to pull at Batman with the other.

“Hey!” Bianca yelped. “Let go!”

Finn released her arm and pressed the fist holding Batman against his chest, as if to shield it from her. “You’ve got to stop taking my guys, Bianca,” he muttered darkly.

“I wasn’t taking him,” Bianca bristled. “I was just looking!”

“Uh huh,” Finn scowled. “The same way you were ‘just looking’ at the Justice League?”

“You gave me those guys!”

“Did not!” Finn rebutted. “And I want them back.”

“You can’t do that,” Bianca wailed.

“Can so.”

“Argh!” Bianca tugged at her hair and screamed just a little bit. “You’re the worst!”

Angrily, she stomped up the stairs as loudly as she could, and slammed the door behind her.

Finn’s expression sagged. Quietly, he turned back to his worktable and placed Batman into his seat. As he did so, his attention fell on the little vehicle nearly obscured by Batman’s tank. Gently, he picked the little car up, opened the door, and removed Emmet’s figurine.

Holding the construction worker tenderly in his palm, Finn couldn’t help but remember all the cool adventures he had made up for his little buddy. About a month ago, when they were shopping for new school supplies, his mom had bought him a big notebook just for writing down some of his stories. He had already filled out a good handful of the pages and had even let Bianca draw in some illustrations.

He had taken the notebook with him when he went to middle school orientation last week. When the teacher had made his small group go around and share, he had told them that his name was Finn and he liked to play with his Legos and write stories.

Afterwards, a couple of the kids had asked to see his notebook, and he’d nervously complied. They read through the first few pages, and then most of them seemed to get kind of bored. One kid flipped through the whole book really fast, stopping abruptly on a picture of Unikitty that sprawled messily across both pages.

The kid laughed, and Finn felt his stomach churn. He suddenly felt like the whole world was ending and the only thing that would stop it would be to snatch his notebook back and hide it somewhere far away. But, the other kids were still holding it and so he’d probably just rip it if he tried.

“Um, actually,” he stammered, “that one is my sister’s character. Mine, uh, mine has huge fangs and huge claws and uh, can shoot missiles.”

The kids tittered appreciatively at the thought of missiles and cool explosions, but it didn’t make Finn feel as good as he thought it would have.

Looking down at Emmet, all Finn could see now were the things he couldn’t do. He couldn’t shoot missiles, or do backflips, or take out bad guys, or impress anyone. He wasn’t cool or tough or important or interesting or special. He was embarrassing.

The sharp plastic edges of the figurine started to jab into Finn’s clammy fingers uncomfortably, causing him to realize how tight his grip had become. Dimly, Finn knew that he wasn’t really upset at Emmet, that it was silly to be upset at a toy. But given that he was a ten year-old boy, the idea of disliking a thinly veiled self-insert was a much more palatable concept than the alternative.

Setting Emmet back down, Finn turned away, walking up the stairs and out of the basement. As he did so, he failed to notice the newest addition to the downstairs’ collection, and so the Gemini was left to collect dust.

*******************

“Wow, Nova,” Emmet grinned. “That was a really great story. And so well told, too. I’m really glad I heard it and not like, some kind of fourth-wall breaking, real world analog instead.”

“Pssh,” Nova scoffed, an embarrassed flush rising on her ears. “It was whatever.”

Suddenly, her comm blipped loudly. Nova reached down, pressing a button on her belt to accept the call, and Catastrophe’s voice blasted out.

“HELLO? NOBLE?”

She sighed. “Literally who else would it be, Major?”

“GOOD POINT.” Catastrophe coughed awkwardly, causing a jolt of feedback. “ANYWAYS, I HAVE RETRIEVED THE REST OF GROMMET’S CREW AND WE’RE WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BY THE MAIN ENGINE.”

“Oh!” Nova’s expression brightened. “Alright, we’ll be down in a minute.”

“ALSO PLEASE BRING SOME BAND-AIDS.”

Nova said something in response, but Emmet didn’t hear it.

The main engine, he thought. That’s what I’m supposed to destroy. Nova’s story still echoed in his mind however, and he couldn’t help but feel ashamed for thinking about destroying a lost and unarmed ship.

