ic QuirkVision (IC)

[Thevshi]

Midtown

Freedom City, New Jersey

Tuesday October 8, 2024. 4:45 PM

 

The members of Red Team had been on a field trip to Freedom City University to attend a lecture on campus. After the lecture, they had returned to the school van for the trip back to Claremont Academy.

 

Apparently, something had caused a major traffic jam on State Route 6, so the driver had tried to take them through downtown over to State Route 4. While the plan had initially worked reasonably well (even with the normal early rush-hour traffic), they were in the heart of Midtown when traffic became totally gridlocked and they had come to a complete halt.

 

It had not taken the students long to learn the cause. The police had blocked off the street a few blocks away in response to a bank robbery that was underway. Apparently there was something else taking place in the city that had the attention of most of the police and some of the city's heroes, so there were not enough resources to respond to the bank robbery right away.

 

After a brief call back to campus, the Headmistress had given the students permission to intervene and assist the police. So they had exited the bus and made their way to where the police blockade was set up.

 

While the officers had initially been a bit skeptical about a bunch of teenage superheroes intervening, they had quickly realized there were not a lot of other options at the moment. The officers provided the Claremont students with what little information they had. Apparently there were about 10 or so armed men in ski masks who were being lead by Wildcard from the Crime League. They had taken several hostages in the Freedom City Trust building, an old, two story stone structure that dated back to at least World War II. It was a strong, sturdy building, with a large lobby area on the main floor and an open atrium to a balcony on the second floor around which were various office and conference rooms.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

It had been a nice trip, the twins had learned a lot and were thinking back to what they had learned before the bus stopped. There was a lot going on and eventually they managed to get out into the city, they headed towards the Freedom City Trust building. Daniel looked excited but Iris looked focused, this was not a game to her at all.

 

The twins would arrive on the scene in their hero outfits, thankfully they had them at the ready just in case, this was Daniel's idea, and they would float over towards the bank and pause. Daniel wanted to charge in, but Iris told him to wait, they needed the rest of their team here..

[Jack]

Jack had been quietly dozing on the bus when he was awoken by students moving about and disembarking. He exited the bus with the others, wiping sleep from his eyes and yawning. 

 

He looked over the bank and the surrounding buildings. "I might be able to go in front and distract if others want stealthy approach..." He offered in his thick accent. "Or can make bridge to top of building or sumthing..."

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

The lecture was fine, but sitting still and listening had never been one of Mattie's strengths. Still, it had been fine, she supposed.

 

It didn't take long for Mattie to get into costume once they got the call. Her form just shifted, and then she was wearing her purple and white outfit, her features changed slightly and her hair was purple. The whole secret identy thing still felt weird, but at least it was easy for her to get into costume.

 

"Aw, that's a real bank robbery! I didn't know people still did those in the big city!" Mattie says to the others, as they stand around looking in. The cops doesn't seem particularly happy that they're here, but that's fine, they're probably just grumpy on account of that robbery.

 

"I mean, I can do the whole sneakin' thing if ya'll want me to. I can shrink down and become a mouse or something an' get inside, then sneak up on 'em?" 

[FlyingFresh]

Gookgak

 

Gookgak really liked bus rides. He would plaster his face against the window and watch the world go by. What a great kind of magic!

 

Of course, his Uncle would say it wasn't really magic, it was "engineering". Gookgak couldn't tell what the difference was. But, Uncle Hogwarm was really clever, so he had to hold out that it wasn't really magic as a possibility.

 

But something had brought the joyous bus ride to a halt.

 

Dang! What now?

 

Outside the bus, as the teens began to discuss how to approach the bank robbery situation, a squeaky yet gravelly voice piped up from the curbside mail deposit box. "Gookgak is sneakiest of all!" The mail slot opened, and somehow the little gobbelyn's impossibly flexible body wormed its way out and onto the sidewalk, clutching a handful of letters. "Look! Me found a bunch of interesting notes! Nah! Maybe me read them later." And he stuffs them all back in the mailbox.

 

"So, Gookgak can sneak into the bank that is getting robbed real easy! Piece of pie! Can Claremont friends see in the dark? Gookgak knows gobbelyn trick that makes everything dark and enemies give up hope. Real simple for Gookgak to take out demoralized robbers, one-by-one in the dark!"

 

But then he frowns. "But if Claremont friends no can see in dark, then plan is no good. Cause then how you guys going to do cool heroic stuff if you no can see? Which, if me understanding correctly, is most important consideration in this situation. Hmm. . . "

 

Then he snaps his fingers.

