ic A Journey Into Mystery

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Atomic Tower, Midtown, Freedom City

Early April 2024

 

Atomic Tower has housed the Atom Academy for four years now. A lot has gone on during that time, experiments and discoveries, but they have mostly been focused on moving forward, on the future.

 

Rex Atom wants to change that. There's a lot hiding in the world, discoveries from the past, strange things that should and shouldn't be, and, he thinks that the Atom Academy needs to be a bit more proactive, so he has set out a reminder to the members of the academy and any of their associates, asking for anyone that would like to join him on his proposed journeys into the unknown.

 

Everyone interested has been asked to meet in laboratory 55. It is a large open room, with a holographic projector, often used to model molecules or the like. Rex Atom himself seems to be running late, while everyone else are beginning to arrive in the room.

 

So, the question is... who is everyone? Why are they here? What are their relation to the Atom Academy, if any?

 

Why do they want to join the journeys into the mystery?

Edited March 16 by RocketLord

[Poncho]

Dwayne Devon Davidson.

 

An EMT by trade, a Superhero by choice. Much more experienced at being an EMT then a Superhero. But he had first hand experience with the secrets hidden in the world; a random chance encounter with a hidden alien had changed his life trajectory forever.

 

As if to confirm it, the EE beeped.

 

"Warning. Various Metahumans detected. Suggesting <garbled> to  assess threats." he flipped the case open and closed and the short circuiting machine sputtered then stopped. "Rebooting."

 

He was a well-dressed, mixed-race man, his hair and facial hair trimmed carefully. His Atom Academy outfit was blue with yellow highlights, representing his EMT profession, and the alien artifact on his wrist- which looked a bit like a very advanced smart watch with a full keyboard- had a similar coloration. On the face plate were two bold, yellow Es.

 

Why had he come to explore mysteries? Self-preservation was a big part of it. He had seen that the world had plenty of things hidden within it, he knew the machine that was now part of his body was malfunctioning; if those mysteries could repair the machine, he would feel a lot safer with the fact he was now irrevocably bonded to it; the last thing he wanted was a malfunction to fry his heart or something gruesome.

 

But more than that it was curiosity; once the door was opened, it wasn't something that closed easily. He had the taste of exploration, of mystery, of excitement, and he really wanted more of it. What was left in a world to explore that seemed like every mystery had already been solved? And could he be one of the first to find it? He wanted to be. When the Atom Academy came knocking, he had accepted quickly.

 

For now, though, Dwayne simply sipped some coffee and examined the area around him.

 

"Warning. Caffeine is an addicting drug." He opened and closed the case again.

"Be quiet." he admonished it, not that it mattered. He looked around the room a bit more.

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

"You should listen to your watch!" it came from just behind Dwayne's ear, where most would swear no one was there before

 

Onto a nearby chair Callie lept, dressed in what most people could tell was a classic Raven costume. Compared to the ramshackle one she wore at school, or the mix-and-match version of her times travelling, this was a sleek hi-tech suit. It felt a little weird to Callie to wear the suit in an open place like the Atom Academy, but it wasn't just her identity she was protecting, she pulled the hood down though, her identity hidden by a domino mask.

 

"Madame Raven!" she gave a friendly smile, something many thought a Raven couldn't do "I guess we're going to be working together on the same team?"

 

Whilst her journey had potentially answered some questions about why she was still here in the 21st century, it opened a plethora of other questions. And if there was anywhere better to find out answers about Super Sciences than the ATom's she couldn't think of one. Besides she's gotten a taste for investigating the weird and unusual whilst travelling and she wanted to keep giving back and this was a good resource to do such things. Besides she wasn't in a rush to get all the answers, who she was didn't depend totally on what the truth about her origins!

[Kaede Kimura]

The Dreamer

 

The Dreamer wheeled into the room as Madame Raven claimed a chair. She hazily recalled having seen a similar outfit before, on the television perhaps? Or was it a dream? Early after her arrival she had found it easy to recognize Heroes as not derived from her, but as the idea became something she was more used to it became harder to differentiate.

 

She was wearing a blue gown and a similarly colored mask styled like a beak. She came to a stop next to the table, shooing a group of tiny fire breathing salamanders that were trying to make their way across the table. She had joined the academy to assist the researchers, help people in a way beyond the standard her Dreams allowed, and now she was here, to help people and learn more of the dimension she had been calling her home for the past few years.