His guide turned toward him, oblivious to his current thoughts. “Come on, dude,” she smiled gently. “You’re gonna love this.”

Quietly, Emmet followed.

*******************

The engine was big.

Logically, Emmet had known this. He’d seen it on the map earlier, and he remembered thinking to himself wow, that’s pretty big.

However, seeing it in person, he was utterly struck with the realization that the engine was BIG.

It was at least two, if not three, stories tall, and it seemed to stretch back infinitely into the ship. The fact that it was constructed out of millions of intricate interlocking pieces only added to the illusion, giving it complexity and depth.

Even though it was completely off, the way that his eyes couldn’t help but trace the convoluted gears and tracks and tubing of the machine gave it the illusion of movement.

Beside him, Nova nudged his shoulder. “It’s pretty, isn’t it.”

Still bewildered, Emmet couldn’t do much more than nod in mute agreement.

“When it’s on,” she pointed up towards an array of delicate shapes and figures littering the engine, “those all dance and twirl and spin around.” Half turned towards her, Emmet could see how her amber eyes seemed to glow with raw adoration. She was smiling, really smiling, and in the light of the engine room, he suddenly noticed that she had a spattering of light freckles that sprawled across her dimpled cheeks like constellations.

“ATTENTION EVERYBODY.” Catastrophe addressed him and the five raptors that were standing morosely in the corner of the room.

“I UNFORTUNATELY CANNOT TURN ON THE ENGINE FOR YOUR DELIGHT AND AMUSEMENT. AS SUCH, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO PLEASE IMAGINE THAT IT IS WHOOSHING AROUND AND BEING REALLY SUPER COOL.”

They gave a stiff bow. “THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.”

For a few minutes, they all stood quietly in front of the engine. Emmet tried his hardest to imagine it in motion, like the Major had requested, and frankly it did seem super cool. Eventually though, Catastrophe spoke up again.

“ATTENTION AGAIN, PLEASE.” They rasped. “IT IS NOW BEDTIME. NOEL, PLEASE ACCOMPANY THE BITEY ONES BACK TO THEIR ROOMS, AND I WILL ESCORT EMILY-”

“Emmet.”

“YES, OF COURSE. I WILL ESCORT HELMET BACK TO HIS ROOM.”

“Ugh,” Nova grumbled. “Yeah, yeah, alright.” She grabbed the first aid satchel back from the Major and started to herd the raptors out of the room.

“SO,” the Major took Emmet by the elbow and started to lead him down the opposite corridor. “WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ENGINE?”

“It’s awesome,” Emmet beamed. “I kinda wish I could see it in action.”

Catastrophe stared at him for a moment, just long enough to make it awkward. “I SEE,” they eventually wheezed before leading him towards his bedroom in relative silence.

When they reached the room, the door hissed open automatically. Emmet stepped into the doorway and couldn’t stop himself from gasping. It was like a luxury hotel room, spacious and well-furnished. He turned back to ask the Major if they’d gotten the right room, but they were gone.

Alone now, Emmet wandered over to sit on the bed. It was absurdly soft and he couldn’t resist the urge to lie down, pausing only to brush off a few of the decorative pillows and stuffed animals that were taking up the majority of the bed’s surface. In a flash, all his exhaustion caught up to him, and he realized that he probably wasn’t going to get back up until morning.

Absent-mindedly, he picked up one of the stuffed toys that was digging into his side. It was a blue bear, like the one he’d had as a child, long before the world had ended twice-over.

He frowned. Everything had been so simple this morning, when the Gemini was just a vague threat and there was a straightforward plan to follow. But now, he couldn’t be sure what to do. If he didn’t destroy the engine, then he would fail the seminar and let all his friends down. But if he did destroy it, then Nova and Catastrophe could be stuck here forever.

Laying on his back, Emmet let his worried thoughts roll through his mind again and again until he slipped into a vague sort of sleep.

*******************

Apocalypseburg was crumbling. The buildings, the vehicles, even the ground itself was fracturing into a thousand tiny shards. The world was ripping itself apart, accompanied by a symphony of distorted screaming voic-

Lucy fell to the ground, hard. A yelp escaped her lips before she could help it. She looked up, her face twisted in pain, a trace of blood trickling past her brow. There was fear in her ey-

The Rexcelsior streaked through space, its engines gleaming, clearly working at full power. Suddenly, something unseen struck its side, exploding against the hull in a brilliant blast of light. The ship shuddered, rocked by the force of the explosion, sending small sections of ship careening into the void. Its attacker swerved around, avoiding the debris, their guns shimmering as they prepared another volley.