 

"Me got it! Clever Gookgak also know Drowsy Dust gobbelyn trick. It put them all to sleep! Maybe Gookgak and other friends that are sneaky can scout ahead.  And friends that are clumsy - um, I mean, friends that are better at stuff that is not sneaking - those friends can be ready to rush in at the signal."

 

He looks around, unabashedly ready to receive raving praise for his brilliant plan. 

 

"Um, wait. What was signal again?"

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins glanced over at the others that had arrived now, specifically Gookgak and his mailbox trick, that was....really weird after all. Still this was Freedom City and werid things happened all the time. As they gazed at the others both suddenly felt a little nervous. They were the oldest ones here and techincally the leaders maybe? So these students were their responsiblity. 

 

"Alright, here's the plan. Gookgak and I will sneak in, if you want I can carry you up to the vents and we can crawl through. I can't see in the dark but I can hear and follow you, we'll drop down from above." Iris would begin before pointing at her brother, Bounce and Jack. "You three go through the front door. We will pincher them. Do you have any questions?"

 

Daniel shook his head, if there were no questions then Iris would offer to pick up the goblin and fly him to the vent, which she would rip off with her psychic powers. Then she would follow him into the vents.

 

Meanwhile Daniel would shrug and turn to Jack and Bounce. "Alright, here we go, let's go wild! Err....ok not too wild, we don't want to break too many things-."

 

[Jack]

Jack nodded, agreeing with Daniel's plan. He moved purposefully towards the front of the bank, his body already responding to the impending conflict. A familiar chill spread across his skin as ice and frost materialized, forming a protective layer over his entire body. The icy armor crackled softly as it solidified, ready to shield him from harm.

 

As he approached, Jack focused on the moisture in the air. Water molecules coalesced in his palms, rapidly freezing into large, jagged boulders of ice. He hefted one in each hand, feeling their weight and coldness. Spotting two robbers on the balcony above, Jack took aim. With a grunt of effort, he hurled the first ice boulder. It whistled through the air, slamming into one of the criminals with a satisfying crunch. Without hesitation, he launched the second, taking down the other lookout in quick succession.

 

Satisfied with his initial assault, Jack pressed himself against the wall beside the bank's main entrance. His back to the cool surface, he readied himself for the next phase. New ice boulders formed in his hands, their surfaces gleaming menacingly. Jack's senses were on high alert, listening for any movement from inside the building.

 

He glanced at his teammates, giving them a quick nod. With a subtle gesture, Jack motioned for them to advance while he prepared to provide cover. His muscles tensed, ready to unleash another barrage of icy projectiles at a moment's notice. The familiar surge of adrenaline coursed through him, sharpening his focus as they prepared to breach the bank.

 

 

[FlyingFresh]

Gookgak

 

Getting rides from his flying super-friends was quickly becoming Gookgak's new favorite thing. "Ooh, Iris, you're really good at flying! Hey, can we catch a pigeon? Pigeons are delicious!"

 

But, all too soon, the joyride was over, and Gookgak was once again being shoved in a dark, cramped tunnel to do some scouting. "Okay, Iris, if you no can see in dark, then stay really close to Gookgak," the little gobbelyn whispered.

 

"Hmm. It's getting really noisy up ahead. Hey look, this marking on the vent duct says 'air intake'. Wonder what that means? Oh well. Guess me better go around this blind corner now. . . . Aah! No! Ouch! Ouch! Ooch! Eech! Oh! . . . Hey, uh, Iris? Me think you better go around other way. You may not fit through air handler impeller blades quite as easily as clever Gookgak. Argh."

 

A few more turns leads the scouts to an inconspicuous vent accessing the bank lobby. Gookgak uses an eraser from his book bag to quickly back the pointy sides of the plate screws out so the pair can access the room. His little blue eyes scan the scene.

 

Bank patrons on floor with hands behind their heads. Badguys with guns making threats. Sensible decor. Hey, what's this platter on this side table next to me? Could it be?

 

"Cookies!" Gookgak scoops one up with glee, mouth anticipating the sweet-bitter delight of chocolate chips, and crams nearly the entire cookie in his mouth and begins to chew contentedly.

 

Suddenly, he stops, mid-chew. A look of utter terror and betrayal spread across his face. He blinks. He looks at the cookie in disbelief. 

 

"What is this? Oats? Raisins?!!? Who would do such a terrible thing? Who is responsible for this perversion? Someone will pay! Oh yes, someone . . . will . . . PAY!"

 

 

 

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The superpowered teens quickly went into action, Gookgak and Iris heading around to a side to sneak into the bank when the other three took the direct approach and heading through the front doors of the building. The three acting as the distraction quickly dealt with the robbers positioned toward the front of the building as they moved into the large open lobby where there were several tellers and bank patrons.

