KnightDisciple

Gabriel smiled and nodded as Revenant moved on. "Of course, a pleasure to meet you both. I'm just trying to help make sure everyone's comfortable and so forth. If you have any questions or need directions around this maze of a building, feel free to ask myself or one of the other League members." With another quick handshake, he was moving on through the crowd, smiling, nodding, and waving at people as he went. Finally, he ended up next to Maxima, who he had to look up at a bit. That didn't deter him from offering her a handshake. "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I don't believe we've had the pleasure of being introduced! You can call me Gabriel."

Private Lab, Basements, Castle Katastrof, Katastrof Valley, Sweden June 20, 2013 The Baron sat in a chair, manipulating a physical keyboard and a half-dozen floating holographic interfaces, his eyes never focusing on any one thing. The secondary sensors in the room would show the subtle waves of communication between his body and the equipment in the room. On several large screens in front of him, wire frames, cutaways, and other such charts showed the human body. Various organs were highlighted in various windows, with streams of data flowing around them. "The true problem, then, is the fact that while it's easy to repair hairline breaks, minor blood vessel bursts, general bruising, and small muscle and ligament tears with general-purpose nanomachines, it's much more difficult and time-consuming to do so with more major injuries, or moderate but widespread injuries. As well, there's the danger of so many nanomachines concentrating in one place that you risk blood clots or other complications from metallic concentrations or mass changes. One possibility is to design hyper-specialized nanomachines that carry custom "tools" for one specific organ's maintenance. This allows you to do more with less, eliminating the blood clot risk. The downside is that if you want a body to be able to deal with multiple injuries at once you need multiple nanomachine doses. It also introduces issues with multiple complicated interlocking systems. The other option, and one I find more appealing, is working toward smaller nanomachines that have the same capability as their larger brethren. If reduced in size and increased in numbers, the same overall mass accomplishes more, because each machine can perform a different part of the task. This also means you could do with fewer overall nanomachines, as they could move from organ to organ for repairs. Slightly less efficient on a per-machine basis, but better overall. Another tactic to consider is short-term dosages, perhaps applied with special bandages. Apply a bandage, nanomachines enter wound area, repair, return to bandage. It is recycled, with the machines being thoroughly sterilized for re-use. Perhaps we need to look into using nanomachines to make better nanomachines. Which is terribly more difficult than it sounds; programming for large-scale (in comparison) activity is MUCH harder than small-scale. A man can easily lift a board into place, but has more difficulty threading a needle. Still, if nothing else, it's an excellent path to travel down. And if we can treat grievous injuries, perhaps we can treat less critical things. Eye conditions; not only macular degeneration, or cataracts, but near-sightedness. A world without glasses or contacts, except for fashion purposes. We could help reduce harmful elements in the blood, reducing the need for medicines to prevent heart disease. Many possibilities exist." He paused in his work, contemplating the screens before him. Unbidden, a very slight smile came to his face. "The only question is if we have the will to seize the opportunities."

(GM Post) The corridor continued to be dark and silent for a long time. At this point, it was devoid of anything but scraps of wood (presumably from doors and desks carelessly smashed aside), bits of cloth and plastic (chairs, likely also smashed), and a few very small bits of glass from who knows what. Even much of the plastic and glass had been salvaged by the hive-minded drones, it seemed. Whatever was being done with all that material, it was no small thing. The only sounds were their own footsteps and other noises, and a very gentle airflow they had to stop and listen for. As they went further, Dragonfly would be able to determine that what she was seeing might best be thought of as "echoes". Which was to say, the distortions were further into the complex. That also suggested that instead of one single source, it was multiple sources. Which was not necessarily encouraging. (For Miss Americana and Dragonfly only ) After about 50 feet of corridor, there was another + intersection. Just before the intersection, there was a small office to their right. For some reason, that office still had what looked like a single desk and a laptop, intact, in it.

Cobalt Templar's attention snapped to Stronghold, and there was a split second where there was something in his eyes that looked much older than the 19 she knew him to be. And then it was gone, and he sighed. "She likes to manipulate. Sometimes with regular guile, but a lot of the times with magic. A change like that, though, that's less common. What I'm confused over is Unferth's presence. He's from the days of Beowulf, and from the same region. It's just not typical for Medea. And the thing with him dying...I wonder if Medea's using him for some sort of ritual. Him, and these girls? Ugh. Too many questions. Not enough answers. Need more pieces to the puzzle." He looked over at Tonya and Hologram, his expression softening as he walked closer to the table. "She's right. But I promise you this. As much as it's in my power, I'll help figure out how this can be reversed, if that's what you want. We'll make this right. And we'll figure out why they did this in the first place."

"Blue fire, teachers, right. Got it. I just hope there's not a student there who has uncontrollable blue fire powers! Might get awkward. Especially if she's cute." William grins that grin that's 100% his father. "Pssh. Other kids wished they lived with the Superhero Mythbusters. The only one who gets to call you guys lame is me, and that's just because you...what's that saying of yours dad? Harsh my vibe?" Paige would detect more than a hint of mischief in that question. "I bet there are kids from weirder situations. And yes, anything before 95 is so old we don't remember it." He perked up at the mention of inviting people to filming. "I can? Cool! Would any days be best you think? Oh, could I get class credit for it! That'd be the best!" At the mention of "the extended family talk", his face went deadly serious. "Yeah. I got it. I'll try not to bring it up at all."