 

As the salamanders cleared away,  grumbling, a tea set appeared before her, such she poured from. "Hello, I am The Dreamer. It would seem we well be working together. Would you like some tea?"

[Epiphany]

Rewind

 

Another woman strolled into Laboratory 55, her attention focused on a tablet. She'd navigated the path here with practiced ease and when she glanced up from the technical paper she'd been reading, the first thing she noticed was not the other people in the room. It was that whoever used the holographic projector last hadn't reset the settings. 

 

She walked by the other three, a frown on her face, looking squarely at the controls. A few switches and button taps later, she looked satisfied and turned her attention to the other people in the room. 

 

Rewind, of course, had been part of the Atom Academy since it had started up four years ago. But she'd worked here for much longer, going back almost 12 years now. She was a Punjabi American, wearing the 'traditional' morphic molecule bodysuit favored by the Atom Family. Hers was blue like most of the others, with black accents. 

 

"Well, this is a nice turnout so far," she remarked as she looked at each of the arrivals. Unlike the other two women, she didn't wear a mask to conceal her identity. It made it easy to see her turn on the charm as she beamed with good cheer and friendliness. "I'm glad there's so much interest already. Part of what makes the Atom legacy so appealing is their interest in discovery and what they can mean for humanity. We have a much better chance at finding something new or unknown as a team." Her accent is distinctly American, specifically the Midwest. 

 

Glancing around, she added "I'm Naisha Sidhu. I go by Rewind when in the field, for anyone who doesn't know me. I can..." and she dropped her tablet as she spoke, causing it to bounce, clatter and generally draw a cringe from anyone who'd ever dropped a personal device. Rewind reflexively frowned at the lack of spectacular breakage, then shrugged and resumed her smile. "Rewind things," she said, finishing her sentence as the tablet abruptly retraced its descent, reversing right back up into her waiting hand. "I'll have to think of a splashier demonstration sometime. Atom hardware's just too durable to show off with."

[Poncho]

"Don't I know it." Devon responded to the Raven as he looked at the cup. "Can't tell you how many people I've seen; 2 cups with breakfast, two cups in the morning, two cups at lunch, two cups in the afternoon, two cups when they get home, and a trip to the ER at 9:30." he spoke somberly. "Caffeine is addicting as can be."

Then he took another drink.

 

"Madame Raven, nice to meet you. You seem much happier than your...contemporaries. There's, what, you, the Third Raven, and that kid; Stormcrow?" he asked, meeting her smile.

Then a parade of salamanders climbed across the table, until the woman in the bird mask dismissed them and...summoned a tea pot?

"Thank you, The Dreamer. Dreamer? Which you would like to be called?" he put his empty cup down and took a seat at the table. "I think I'd like a cup of tea, certainly." he agreed. "I should try to limit the coffee intake, Madame Raven isn't incorrect." he said, resting his arms on the table. The machine on his wrist flashed alternatively blue and yellow as it restarted slowly.

 

Then the new woman dropped her tablet.

 

"Well, Rewind, that's quite impressive as well. Thank you, and the Academy, for inviting me to such a prestigious team. I'm hopefully we'll find some interesting things indeed. And maybe figure out a bit more about this machine that I've got stuck to my wrist." he said as he lifted it up.

 

"The Encyclopedia Eternita. It contains...I don't actually know how many, frankly. Aliens. And I can use it to take their shape...provided it's working right. It's also apparently some sort of super computer and universal translator. Again; provided it's working at the time." the wrist machine beeped an affirmative.

 

"Waiting for Input." Then it flashed a series of alien numbers.

 

"My name is Dwayne Devon Davidson. I don't really do the secret identity thing. You can call me any of those names, or you can call me 3D, or you can call me Devon 51, which is what the news calls me." he grinned. "Because I have figured out about 51 aliens total, in this thing."

Edited March 20 by Poncho

[Kaede Kimura]

The Dreamer

 

The Dreamer complied amiably with Dwayne's request for tea, an extra teacup appearing before her. She poured as he talked about coffee, "I would not know anything about that, I could never abide the taste. Too bitter. I admit I have not thought overmuch about how to address myself." She gestured to a suddenly appearing plate of sugar and a small jug of milk as she passed the cup to him.