It was the Gemini.

Fully operational.

Its rear engines were spinning, smearing a shimmering golden trail against the backdrop of spa-

Emmet jerked awake. His heart was pounding in his chest, threatening to leap past his ribs altogether.

It was just a dream, he thought. A- a nightmare maybe. Either way, it wasn’t real.

But… it had felt real.

Suddenly, Emmet realized that he was incredibly uncomfortable. His bed was too warm, despite the thinness of the blanket. He needed to get out.

He stood up, feeling the chill of the night air in the sweat on his back. For a moment, he considered calling Rex, telling him about the dream. It usually helped to talk about these things, but… Emmet couldn’t impose.

It hadn’t been that bad of a dream, he told himself. He could deal with it himself. He’d just go for a quick walk, just to get his mind off things. That was all.

He stepped out into the hall. The overhead lights were off, but a thin strip of LEDs near the floor emitted a faint blue glow that allowed him to see well enough. He tried to walk gently, so as not to disturb anyone that might still be sleeping. As he was pacing past the bridge, he stopped to look out the vast window.

It was so quiet and still. Outside the window, glastroids floated by, slowly spinning past one another. The stars in the distance glimmered, and Emmet felt a little better just watching them. He leaned against the dashboard, cupping his cheek in one hand as he stared dreamily out of the window.

Suddenly, a light on the dash illuminated. Startled, Emmet pulled back, looking frantically to see what he had accidently touched. But, as he searched, he couldn’t see anything that had been disturbed.

The light blinked again. Beneath it was a label reading “Engine Status”, and beneath that was a readout displaying the word “ACTIVE”.

Emmet stared at the light in confusion. The cold sensation of dread percolated in the back of his mind. Abruptly, he turned on his heel, stalking out of the door and down the corridor towards the engine room.

As he approached, he crept quieter and quieter, sticking as low to the ground as he could. He could tell he was getting closer, as the ambient light and noise was steadily increasing. Stopping at the entrance, Emmet peered carefully around the doorway.

Inside the room, he could see Major Catastrophe pacing in front of the vast engine, which had begun to slowly but steadily turn in an intricate motion. Behind them, Nova was bent over, kneeling in front of the machine, performing some kind of maintenance on it.

As Emmet watched, she grunted and stood up. The engine started to accelerate, and the metallic hum filling the air increased in both frequency and volume. She walked over to the Major’s side, and Emmet suddenly recognized the piece she had been working on - the fuelcell of the Rexplorer.

“FINALLY,” Catastrophe rubbed their hands together. “WE WILL MAKE IT TO APOC-LICKS-BURG. FINALLY WE CAN SHOW THEM WHAT WE’RE CAPABLE OF!”

They begin to laugh, a maniacal and distorted sound.

“Yeah,” Nova agreed, excitement clear in her voice, “I can’t wait!”

The engine twirled faster now, and the activation lights started blinking from red to green. For a long moment, all three characters simply watched the lightshow.

“Do you think,” Nova asked hesitantly. “That Emmet will be upset?”

“MAYBE.” Catastrophe’s mask was illuminated starkly by the glow of the engine, which continued to grow brighter. “BUT HE WON’T BE FOR VERY LONG.”

In his hiding place, Emmet felt utterly betrayed. He turned away from the upsetting scene, pressing his face into his hands. He had trusted them. He had trusted them, and they had stolen his crew and his fuelcell, and they really were planning on attacking his friends just like he’d seen in his dream.

He pressed his palms into his eyelids, trying in vain to stop the tears that were welling up behind them.

The things that he’d seen… Apocalypseburg being destroyed, Lucy being hurt… he had to stop it. He had to stop the Gemini.

With a burst of determination, Emmet wiped his face and rose to his feet. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see that Nova and the Major were still preoccupied with restarting the engine. He would show them that he wasn’t as naive as they thought.

Setting his expression into something hard, Emmet strode into the engine room.

