ic Crisis of Infinite Jacks [IC]

[Gizmo]

Earth-Prime

 

The swashbuckling hero known as Jack of all Blades vaulted over the brick outcropping encircling the top of the decrepit building he was sprinting across, his royal blue greatcoat flaring open as he leaped through the gap to the next rooftop. The buildings in this part of town weren't tall enough for him to grapple between, but he found himself relishing the opportunity to return to his neglected parkour skills. Jack was following up on a series of increasingly frequent thefts from electronics stores in the West End and the surrounding city. Vince's digging had turned up a likely suspect, but the recently fired Professor Manning, despite allegations of instability from his previous employers, had an airtight alibi for each crime. A little too airtight, Jack mused as he paused briefly to perch like a gargoyle atop a streetlamp and observe the area. As good as Vince is, a little legwork was definitely the order of the day.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Gizmo

[Gizmo]

Earth-Noir

Jack Spade sat with his feet resting atop the desk in his spartan office, the bars of light creeping through the broken slats on the lone window highlighting narrowed eyes which observed the unopened bottle of whiskey next to his scuffed shoes contemplatively from behind a black domino mask. Business had been even slower for the private investigator than normal, and he was going to have to make the bottle last him, but he knew from experience that once he started in, he wasn't likely to stop until he saw the tinted glass at the bottom or the inside of an emergency room. Once you wake up in a morgue, hospitals loose a bit of their edge, he decided, swinging his legs down and opening his desk drawer to retrieve a chipped cup. Before he could pour, however, a delicate knock came from the door.

[Gizmo]

Erde

The sound of marching boots over cobblestone followed Jacqueline des Épées as she slipped from shadow to shadow high above the streets of occupied Paris. The resistance cell leader held onto her tricorn hat with one delicate hand as she watched a secondary explosion tear through the munitions depot in the distance, accompanied by panicked shouting. Cela est un groupe de fusils qui n'atteindront pas l'ennemi, she thought with grim satisfaction, a predatory smirk showing from behind the long, chestnut hair that obscured half of her masked face. More importantly, the Nazis' public humiliation would provide a much needed morale boost for her beleaguered troops. Now the only question was whether she'd be able to make it back to the restaurant without getting caught or before the absense of mousy waitress Esmé Escrime was noticed.

[Gizmo]

Earth-3-W

Enrique Espadas watched his opponents lazily over the tops of his card before placing the hand facedown on the lavish table. The owners of the riverboat casino certainly hadn't spared any expense furnishing their establishment, from plush red carpet to tasteful filigree on the automated card dispenser. Fortunately, Enrique's immaculate white suit fit in with the decor. Even more fortunately, he knew how to cheat an automated card dispenser. Tonight wasn't about winning the admittedly ample pot, however; if his superiors in the Secret Service were right, one of the wealthy gamblers sitting across from him was plotting nothing short of the president's assassination. Got twelve hours before we pass by the town the Big Guy's cutting a ribbon at, he reminded himself. Noting the way the late plantation owner's very comely widow was eying him, though, she either had a winning hand or something entirely different on her mind. Well, twelve hours is a lot of time, ¿sí?

[Gizmo]

Remote Asteroid Belt Lightyears Away From Earth-Electrum

"Lifefriend Rik," Sri Myshel Czak accused over the high pitched whine of laser fire, "this is allfull your faultblame!"

Snapping off a few returning shots from his deep blue armored gauntlets, Rik Espadas of Earth ducked back down behind the wall of the asteroid crater next to his partner. "C'mon, Shelly, how was I supposed to know the bounty hunters had an ambush set up for us?"

A small spark of electricity arced between the nubs in Myshel's helmet which covered her antennae, an expression of exasperation Rik was becoming quite familiar with. "Because I warnsaid you so!" the Tempestian groaned.

"You're always warnsaying stuff, ya worrywart. I didn't know you'd be right for once," he protested.

"I'm everways right!"

[Gizmo]

Anti-Earth

Jack Knife strolled through his warehouse, tattered cloak trailing behind him as he randomly punctuated his movements with skipping steps, a broad but humourless grin pulling at his mouth beneath gleaming eyes set deep within dark circles. His lean, almost sickly form flickered subtly beneath the sanguine fabric as though hissing with static. As he watched, his men, the dregs of Empire City's ample criminal element, prepared brick after brick of white powder wrapped in cellophane in a vaguely organized assembly line. Sliding with a disturbingly jerky motion over to the growing stack of product, the wild eyed dealer produced a short blade of absolute darkness with a snap of his fingers and sliced into a packet. Licking the powder off of the impossibly sharp dagger so that it mixed with blood from his tongue, Knife snickered contently under his breath.

[Gizmo]

Earth Prime

It didn't take Jack long to find the supposedly abandoned building Manning had co-opted. The embittered academic was apparently an authority on some theoretical branch of physics, but the fencer hadn't been paying enough attention to Vince's briefing to recall the specifics. As far as he was concerned, it was pretty cut and dry. Presumably, Manning was using the electronics he stole to build some suit or gadget so that he could show them, show them all! With any luck, he'd be able to stop things before they got that far.