 

She watched with mild interest as Naisha entered the room, resetting the holographic display. She half expected her to leave again, but instead she stayed and introduced herself, revealing that she was another here for this team they were putting together. The Dreamer watched with interest as she dropped her tablet and then it returned to her hands. She gave a small applause, as did a small group of mice in tiny Victorian outfits who had gathered in front of Madame Raven, while a six legged cat looked unimpressed from the back of her chair. At her comment about thinking of a splashier demonstration she raised a hand. "Would this suffice?" gesturing to the teapot where it sat upon the table

 

Her piece said, she turned to face Dwayne as he described what the strange device allowed him to do. Given what some aliens could apparently do she could scarcely imagine the variety of wonders he could potentially accomplish. At the end of his explanation she decided to add her own voice to the chorus. 

 

"My name is Adrianna Liddel, my power projects my dreams onto the world around me, creating the many creatures you can see," She gestured to the dreams around her before continuing. "I can also create, move and transform objects, as well as manipulate the environment around my person." To demonstrate, she created a block of wood before turning it into a plate with a slice of carrot cake atop it.

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

"Only three of us are active at the moment, though we're a very welcoming family. And brooding only really works at night, perched on something like a gargoyle, rain is optional!" she gave a sly smile "I also spent a couple of years finding myself, though not enough which is why I'm here..."

 

Any further explanations were cut off by the arrival of the other two on the team, everyone but her was powered it seemed, not that it ever bothered her she brought her own skills to the table.

 

"Curiouser and curiouser! Guess it's a good that I'm able to imagine six impossible things before breakfast!" she seemed to attract literary characters in her superhero career it seemed "It's a real pleasure to meet you all here today, good start getting us to introduce each other and what we can do. Unlike the rest of you I'm going to have to keep my identity a secret, you might not believe me but it's more for someone else's benefit than myself!"

[Epiphany]

Rewind

 

Devon's remarks on caffeine addiction made Rewind realize she didn't have one with her. She fished around in the back of the room for a coffee maker while the others continued talking. 

To Devon, she smiled a bit and said "I also don't really do the secret identity thing. I'd rather be called Rewind out in public only to reduce the risk of someone stalking me in my condo or something. But I'm only willing to do a minimal amount of effort to avoid it. If you call me Naisha in the field by accident," she shrugged. "Doesn't much matter to me."

 

The Encyclopedia Eternita looked interesting, though, and she made a point of peering over at it when he brought it up. "I wouldn't mind taking a look at that sometime, under controlled conditions and in a way you're comfortable with."

 

Returning to her coffee-making efforts, her eyes opened wide when she spotted Dreamer apparently creating tea from thin air. "So...do you take requests?" she asked. "I would adore a coffee right now."

 

Actually hearing how the Dreamer's power worked was fascinating and Rewind listened intently. "There are a million useful applications of that power," she said, after watching the demonstration end. "Are your creations permanent? Do they fade away after a certain period of time or a certain distance away from you? You've created wood, does it burn like other wood does if lit on fire independently from your powers? I'm curious if you can reproduce chemical properties."

 

At Madame Raven's mention of secrecy, Rewind nodded once, then quirked a smile. "If you can imagine six impossible things before breakfast, I suppose I can imagine a believable reason you'd want to hide your identity on behalf of someone else. Either way, Madame Raven, I look forward to working with you and getting to know you better." She even offered a hand to shake, before then thinking to do so with the others who'd come together.

 

"Now that we've all met," she then said to the general group assembled so far. "Why the Atom Academy? I'd like to know what brought each of you to want to join this particular team instead of the many others at large."

[Poncho]

"Impressive...so anything you can dream you can bring into the real world...That's an exceptionally interesting and powerful ability in it's own right. I'm curious to see how that happens. As for looking at the Encyclopedia, I'm not going to stop you, if we can do it safely. It's kind of stuck into everywhere in my body right now, unfortunately, so it doesn't exactly come off."

 

"And I have no qualms about a member of the Raven Family maintaining their secret identity; it's only appropriate when you're part of such a clan, hm? I just don't have to worry about that, given the whole, one of a kind thing. But we'll see if I'm wrong about that, I suppose. So Madame Raven, The Dreamer, and Rewind. Simple enough, all things considered." he nodded. Then he thought about Naisha's question a moment before responding.