“You stole our fuelcell?” His voice rang out over the drone of the engine, clear and accusatory.

“Emmet?” Both aliens turned to face him, their shock clear on their faces.

“EVAN,” Catastrophe started, “YOU DON’T UNDERST-”

“No!” Emmet shouted, ignoring the heat of tears that had somehow snuck past his anger. “No, I understand PERFECTLY. You thought you could trick me, because I’m… because I’m not tough.”

His voice caught in his throat. “B- But, you’re wrong! I am tough. And I’ll prove it to you!”

Buoyed by his rage, Emmet ran towards the engine, easily slipping past the others.

WHAT MAKES YOU MAD, EMMET?

Trinity’s voice rang in his ears, louder than the engine, louder than his pounding heart.

WHAT MAKES YOU MAD?

That people doubt me, Emmet thought. That people don’t accept me. That people pity me.

W H A T M A K E S Y O U M A D ?

That people don’t think I’m worth anything.

His fist hit the center of the engine. Under his knuckles, the metal screeched. Instantly, the lights flickered, growing to a blinding intensity before dying completely in the blink of an eye. The clockwork pieces and elaborate decorations that had only begun to move seemed to leap from their perches to the unforgiving floor below. There was the sound of things shattering and breaking, the sound of the huge machine grinding to a halt, the sound of its gears chewing themselves to death.

And then there was silence.

Panting, Emmet rose to his feet, brushing dust and debris off his suit. Without looking at the others, he moved towards the fuelcell, pulling it effortlessly out of the wreckage.

“We’ll be leaving now,” he said, his voice cold and flat.

“You… ” Nova fell to her knees, her eyes wide with disbelief. “It can’t be gone.”

Beside her, the Major turned to stare at him with pleading eyes. “BUT,” they wheezed. “WHY?”

Emmet walked past them, trying to remember where they’d placed his crewmates. He looked back, just for a second, at the wreckage.

“You shouldn’t have taken my stuff.”

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #emmet brickowski #rex dangervest #obligatory sad chapter lol #plus a totally not foreshadowing dream sequence #plus a flashback within a flashback wowa #and they said it couldnt be done

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thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 4 years

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Try, Try Again (pt. 7)

(Cpt 1) | (Cpt 2) | (Cpt 3) | (Cpt 4) | (Cpt 5) | (Cpt 6) || (AO3) Just to preface, this chapter will include some OC characters. If you’d like, you can see art of them here. Chapter 7 (3518 words)

Emmet was crouched down, his eyes just barely peeking over the edge of the windowsill. Outside, past the thick, cold glass and a long stretch of the glastroid’s sheer surface, a second ship rested at an awkward angle.

The ship was probably white under all the dust, with long fuchsia fins and blue domed windows. In random places across its surface, faded stickers had begun peeling away from the hull. More interesting than its physical appearance however, was the fact that it appeared to be utterly and completely dead.

There were no lights or movement that Emmet could see, and Trinity’s readout when they initially landed had confirmed that the ship was, for all intents and purposes, inactive.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Emmet was any less afraid of the thing.

Watching the ship from his hiding spot, he tried desperately to push his fears to the back of his mind. He was a starship captain now. He was supposed to be tough now. And yet, here he was, cowering from a long abandoned ship.

He wasn’t especially afraid that the aliens might hurt him. He had, after all, been living in Apocalypseburg for years now and, even before that, there had been the events of Taco Tuesday. Threats of physical harm weren’t particularly alarming to him anymore.

What Emmet was afraid of, truly afraid of, was that he’d do the wrong thing. That he’d let his little team down, and then they’d look at him with that same pitying stare as the others, and it would prove that everyone had been right about him all along.

Logically, he knew that he shouldn’t be this worried, that his successful landing the day before should serve as proof of his abilities. But the fear still sat low in his gut, lurking like a shape under the water, whispering up at him that he just hadn’t let everyone down yet.

He tried to push the feeling away, tried to cover it up by imagining for the hundredth time how his return to Apocalypseburg would pan out. The swelling music, the applause of the raptor crew, the faces of his friends turning to joy as they realized that Emmet was back and, more importantly, that he was better. Things would finally be like they had been before, in that one shining moment left in the wake of Taco Tuesday. The moment when people had called him a hero.