Corbin gave a polite smile of greeting. "It's good to meet you in person, Tia. You already know my name is Corbin. These are my friends Indira and Kimber. They're interested in the historical aspects of this, but also in the more...present-day...implications. It helps to bring fresh eyes to a problem sometimes." As she spoke of the actual problem, his expression turned to sober thoughtfulness. "It is possible, yes. Everything I know of the Rings would suggest they could be claimed by many entities, if not already at least partially "bonded" with a user. That is perhaps the one flaw in their design, that they typically are not very "picky" on wielder. All things considered it's not totally surprising. And of the Rings for some sort of shadow-being to take, the Indigo would fit well. It gives off light, but its powers are primarily those of the mind. If it had been the Blue or Yellow Rings, I'd be less convinced, though."

Gabriel >After the End: 5 IC Posts; posts roll over to Cobalt Templar Cobalt Templar >Reunions and Waffles: 2 IC Posts >Swan Fever: 4 IC Posts >Night Rings: 2 IC Posts >Never Did Run Smooth: 3 IC Posts Total: 11 + 5 (Gabriel ) + 6 (GM) = 22 Posts GM Posts >Stirring Up A Metallic Nest: 6 GM Posts (roll to Cobalt Templar) Fenris >Shadows of History: 1 IC Post Thoughtspeed >Sweet Child O' Mine: 4 IC Posts

Knowledge (History) Check: 27. EDIT: Results!

"Leonard, why are you-" The Baron stopped, and swore a quick blue streak in Swedish as he typed furiously at his own keyboard. "We're being hacked! Someone's inserting a new datastream! Someone slotted in something that looked like a bug, but it took up more and more until it snapped everything up! None of us have control any more! Get out of there, now!" He turned to the students. "Everyone, lock down your workstations and start getting to the vehicles." His eyes were frantically roaming all over the place trying to find a spot secluded enough to run to and change into his own armor. A couple people besides himself knew of his armored identity and that was already too many. Better to make it look like he was evacuating as well.

Meanwhile, walking down the stairs from the next level of the Hall was a man who seemed dressed for the season even before you took into account the Santa Claus hat perched precariously on his helmeted head (the hood that he normally wore up being pushed back for the time being). Somehow, the fuzzy red-and-white hat worked comparatively well with the shining otherworldly silver and gleaming white cloth that he wore. It helped that he was wearing an enormous smile. As he descended the steps, he saw Velocity mingling on the floor. She would receive a whisper in her ear that no one else caught. "Got the last few things sorted with the light and sound techs and the caterers. We are good to go and ready to rock." He finished coming down the stairs and moved to greet Vector and Revenant. "Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Welcome, welcome! Glad both of you ladies could make it. My name's Gabriel, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of introduction?" (OOC: )

Clarification: Are CT and Stronghold in the same room as Hologram and Tonya, or a different room? Also, would it be reasonable for Corbin's alternate-Earth to have a Medea who fought alongside the bad guys and did terrible Medea things, and that he came upon such terrible things? I ask because it may affect how he reacts to her (Medea) later.

"Feeling helpless despite all your power is unfortunately common in this line of work. You never fully get used to it." His face displayed a bit of sadness when Officer Petersen reported the dead Jane Doe. Though it sounded like the cause of death wasn't some internal disease, which meant maybe he could punch it in the face. Then Hologram revealed it was Medea who was behind a lot of this. As Hologram described more, he went from "a bit of surprise followed by attempts to be stoic" to "something is going to burn". "هذا الخنزير المحبة امرأة!" The large hero took several steps back from the open door into the next room and began pacing, which was quite a thing with a man his size. "Ella no ha causado suficiente sufrimiento y miseria en este mundo ya?" He is clearly talking to himself. ...Ranting, really. "Assez mauvais elle a mis ce fou Stratos lâche sur une banque complète d'innocents!" Definitely ranting. He's not yelling, though; it's somewhere between "mutter to self" and "normal speech" in volume. "Medea wird den Tag, als sie dachte, diese Art von Leiden verursachen bereuen! Ich werde die Furcht vor Gott in ihr zu platzieren! Ich werde sie zu brechen!"

Saturday and Sunday this weekend I will barely be around. Social activity and all that.

Per what good old AA said in chat: Knowledge History: 18. Knowledge Pop Culture (Untrained): 19. Corbin does occasionally watch TV!

"I don't really know her overly well, Indira. More one of those "friend of a friend" things. You'd be surprised how thorough the "old boys" network is among historians. Or maybe not. Either way, I've found that many European countries tend to define "late" a bit differently than us." He couldn't help but chuckle at Kimber's joke. "One might say the same about me, I suppose. And you're right, she may just have gotten caught up in research. That's why I'm not overly concerned just yet. If it goes much longer, I'll try giving her a call or something."