 

"Why the Atom Academy? For the nice uniform of course." he said, gesturing to the snazzy uniform with a smile. There was no reason to be overly aggressive or serious in a situation like this, after all. They were just having a nice conversation. So he let his joke hang in the air for a moment while he drank some tea and had a slice of cake. "Ah, no no. To be fair; it's a mutually beneficial agreement. This is the place most likely to be able to fix the Encyclopedia, and I'm not against having a little adventure while doing it. How much do we really know about our world? Or other worlds. People always act like we've discovered basically everything on our planet, but I find that doubtful. So why not keep looking." he looked at the watch again.

"Plus, from what I can understand, this thing is a library of all sorts of aliens, so maybe it needs to update it's books or listings if I have something out of date. I don't really know how old it is."

[Kaede Kimura]

The Dreamer

 

The Dreamer eyed Madame Raven with some curiosity as she quoted her forebears Dream. It wasn't often that she Dreamed of superheroes, but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised given what she was signing up for now. The vagueness of her answers and refusal to reveal her identity only made sense with her conclusion.

 

There were only three real people in the room. 

 

So she returned her attention to the others as they responded to her statement, as well as creating a coffee in front of Rewind. She nodded to answer the question of the permanence of her dreams and the question of wood burning. To the question is chemical properties she looked thoughtful before responding. "The academy has run several tests on my dreams. If it is a real substance it seems to be accurate to the real world. Gold, food and other 'mundane' creations are the real thing and so are permanent, but with decreasing familiarity it becomes made more and more of... I would call it Dream material, but one of the researchers referred to it as 'Nonsense fluff' and the name seems to have stuck. If something is insufficiently real, it will cease to exist once I am no longer dreaming of it."

 

Answering Rewind's other question was easier. "The Atom Family helps people. The Academy was made to do the same. I am no scientist, but by helping here I can assist the real scientists in protecting the world from less physical threats. As for this particular team, well, I must admit since I can complete most requisitions for materials in minutes I was beginning to go spare with nothing to do."

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

Callie hadn't expected to go to origins stories this early on, but she had expected it to come up. She'd gone through a couple of different ways to explain what had happened to her, she didn't quite understand everything herself. She was a people person more than a scientist.

 

"On my sixteenth birthday, I was brought forward from the 20th to 21st Century. On that day something should have happened that would have made me take up the mantle of the Raven!" she paused knowing that the name Raven had almost as much cache of the Centurion and his ilk

 

"Think is the other me, who lived through everything, is still around, hence the whole secret identity thing!" she grinned a little uncomfortable, this sharing part was still new to her "And as far people can tell though I'm not from the past or from another universe, something to do with quantum realities or something!"

[Epiphany]

Rewind grinned obligingly when Devon gestured to his snazzy uniform. "I can't say I mind the dress code either," she added while he took a drink of tea. The rest of his explanation seemingly met with her approval and she looked impressed, pleased. "I've often been curious what's up there, in space. Aliens and all. One thing I never could learn much about. Maybe we'll both find answers up among the stars someday."

 

When Dreamer created coffee for her, Rewind looked absolutely delighted. She listened to the other girl's comments about the nature of her powers while taking an experimental sip, followed by a few small swallows. Ahhhh, coffee.  "Interesting implications," she said at last, after considering those answers. "And good to know about, thank you for sharing it." After Dreamer told them about her reasons for joining, Rewind grinned again. "The Atom Family does help people. I'm sure you'll have many chances to help others here."

 

Madame Raven's own explanation caused Rewind to momentarily freeze. "I see. I know a little something about temporal and quantum theory. Maybe sometime we can chat a little more? I'd love to hear what you're willing to tell me about how it happened. And why you decided to join the Atom Academy instead of...well, I assume you have other options, we're flattered to have you!"

 

As the group discussion rounded back to her, Rewind's smile became more visibly forced. "As for me, yes. The Atom Family helps people. They helped me. They saved me, actually. I don't know everyone's backgrounds but there's a theoretical concept scientists refer to as Z-Space. It's the...medium, between which all universes lie. Crossing from one dimension to another means crossing through Z-Space whether you know it or not."

 

"In my case, I'm from a broken day. It's a fragmented reality, a stray realm drifting through the endless reaches of Z-Space. The Atom Family discovered it. They found me and rescued me out of it." She put a little more effort into pretending to smile again. "Basically, I'm from a Groundhog's Day timeloop. Ever since I came to the real Earth, though, I've wanted to make a difference in people's lives. The Atom Academy is a way to do that, in a way that my skills and powers are better suited for than just...you know, only trading punches with a street gang or something."