The way his chest clenched at the thought was stronger than any fear.

“CAPTAIN!” A shrill voice rang out from behind him, causing Emmet to jolt in surprise. Turning, he could see the silhouette of a raptor approaching.

“CAPTAIN,” Tiberius repeated herself solemnly. “WE NEED YOU… ON THE BRIDGE.”

“Oh, uh,” Emmet leapt to his feet. “Of course!” Hastily pasting a cheery grin across his cheeks, he trotted off after Tiberius.

Upon entering the bridge, Emmet could tell that the little crew had been hard at work. Hawkeye was still in the sickbay, preoccupied with taking care of The Other One, but the other three had clearly been prepping for a while. Hovering in front of the main windshield was a detailed holographic image of the enemy ship. Little arrows and snippets of text rotated around the display, highlighting various details and areas of the ship.

Emmet gawked at the floating image momentarily, before Trinity drew his attention back to the moment.

“CAPTAIN,” she screeched, “WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY LOCATED A WEAKNESS IN THE ENEMY BASE.”

With a long tapered claw, she gestured towards a massive, complicated machine that seemed to occupy the majority of the ship’s interior. “THIS IS THEIR CENTRAL ENGINE.” She turned back to Emmet. “WHEN YOU DESTROY IT, THE SHIP WILL BE RENDERED COMPLETELY NONFUNCTIONAL.”

“I- Destroy it?” Emmet paled. “Couldn’t Snake do that part? Not- uh, not that I couldn’t, but I’m pretty sure she’s got like, three bombs on her right now.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT,” Snake hissed, “BUT UNFORTUNATELY, THIS IS A REQUIRED PART OF THE SEMINAR.”

“So what,” Emmet asked hesitantly. “You’ll just… loan me a bomb?”

“NO.” Snake stepped closer. “YOU HAVE TO BREAK IT YOURSELF. YOU HAVE TO BECOME A MASTER BREAKER.”

“A… Master Breaker?”

“LIKE REX.” Trinity explained. “A MASTER BREAKER IS SOMEONE WHO CAN REDUCE ANY STRUCTURE TO ITS CONSTITUENT COMPONENTS WITH A SINGLE BLOW.”

Emmet stared at her blankly.

“THEY BREAK STUFF WITH PUNCHING,” she sighed.

“And… you think I can do that?” His voice grew small.

Tiberius smiled down at him, as friendly as a velociraptor was capable of. “WE KNOW… YOU CAN.”

*******************

“So uh,” Emmet whispered, shivering despite the thick fabric of his spacesuit. “Why do we have to go so far just to practice?”

Snake twisted her long neck to face him. “MASTER BREAKING IS NOT EXACTLY SUBTLE. IT WOULD NOT DO WELL TO ALERT THE ENEMY TO OUR PRESENCE.”

“Makes sense,” Emmet muttered, glancing once again over his shoulder towards the distant pair of ships. “What, um,” his voice faltered. “What do we do now?”

Trinity clicked a button on her belt and a translucent screen flickered to life in front of her. Emmet couldn’t see the screen clearly, but it appeared to be covered in writing. Messy writing, he guessed, by the way Trinity squinted and cocked her head in confusion.

After a moment, she turned to face him. “YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU MAD.”

“What… makes me mad?” Emmet repeated, dumbfounded. Suddenly feeling very much like he was taking an unannounced pop quiz, he glanced around at the other raptors, as if one of them might somehow give him the answer.

“WHAT MAKES YOU MAD?” Trinity repeated herself, her eyes bearing down towards him.

“I- I don’t,” Emmet stammered. “I don’t know. I’m uh, actually pretty easy-going.”

Trinity’s eyes narrowed. “IF YOU WANT THIS TO WORK,” she screeched, “YOU NEED TO BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.”

He stared back mutely, his throat feeling abruptly like it belonged to someone else.

“WHAT MAKES YOU MAD, EMMET?”

Unbidden, images of Apocalypseburg flashed through his head. Thoughts of people dismissing him or ignoring him played over and over in his mind’s eye. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but he could still see them.

“I, uh, maybe when people d- don’t use their blinkers?” He tried desperately. “Or- or when I forget about my coffee and it gets cold?”