 

Up above, Gookgak and Iris had managed to make their way in undetected, and were just about in position to try to deal with the surprised robbers among the tellers and patrons. But before they could act, Gookgak was distracted by a plate of cookies, running over to gobble one up, before having his horrified reaction…which served to alert the robbers to their presence. When the nearest turned his weapon toward the Gobylen, Iris quickly took the man down with a mental blast.

 

But the other alerted robbers had a chance to act, a couple grabbing hostages to uses as shields from the approaching heroes.

 

Then a voice called out from the vault area. "Typical Freedom City, always inevitable that some do-gooders will show up." Stepping out into view was man dressed in a jester’s outfit, which was white and a checkered red-and-black pattern. Bells jingled from tassels on his boots and the jester’s hat. "Though, looks like they sent in the JV team this time." Added Wildcard, a member of the Crime League with a laugh.

 

But even as the two sides faced off with one another when what sounded like a young girl called out from somewhere.

"Ugh, so predictable. BOOOOORING!"

 

Everything seemed to hang motionless in the air as the Claremont teens found their bodies refusing to move.

 

The bank’s walls rippled like the tracking lines of an old magnetic VHS tape. Then a young girl blonde girl that appeared maybe five or six popped into view, she was wearing sweatpants and T-shirt emblazoned with faded logos and was hovering a few feet off the floor, an impish grin on her face.

Another figure popped into view next to her, this one a blond-haired man that looked perhaps to be in his early thirties, similarly dressed causally as if relaxing on the couch to watch TV. He held in one hand an oversized TV remote, while the other jabbed at the hundreds of buttons that covered the remote’s surface.

 

"Oh, I agree sweetie. Seen it!" He replied with an impish grin of his own. "Frankly, the original starting the Freedom League was WAAAAY better than this uninspired reboot." He looked down at the remote with a frown. "Ugh, with the cosmic wi-fi down, I can't stream our favorite universes!"

 

The little girl floated closer to some of the Claremont students. "Oh! I love the one with the theme park robots breaking free! It's the best!"

 

"I'm sorry sweetie." The male figure responded. "I know it's been so boring, so I went poking around the multiverse's attic and found a bunch of grandma's old timelines." From nowhere he pulled out a cardboard box filled with videocassettes marked "QHS." He then snorted. "Found this, but no way I'm watching this ancient garbage." He paused, and then looked up at the group of Claremont teens. "Unless….."

 

A light blub appeared over the man's head and he snapped his fingers.

Then the world turned to static…..

[FlyingFresh]

Gookgak

 

Gods. It had to be Gods.

 

Back in the Warrens, Gookgak had heard stories of the Gods, of course. Terrible bright deities of elves and men, shining with power and arrogance, amusing themselves with the fates of mortals. Gookgak still said his prayers to Ilmenth and Borgoana, Gobbelyn deities of Enemy Stupidity, and Food That Doesn't Make You Sick. The head shamans said the Gobbelyn Gods were good, whereas all the other Gods were bad. Privately, Gookgak had never really been so sure even the Gobbelyn Gods were all that great either.

 

"Me going to die. Me going to die in horrible ways. Wait a minute! Me talking out loud. Me assumed since me paralyzed, me couldn't speak. But here me am, speaking."

 

Gookgak tried to move his head, or even his eyes really, to get a better view of these strange new terrors that now apparently ruled his life. But all he accomplished was to give himself a bit up a headache futility straining.

 

"So . . . You are Gods. That's nice. Lucky us that we should get to meet you. I'm sure you're really busy though, and - like you said - we are all extremely boring people here. So many apologies for being so boring. We can't help it. Especially Daniel. Too bad you have to leave so soon, and we will probably never be seeing you again. So sad for us. Oh well."

 

A shrug would have been useful to sell this last little bit, but, you know, paralyzed. 

[Jack]

Jack was frozen mid throw,  an ice boulder inches from his hand as it too hung in the air frozen. It was odd to him to be frozen in time, since he was always frozen in space. Seemed a trick of irony, and the nonchalant attitude of their foes boiled the beast within. He was not a toy to be played with so lightly.

 

The little goblin talked alot, which was handy as Jack preferred not to talk very much, and had nothing good to say at the moment. Jack's eyebrows raised as the light bulb appeared and then everything went crazy.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

Cerebellum would allow Jack to take point. The large young man charged his way in, showing off some impressive powers. Daniel was happy ro have such an ally! The male twin would activate his forcefield and rush im after Jack, taking out a robber by picking hi, up with telekinesis and tossing him against a wall, then he would disarm another and mental blast him. 