 

Rewind let out a tense breath and said "So I guess the obvious question's still left. Have you all met Rex Atom? Anyone know why we're meeting up here in Lab 55?"

[Thunder King]

Specimen

 

A very tall, buff young man walked into the room. He had a mop of shaggy black hair and a handsome, if bland face. He wore a t-shirt and jeans over huge muscles. HIs arms were covered in faded scars. He had a pale Caucasian complexion, save for a slight graying of the skin.

 

"Hello, sorry I'm late. I can't believe I scored a gig like this and I'm already late." He took a breath and looked over the group. "I'm Adam. Or, Specimen, as it were. You may note my unusual appearance." He smiled, took a deep breath, and steadied himself.

 

"I call myself Specimen not because of my strength or musculature, but because I am, in essence, a science experiment myself." He pulled the sleeve of his t-shirt up over his bicep to reveal the scarred skin that lie underneath.

 

"I am the accumulation of various hero and villain genetics. My creator attempted to make a body for himself that would have superhuman strength and durability. He actually failed, which is why I have so many scars. According to the data they found, my body was missing several major organs, as well as major muscle groups. So he just cloned the parts I was missing, and stitched me together. And yet it worked, because I do indeed have extraordinary strength and durability. I've actually had a few skin surgeries to reduce the scarring, mostly on my face. I have a ways to go, still, but it's not as bad as it once was. My creator died before he could, well, occupy me. His plan was to contact a telepath, possibly one of the Psions, to transfer his entire consciousness to me. The truth is I shouldn't even exist. By all logic, my body should have been inert. And yet I woke up once they pulled me out of suspended animation. My dad is a psychologist, my mother a biologist. They decided to adopt me, and now here I am."
 

He chuckled. "Sorry, that was rather long winded of me. If we're all going to work together, I thought I'd satisfy your curiosity now, rather than later."

 

[Poncho]

"How fascinating...like reverse lucid dreaming. That's...bizarre." he mumbled in response to the Dreamer, trying to puzzle out the words to say it. "I can see how you'd be helpful for almost any expedition or team, especially once you come to understand something enough to replicate it. Making oxygen tanks in hostile environments or warm blankets or something...that's certainly a useful power."

 

He was, of course, respectful and kind to The Madame Raven. "An interesting case yourself. To be sure, something like that seems far beyond the pale. Especially when you're a member of such an illustrious family, it must be a very difficult situation, not that I can understand it really. I don't know how I would feel about myself if there was another me wandering around, especially if they were supposed to be here and I wasn't." He turned afterwards to Rewind.

 

"Hrm...Groundhog Day huh? Again, really far outside of my area of expertise." he laughed a little. Really, all this was far beyond him in most basics; beings from another dimension able to generate matter from nothing, a displaced dimensional refugee, and a woman from an infinite timeloop? How ridiculous. Then another man entered, explaining that he was a Modern Prometheus. Another incredible idea. The watch beeped again.

 

"Detecting a variety of possible specimens for Analysis...please present specimen." It flashed, then the face of the watch rotated, sending out a holographic light that scanned across each of the individuals, including the new man, before clicking. "...scanning...scanning...scanning..sc..sc..sc...scaaa-a-a-a-a-a-a." Then it beeped and went dark again.

 

"...That's what you get for being rude." he admonished the watch. "Stop scanning things without permission." he rose to offer his hand to Adam.

 

"A pleasure to meet you, Adam. I'm Devon. Or Three-D, whichever works. I'm sorry you've had such troubled circumstances, but it seems like everyone here has had their fair share of problems and difficulties, so I think this is a great place to get that needed support." he smiled.

 

"As for Mr. Atom, no. I've not met the man. I know the family, of course, or heard of them, rather, but I haven't met the man with the plan. Not sure what to expect, the Atom Family has an obvious historical pedigree and fame; they and the Raven Family both are quite well known." He indicated his head to Madame Raven. "So any scion of that family is going to be living up to very high expectations."