Trinity simply shook her head.

WHAT

He thought about President Business, about how the man that was supposed to be in charge, supposed to care about them, had just left them behind as soon as it became inconvenient.

MAKES

He thought about Lucy, about the edge in her voice whenever she’d remind him how he needed to grow up. He could see that dreadfully familiar look of pity in her eyes each time he failed to do so.

YOU

He thought about his other friends: Batman, Benny, Metalbeard, Unikitty. He felt that gut-deep ache of being ignored, being left out again.

M A D ?

“I DON’T KNOW!” Emmet hollered. Shocked at his own outburst, he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, as if he could shove the words back in.

Trinity and the others just looked at him with that same terrible pity as his other friends. He dropped his head, feeling the flush of embarrassment creeping into his cheeks. As the crew quietly walked back to the ship, he kept his head down, absent-mindedly watching his feet trudge along. His reflection looked back up at him from the glassy blue rocks. The slippery surface made the image of his face quiver and swim, and it was easy to pretend that it was the only reason his eyes looked so awful watery.

The heavy silence lasted until they entered the ship, when it became glaringly obvious that something was terribly wrong. Neither Hawkeye nor The Other One were in sickbay, nor any of the other rooms that the crew frantically checked.

“THEY’RE… GONE!” Tiberius wailed.

“But why?” Emmet asked, trying desperately to shake himself out of his earlier funk in order to focus on the situation at hand. “Could- Could they have just gone for a walk maybe?”

“NO.” Snake hissed coldly. “THE ALIENS TOOK ADVANTAGE OF OUR ABSENCE. THEY WERE TAKEN.”

Trinity shook her head dejectedly. “WE UNDERESTIMATED THEM...”

“What- what do we do?” Emmet asked, his breath catching in his throat.

“WE SHOULD RETREAT.” Trinity answered solemnly. “AFTER ALL, WE PINPOINTED THE LOCATION OF THE ENEMY BASE. THAT’S VALUABLE INFORMATION THAT NEEDS TO BE RETURNED TO THE REXCELSIOR.”

“You want… to leave them?” Emmet’s voice was soft with disbelief.

She met his gaze coolly. “WE AREN’T READY TO STAGE A RESCUE MISSION.”

“YOU’VE PROVEN AS MUCH,” Snake scoffed. “WE’LL JUST WAIT UNTIL REX COMES BACK.”

“No!” Emmet sputtered, his face growing hot. “W- We can’t just leave them behind! Please, I can do this. I promise!”

“CAPTAIN,” Tiberius hissed softly, crouching down to his level. “IT’S ALRIGHT. A RESCUE MISSION… WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE A PART… OF THE SEMINAR.”

“Okay,” he countered. “But learning how to take control of a situation and lead a team is part of the seminar, right?”

The raptors nodded hesitantly.

“So,” Emmet continued before he could change his mind. “How about I take control of this situation and lead this team on a rescue mission?”

Quickly, the raptors exchanged a few, fleeting glances with each other.

“ALRIGHT THEN,” they said, looking back towards Emmet. “WHAT’S THE PLAN, CAPTAIN?”

*******************

Vents… are not fun to crawl through, Movies lie. Emmet was more disappointed than he would have admitted. He didn’t feel like a cool action hero at all. Mostly, he felt cramped and sweaty.

“ARE YOU NEARLY THERE?” Snake’s voice crackled through the speaker of his walkie-talkie. Emmet grunted as he struggled to pull the device towards his face.

“Uh, ye-urgh, yeah!” His voice echoed in the narrow duct. “Yeah, I’m like, probably a hundred feet out?” He guessed, trying to visualize the map from earlier in his head.

“ROGER THAT.” Snake’s voice vanished into the hiss of white noise, which sputtered momentarily before Emmet could click the radio back into place on his belt.

With a grunt, he pulled himself back up onto his elbows, the metal groaning underneath him. Emmet paused for a second, but it was too late. With a slow, ear-splitting squeal, the bottom of the duct fell away, depositing him rather unceremoniously onto the cold floor below.

Emmet yelped as he hit the floor, a jolt of pain shooting up his spine.

Behind him, another voice yelped too.