Landing on the building's roof, he surveyed the area. This far from the city's center, there was hardly a sound save the wind whistling through the broken glass of the warehouse's windows. "Woo~ee~oo," Jack whistled under his breath as he jimmied open a skylight. "Creepy."

[Gizmo]

Earth-Noir

The flickering light from the light in the hallway which should have been changed month before cast the silhouette of the woman on the other side of the door is stark relief. There was no mistaking that it was a dame behind the smoked glass and hand-painted name on the door; the dark outline Spade could see had more curves that the Comet's new opening pitcher. Considering for a moment, the PI returned the cup and bottle to their drawer and tipped the brim of his fedora up slightly to reveal a few short locks of shock white hair. "It ain't locked," he called brusquely.

The door opened with a light click, and a brunette in a midnight blue dress she must have been poured into entered, holding a small handbag before her. Sashaying into the office, she stood before the best, cool and unreadable. "Mr. Spade? I need your help."

[Gizmo]

Erde

Jacqueline moved swiftly through the city's skyline, brown leather boots making soft footfalls on the terraces and railings. She paused for a moment to set a red and black banner aflame with her ornate lighter before continuing on her way. It wasn't exactly stealthy, but it was one less blight on her city. She was about to hop down into the cover of a nearby alleyway when a sudden scream caused her to turn.

Nearby, a young couple were surrounded by quartet of Nazi officers. The young man did his best to stand between his date and the soldiers, pleading, "S'il te plaît, nous n'avons pas fait quelque chose de mal!"

"Sagen sie es in Deutsch, sie abschaum!" one of the Nazi's taunted, roughly shoving the youth back a step.

A streak of blue and white landed atop the armed man with a vicious kick. Jacqueline stood atop the immediately unconscious soldier, on hand on her hip and the other holding a rapier of semi-solid flame aloft. "Et sale sa bouche?"

[Gizmo]

Earth 3-W

"So, you in or out, amigo?" Enrique asked the overweight man to his left with a thick, handlebar moustache and an obvious flop sweat. The banker has been glancing nervously between his cards and the dwindling pile of chips next to him for several minutes now.

After another moment's hesitation, he pushed the remaining chips into the middle of the table. "See and raise," he mumbled without much conviction.

Enrique blinked. Good thing I'm not playing with my own money, he mused to himself as the tension around the table rose a few notches. Instinctively, the young man's free hand went to the nondescript bag at his feet and the gleaming axe hidden within.

[Gizmo]

Earth-Electrum

"So, what do we know about these guys?" Rik asked as another volley of deadly red bolts flew over their heads, scoring the opposite side of the crater.

Myshel tilted her head, incredulity showing even though her armor. "Did you not readview the briefing?"

The human shrugged sheepishly. "I skimmed it."

Grumbling, his partner quickly summarized the information he should have already known. "Enemyfoes are bounty hunters operating without sanctiontrust. Mentor learnfound that they were claimstealing a shipment of heavy gunweapons from the local star navy. We were supposed to stophalt that."

A particularly powerful shot knocked an avalanche of rubble into their ad hoc bunker, forcing the Star Knights to dive forward. From the rocky surface, Rik considered. "Y'know, I think we may have shown up a little late?"

[Gizmo]

Anti-Earth

Smacking his lips, Knife turned to one of his underlings. "Jake, what are we cutting this with?" he asked benignly.

"Just baking soda, boss, nothing that's gonna hurt nobody," the hoodie wearing crook assured him, adjusting his toque with one hand.

The metahuman dealer nodded sagely for a moment before suddenly jerking out the hand holding his dark blade and burying it in Jake's throat. As the criminal collapsed to the ground, sputtering blood, Knife sighed. "Gentlemen, if nobody dies, what's the point, amirite? Get me some bleach, something!" He sighed, stepping over Jake's thrashing form as the rest of his men hurriedly got back to work. "Have to think of everything around here."

[Gizmo]

Dropping easily through the skylight to the floor, Jack looked around the darkened warehouse, not making out much beyond the quiet hum of machinery. Deciding to do away with subtlety for the time being, the energy manipulator withdrew his lighter and forged a glowing blade of flame. "Hey, Mannings, you here? I wanna have words with you!" he called out, moving the sword about to illuminate his surroundings.

Without warning, the lights in the warehouse sprang to life, forcing Jack to wince at the sudden brightness but revealing a squirrelly man in a white labcoat next to the light switch. The professor's back hair and goatee were wild and unkepmt as he stalked forward indignantly. "My name, fool, is Professor Many!" he proclaimed.

Jack paused for a moment, unsure how to respond. "Uh... okay?"

[Gizmo]

Earth-Noir

"Everybody needs some kind of help," Spade opined flatly, pointedly not offering the coolly collected woman a seat. "But if it's your dime, I'm listening."

"It's my husband," the lady in the midnight blue dress told him calmly. "He's disappeared."

Spade raised an eyebrow behind his domino mask. "Sure he wasn't just overwhelmed by your suffocating concern for his well being?" he asked dryly.

"Joke if you must," she countered coldly. "I want him found, and I'm told you're reasonably competent."