"She's not a Grue or a robot. I've fought the latter, and I know enough about the former to be pretty confident on the matter. If she was some sort of infiltrator she's doing an incredibly poor job of it. No, something else is going on. Maybe if we can get someone to help translate, directly or indirectly, we'll know more. If we can figure out where she was taken, that will give us a direction to take. Something was done to her." He sighed, crossing his arms as he looked thoughtful. "Probably magic. It seems like a magic kind of thing."

Right, so, some more detail. Harrier's Darkvision sees about 25, 30 feet of completely empty corridor past the point where darkness falls. Dragonfly's infravision picks up nothing because it's all basically the same temperature. Her spatial awareness is getting super-faint "pings" now and again, but they're deeper into the facility. Miss Americana's Radar goes about 35 feet down. Also nothing. Beyond that length, even those extra vision modes have trouble picking things up. But the part they do see is utterly empty, even of emergency lights or anything like that.

"Not important. She's in trouble and distressed, we have to help her." Templar's voice cut through Stronghold's slight ramble, even as he moved to keep up with the woman. "Ma'am, we can't understand you. Please ma'am, calm down." He didn't fly, but he easily kept pace with her. As they neared the cruiser, he raised both hands in a combination of greeting and "I come in peace". When you're a big guy in big armor, sometimes you have to go the extra mile to not freak out the fuzz. "Officers, this woman needs help. Definitely an ambulance, and we're going to need someone who either speaks a lot of languages, or has a translation power."

It had been such a quiet, productive night, too. Corbin had barely communicated with the young woman who'd taken up the Orange Ring, and so he'd been definitely willing to help her with flight and maneuvering lessons. She had to grow into the specifics of her powers herself, but moving around in three dimensions was pretty universal. At least, considering their similar modes of flight. And then a woman who looked half-dead ran out screaming in a language he didn't understand, and Stronghold was already moving toward her. He landed not far from where she had. He took a few steps closer, his own face neutral. "No, I don't recognize it. Let me try a couple things." He proceeded to try variations on "Hello I am Cobalt Templar, I wish to help, do you understand me?" in most of the languages he knew.

Tagging!

(GM Post) Indeed, the whole door, airlock, and security checkpoint setup weren't bad at all. But for someone who could warp spacetime, things were always less secure. Then again, had the facility been complete, maybe things would have worked differently... As it was, the trio found themselves at a "+" junction. Behind them was the entrance/exit. To their right and left, the halls were dimly lit with soft blue emergency lights, with directional signs leading right to the entryway. If explored just a bit, they show abandoned office spaces and a couple of storage rooms, mostly untouched. But the hallway directly in front of them is lit for about 25 feet, and then is pitch-black and completely silent.

Cobalt Templar sighed as he watched. "Hopefully they can get him help. Though, I do worry about how much worse he'd be as a criminal if he was more sane..." He falls silent, a slight frown on his face. "Part of me wants to apologize to him though. Bringing up those memories doesn't sound pleasant, even if you're crazy. I don't know if I'd really wish it on anyone." He looked over at the police officer with them. "Will we get to talk with him at all?"

Corbin, meanwhile, had been making just enough noise (and was far away enough) that he didn't hear Mark's wild theory-making. Which was probably for the best, he'd have choked on air if he'd heard some of it. Instead, he whistled aimlessly as he finished the last of the cooking and put everything on plates. Then, he was bustling to the table and putting down individual plates, utensils, and napkins. Glasses were next, with the drink collection quickly finding its place on the table, followed by an array of toppings and trimmings for all the foodstuffs. Finally, the plates of actual food were placed on the table. Satisfied, Corbin washed his hands and hung his apron up on a nearby handy hook. He gave a smile and a nod at his handiwork. Just then, he thought he heard someone come in the front door, and made his way toward the entrance. He walked in that direction, where he soon saw- "Eve! Glad you could make it! I know you're super-busy between college and your family's company, so I wasn't sure you could make it. I, well, I'd also hoped you weren't still super mad or anything. About. You know. All of it." To distract from that rather lame statement, he offered her a genuine smile and a hand for a handshake.

"Well, familiar for you guys. I mean, unless there's someone super-famous on staff who'd I'd recognize. And considering how they seem to be trying to keep things sorta low-key, I'm not sure they'd do that? And yes I remembered both. They're in my main suitcase. I've got a spare can of deod, and two tubes of toothpaste." He perked at the mention of a speedster on staff. "Do you think he gives super-speed fighting lessons? Not all of us can time-stop a bunch of people and pants them in 2 seconds flat, unfortunately. Oh! Do you think any of them know how to sword fight? Gramma Cline's lessons are super awesome but it's always cool to learn even more stuff! Or at least a staff fighter? Something? None of you guys want to spar with me so I'm all rusty and howcanIgetgoodatbeingasuperheroifIcan'tpracticebuncheswithallmypowersandthewaytousethepowers?" He seems to have slipped into high-speed talking there.