In a panic, Emmet leapt to his feet, spinning about to face… someone he absolutely did not recognize.

The figure in front of him was seated in a tall, high-tech chair, illuminated on all sides by walls of dimly glowing monitors, each displaying seemingly random strings of garbled text. With a motorized whirr, the figure’s chair spun about and the monitors flicked off simultaneously, dropping the room into darkness.

Emmet blinked frantically, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark. For a moment, all he could see was a pair of glowing green eyes, growing steadily closer.

“HELLO.” A grating, metallic voice crackled from somewhere in front of him. “WHO ARE YOU?”

“I, uh,” Emmet stumbled backwards, groping around his belt for the suit’s emergency light. “I- my name’s Emmet...”

His light clicked on, catching the mysterious figure in an impromptu spotlight. The yellow beam glinted off of their dark armor, accented with all kinds of buttons and bands that gently pulsed an acidic green color.

Their eyes narrowed from the sudden brightness, but didn’t waver from Emmet’s direction. They stared at him from behind a thick metal mask, a helmet split down the middle by some sort of intricate, hissing valve. As the figure continued to stride closer, closing the gap between them, a long purple cape swirled around their feet.

“I DO NOT RECOGNIZE THAT NAME.” The masked figure studied him intensely, their head cocked to one side in confusion. “ARE YOU… FROM BRICKSBURG?”

“Um,” Emmet choked out a response. “A- Actually we’re calling it Apocalypseburg now...”

“I SEE.” The figure’s helmet wheezed. They were directly in front of Emmet now, and he had to look down slightly to meet their gaze. “HOW VERY CONSIDERATE. WE WERE, OF COURSE, PLANNING ON VISITING EVENTUALLY, BUT IT IS AWFULLY KIND OF ‘ALPACA-LIPS-BURG’ TO COME TO USE INSTEAD.”

“And who, uh,” Emmet forced himself to ask. “Who are you exactly?”

The figure’s face was obscured, but Emmet could hear the smile in their words. “I AM MAJOR CATASTROPHE. I AM THE CAPTAIN OF THE S.S. GEMINI.”

“The… Gemini? You mean this ship?”

“OF COURSE.” Catastrophe reached up with a metallic claw, grasping the “R” shaped patch on Emmet’s suit. “AND YOU ARE THE CAPTAIN OF THE REX-EXPLORER, ARE YOU NOT?”

His mouth dropped. “How did you-”

“YOUR CREWMATES TOLD ME, SILLY BILLY.” The claw retracted. “YOU WILL BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT THE INJURED ONE IS FEELING MUCH BETTER. MUCH HAPPIER.”

“Oh, that- that’s good.” Taken by surprise, Emmet couldn’t help but feel relieved before the reality of the situation came crashing back. “Wait, no! Not good!”

“NOT? GOOD?”

“You kidnapped her! You kidnapped both of them!” Emmet pointed an accusing finger down at the Major. “And you need to give them back right now!”

Catastrophe laughed. It was a weird sort of metallic wheezing, like a squeaky radiator that someone’s father had been promising to fix for years now.

“I- ” Emmet froze, his anger dissipating in the face of Catastrophe’s clear disregard. “I’m not joking…”

Clapping him over the shoulder with a gloved hand, Catastrophe started pulling him towards the doorway at the end of the room. “THEY WILL BE STAYING. YOU ARE, OF COURSE, MOST WELCOME TO STAY HERE AS WELL, EMMA.”

“It’s Emmet-”

“I WILL HAVE NOVEL COME FETCH YOU,” the Major continued, oblivious to Emmet’s interjection.

“Wh- Novel?” He stammered, trying futilely to pull himself out of Catastrophe’s literal iron grip. “Is that a person? Who is that?”

“SHE IS THE PILOT.” Catastrophe raised a claw to press one of the gleaming green insets in his armor. “I AM CALLING HER NOW. SHE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU UNTIL THE TOUR CAN BEGIN.”

“What...” Emmet looked at the strange figure. “And what will you be doing?”

They laughed again. “I WILL GO COLLECT THE REST OF YOUR CREW, OF COURSE. WE CAN’T HAVE THE SHOW WITHOUT EVERYONE PRESENT. GOODBYE, ELLIOT.”