[Epiphany]

Rewind

 

The arrival of Specimen was certainly welcome, judging by Rewind's smile. She looked over his visible abnormalities with interest but only briefly. "Rex isn't here yet so we'll count you as on time, this time." She winked playfully. After listening to his explanation of his background, Naisha's face looked interested. "That's quite a synopsis, thank you for sharing it with us." She gave him an appraising look before saying. "Although if you wanted to actually satisfy my curiosity, I'd have to look at your charts. I'm a bit of a scientist myself, you see. Either way, it's admirable you decided to join the Atom Academy. And we're happy to have you. I'm Naisha Sidhu but you can call me Rewind in the field. You've met Devon. That's the Dreamer and that's Madame Raven."

 

When Devon's alien device went off, Naisha stared with open curiosity and fascination as it sent out that holographic light. "I wouldn't mind seeing what data it managed to collect," she admitted to Devon. "But I'm not sure it's up for providing it, or at least providing it in a way I can read and understand..."

 

She looked around the room once more, taking in each of the heroes assembled. "We've got quite a team already, don't we. I'm excited to see what we can accomplish, working together!"

Edited March 31 by Epiphany

[Kaede Kimura]

The Dreamer

 

The Dreamer looked quite interested at the arrival of the new real member of their team, listening to his introduction with keen interest as she processed what everyone else had said. It was nice to have more compatriots in this strange world of powers. As the others share their own origins she is happy to tell them her own, certain they would be more respectful than the Ultio Suit wearers who had mocked her. "I am from a different dimension now known to this one as Earth-S-Omega-One. Most people's dreams were ephemeral with no substance, but some of us, known as Hyperlucid or True Dreamers had abilities like mine. It predominantly ran in families like my own. My father used a device we captured from a dimension that had invaded us to send me to safety. I spent a year between dimensions before arriving here."

 

Perhaps at some point she could introduce them to Christopher? Based on their statements they would certainly be interested in meeting the magical PI. Unbidden, a copy of him, trench coat and all appeared at the door while Devon's watch tries to scan them all. Interested she looked to Devon, while fighting down a blush and hoping the dream Blackstaff fades on his own, she asks, "Did your device ascertain anything? I must confess I would be quite interested if your device could determine anything regarding replicating my powers."

[RocketLord]

Rex Atom

 

There's a noise outside, coming from the hallway. Feet rapidly hitting the ground, someone running towards them.

 

The door is thrown open, and a man in the mid-twenties with short black hair, clad in a custom blue and black Atom Academy uniform is standing there, looking around at the group assembled in the laboratory. Nadia will at least recognize him as Rex Atom, the "lost" Atom, as the press has been calling him, as one of the more flattering nicknames. Others include things like the fake or the liar. Not everyone trusts his origin story, even if the rest of the Atom Family has confirmed it several times.

 

"You're all here..." he manages to get out, between ragged breaths. He has obviously hurried to get here. "Good. That's good." 

 

He takes a deep breath, steadies himself.

 

"I'm Rex. I called you here, and... we got a situation, so I guess it'll be trial by fire. Come along if you're in, as fast as you can."

 

Rex turns, and starts running towards the nearest elevator.

 

"C'mon! We have a potential Z-Space breach in the residential area!"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Rex offers little explanation during the elevator ride to those that followed him, and even less so once they reach the residential area in the tower, further up than laboratory 55 where they had previously met.

 

They reach a room, where a group of men and women in Atom Academy uniforms are standing with all manner of highly advanced equipment, trying to scan the room from the outside, but no one wants to go in. One of them, a bald man, looks up, frowning once he sees Rex and the group approaching. He whispers to another "I guess the real members of the family's all out."

 

Once they reach the open door, they can see the room that the other Academics refuse to enter.

 

It is a standard room, though it appears to be larger than it logically should be. There is a bed, a bookshelf, a table and two chairs. A desktop with another chair and a computer. A nightstand. It all seems quite normal.

 

As they watch, the room occasionally changes. Posters appear and disappear on the walls. The books in the bookcase, and the bookcase itself, changes position. Sometimes it is an entirely different bookcase. The bed, the chairs, the computer and tables. All change at random, replaced with another set of furniture, bits and pieces switching back and forth between two different sets of furniture.

 

"It started ten minutes ago," an African-American woman that looks to be in her fourties explains. She is holding up a scanner of some sort, which seems to register an abnormal amount of Z-Space radiation from the room. "A sudden spike in Z-Space radiation, and then, this. It doesn't seem to be dangerous, but we have no idea what will happen if we go in there."