Emmet’s heart leapt in his throat. “W-w-wait!” Before he could interrupt however, the Major shoved him out into the hall, the heavy door slamming shut behind him.

For a moment, Emmet just stared at the doorway. As if in a trance, he reached for his walkie-talkie. In slow-motion, he raised it up to his mouth. But, upon clicking the button, the radio stayed frustratingly silent. It was dead. It was rather narratively convenient.

“Hey.” A voice shook him out of his thoughts. Turning a bit to look down the hall, he spotted a tall woman approaching him. Her suit was a much lighter purple than Catastrophe’s, and her face was unobscured. She had a short copper-colored ponytail, disinterested amber eyes, and warm brown skin that creased into well-worn divots at the corners of her frown.

She stopped next to Emmet, staring down at him impassively. “Are you gonna bite me?”

“What?”

“Are you. Going to. Bite me?” She repeated in a clearly exasperated tone.

“I, uh, wasn’t planning to?”

“Good,” she continued dryly. “Maybe you could convince some of your crewmates to think the same way.”

“Yeah, sure.” Emmet nodded, still stupefied.

“So,” she gestured for him to follow. “I’ll show you to your room then.”

“I- ” His voice trailed off. He was rapidly losing any semblance of control over this situation, and the panicked voice in the back of his head was growing ever louder. A part of him wanted to make a break for it - take off down the hall, try and find his crewmates, and then sneak back to the Rex-plorer together.

But… he knew that plan had a very low probability of working. The wisest choice was to go along with the aliens for now, giving himself a chance to regain his bearings, learn more about his enemies, and allow himself time to think of a plan.

“Ok,” he finally agreed, and began to trail after her, albeit at a distance.

She shrugged and set off down the long, cold hallway.

They walked in silence for a while, the tension growing until Emmet couldn’t stand it any longer.

“So,” he croaked awkwardly, before quickly covering up the sound with a cough to clear his throat. “You, uh, you’re Novel, right?”

“Oh my god.” She seethed, her expression swiftly transforming into one of smoldering rage. “My name is NOVA. That robotic dingus just can’t ever seem to get it right.”

Emmet couldn’t help but chuckle. “I guess I shouldn’t wait for them to get mine right then either?”

Nova shook her head. “Sometimes I’m surprised they can even remember their own name.”

“So, uh,” he paused for a second to wrangle his expression into something more cavalier. “What exactly do you guys do here?”

“What do we… do?” Nova looked at him blankly.

“Yeah, I- um, the creepy robo-dude said you were a pilot?”

Nova sighed. “Yeah, technically.”

“How does someone ‘technically’ pilot?” Emmet asked, genuine interest seeping through his bravado.

Stopping abruptly, Nova turned slightly to face him.

“I… We...” She paused again, her expression shifting as she thought, the crease between her eyebrows growing deeper.

“The Gemini is… non-operational. It has been for a while.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m a pilot on a ship that doesn’t work, a ship that literally doesn’t even have the power to turn on the lights half of the time, much less fly.”

“So,” she turned back around with a sharp shrug. “I wouldn’t exactly call myself a pilot anymore given all I ever do is clean the place up, wander around aimlessly, and occasionally try to beat the Major’s score at Meteor Blasters.”

“Oh,” Emmet breathed. “I’m sorry.”

There was a beat of awkward silence before Emmet once again remembered where he was.

“Wait,” he snapped. “No, I’m not. You guys are like, evil aliens!”

“Uh,” Nova stared at him blankly over her shoulder. “No? I mean, we are aliens sure, but like, the Gemini is a diplomatic vessel.”

Emmet scoffed.

Nova’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously dude, I don’t think this thing even has weapons on it.”

“Uh,” Emmet frowned. “I’m like 80% sure that other guy had laser eyes.”

“No, he’s just thinks it’s neat to make them glow.”

“But...” his voice stumbled out. “Then what’s the deal with you guys? Why are you out here? Why were you trying to get to Bricks- Apocalypseburg, I mean.”

“Well,” Nova sighed. “It all started about three years ago...”

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #emmet brickowski #rex dangervest #featuring some ocs #that i am trying very hard not to feel cringey about #anxiety is fun!

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