[Poncho]

"If we can plug it up to a computer and get it to explain what it read, I'm certainly fine to share anything it's managed to read on you with you, but I doubt it's got any significant information, at least while it's broken. Maybe when we get it fixed, it can make something worthwhile." he said, tapping it awake again. Then the Atom in question arrives, and questions are stalled before he can even manage to answer anymore of them with a possible issue. "We'll have to finish this conversation later, I guess." He said with a smile to the others as he stood up.

 

"In the residential area? That's...convenient." but he didn't mean it aggressively. Instead he followed Rex to the new area and rubbed his chin, observing.

 

"What sort of response do you think is appropriate here? If there's abnormal energy then we'd need something that can drain or diffuse it, maybe?"

[Kaede Kimura]

The Dreamer 

 

The Dreamer had been about to welcome the new comer when she realized that he was out of breath. Was there an emergency? She quirked an eyebrow behind her mask before the man introduced himself. Quickly she followed him, her dreams scattering in a panic at the sudden movement. A trio of cat sized gargoyles flap their wings to assist her in keeping up with the running to the elevator.

 

She pays no mind to the scientist as she follows Rex to the entrance, although a small snake with a pair of rainbow feathered wings hissed at the man who mentioned 'real' family members. She's quiet as they all look into the room, it's certainly an unusual sight. One oft the gargoyles goes to enter but the other two hold it back. Instead she offers Rex a small plush bear. "Perhaps we should test what happens to objects which enter the room?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

Well straight into things! And right into the weird as well, not that she expected anything else than a mystery. She bent down to look at things, watching for a few seconds to see if there was a pattern to the changes.

 

It wasn't quite her kind of thing, though what was normal was debatable when you became a hero, but the investigation skills weren't that different from how scientists did their work. Except for a lot more punching of mooks than your average scientists will (hopefully) experience.

 

"Do we know how the shift affects the human body? I've seen enough dimensions already, not sure I want to be split between half a dozen at once!"

[Thunder King]

Adam had no idea what Z-space radiation was. He was smart, and a fast learner, but this was a situation he had no context for. "Well that's weird." He said, blinking. "I do think testing it on new objects is much preferred to testing it on living beings. Especially since we have no idea what will happen."

 

He watched the chaos with fascination. He would need to do some research into z-space and get caught up. If he could.

[Epiphany]

The Dreamer's revelation about being from...Earth-S-Omega-One, was it? Amazing. "If you crossed the dimensions, you crossed through Z-Space," Rewind commented at the end of the other woman's explanation. The sudden appearance of a man wearing a trench coat in the doorway briefly distracted her, until she went back to following the conversation.

 

Rex's arrival preempted everything else, though. Especially once he mentioned Z-Space. 

 

Rewind was broadly familiar with much of the building, having worked here for the last decade. The situation going on in the room is...well, she wished she could say it was novel or unique but candidly a lot of novel and unique things happen here. Still, the minor alterations to the room suggested a dimensional distortion. Possibly temporal, depending on how much turnover this room had. Of course, once the researcher mentioned Z-Space radiation, that settled the question. ...Mostly. 

 

"Let me take a look at these readings," Rewind said, her eyes locked on the scanner in the hands of the African-American woman. Mentally, she 'switched gears', opening up the memory cabinet in her head and pulling out the voluminous tomes of accumulated experience when it came to academic matters. "I wouldn't suggest anyone touching it until we know a little more," she said to the rest of her team.  "With a Z-Space breech identified, we should have personnel bringing in specialized containment devices. It's not uncommon, unfortunately, that a breech may require sealing at both ends. Meaning someone or several someones may have to go in there to shut the effect down. Give me a minute, let me see what I can find." She spoke with the brisk efficiency of someone who literally studies Z-Space for a living.

[RocketLord]

Rex Atom

 

Rex crosses his arm, a slightly crooked smirk spreading over his lips. He wouldn't be surprised if anyone here thought he had set this up to test them, but no, he hadn't. He's not surprised that Rewind can explain a bit about Z-Space, while Madame Raven and Dreamer wants to experiment.

 

"I... thank you?" he says to the Dreamer, as he accepts the teddy bear, looking at it.

 

"Z-Space is what we call the space between realities. If you reach Z-Space, you can, theoretically, reach any other reality... or another reality can reach us. But this is new."

 

He pauses, and looks over to Rewind.

 

"But I'm not an expert, so... what do you got, Rewind?"