 

All in all, things were looking up...for now...

 

Meanwhile Iris was having...a time...the vents were cramped and she hated it, but pushed on regardless without complaint. Though she did glare at the overly talkative Gookgak, this was supposed to be a stealth mission, not a 'let everyone know where we are' mission! Soon, thankfully, they made it to the bank lobby and kcne the way was cleared, Iris would activate her forcefield and follow the goblin in. She would disarm and a robber who had his gun pointed at Gookgak and knock the villain hot with his own weapon.

 

They would rejoin the others and face off against Wildcard...only to freeze. Iris and Daniel's eyes glanced towards each other then back st the older blonde man and his young daughter. They seemed to be the reality manuiplating types. Iris was sick of coming across these beings! At Gookgak's rambling, both twins would look over at him and in his head Iris spoke.

"Googak, be quiet."

 

Daniel then stared at Quirk and tried to speak up, if he could, he would say. "What do you want?!"

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

Mattie took everything in stride. Sure, if the others wanted her to be part of the distraction, she'd go in. While Jack rushed in ahead followed by Daniel, she came in after. She tried to shout to the others that they should try to talk things out, but they were way ahead of her, already fighting and then people started going for her, and, well, she had to fight back, so while Jack threw ice and Daniel did his whole force thing to throw people around, Mattie got physical. She bounced around, stretching and twisting, doing her best to stop any bad guys she got around with some well timed punches, apologizing all the while. 

 

"Do you know who this guy is?" she asks no one in particular, when the bad guy shows up. She realizes that she should try to look up all the bad guys, but honestly, it's just not her thing to remember everyone. The point's moot, anyone, when the other two people show up and freeze them.

 

And then everything turn to static around them. And everything turns to static. Gookgak says they're gods, he rambles and says they're boring, 

 

"Hey, now, can't we talk about things? No reason we can't all be friends, right?" Mattie asks, if she can.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Neither the blond man nor the little girl did not respond to Gookgak's attempt at placating them or the questions from Daniel or Mattie.

 

As the static faded, the bank lobby was gone, replaced by a huge living room with outdated furniture, an overstuffed couch, a set dining table, a doily covered credenza and a glass television built into a wooden cabinet. A kitchen sat on one side of the room, separated by an island with a sink. A hallway led past the kitchen and dining area. A fireplace took up one corner opposite the kitchen, a sliding glass door to a patio next to it. Opposite the fireplace was another hallway leading to a foyer, along the wall between the two was an opening to another hallway. No ceiling hangs overhead—just studio lights and a black void beyond.

 

A musical string sounds from nowhere, followed by soulless laughter, as if from some unseen crowd. As the chortles die away, an unseen, dulcet-toned voice announces. "Stay Tooned is filmed in front of a live studio audience."

 

Gookgak found himself kneeling on the floor next to a coffee table with plastic army men strewn across it. He was dressed in a brightly colored T-shirt and jeans.

 

Iris was sitting nearby in a comfy recliner. She was dressed in a simple dress that went down to her shins, over which she was wearing a comfortable sweater. In her lap were knitting needles and roll of yarn and what appeared to be the start of a placemat, or perhaps a tea cozy.
 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

Iris was completely terrified when the static came down on them, only to wake up in an unknown place wearing an unknown outfit, that she hated already. Around them looked like some kind of studio set? Damn reality manipulation. She had to figure out how to get out of here...and yet she realized she didn't have her powers! "Well I'all be damned..." She would get up and off her chair, and putting down the yarn and nitting needle, she didn't even know how to nit!

 

She noticed Gookgak. "Gookgak, are you like..alright?"

[FlyingFresh]

Gookgak

 

Sure hope these gods are not about to plunge me into an eternal hellscape of horror and torture. I haven't even had lunch yet.

 

Hey, everything is changing! Oh oh! Here it comes, here it comes . . .

 

Gookgak sits blinking in the faux suburban setting. "Hey, this not so bad, right Iris? When did you put that sweater on? Oh wow, look! Me even get toys!"

 

He picks up the tiny men and examines them. "Hey, they even the right color! Cool!"

 

He starts playing with them on the table. "Surrender, Elrond! Gookgak the mighty and his ear-cutters have you surrounded!"

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As Iris and Gookgak both took in their strange surroundings (in rather different ways), Mattie and Jack were the next two to step out onto what appeared to be a studio set.

 

Mattie came out of an open doorway between the kitchen and the dining area. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and wearing a forest green sweatshirt that said Michigan State across the front, with a small Greek helmet underneath the letters. In one hand she was holding a pair of car keys and had a small backpack slung over one shoulder.

 

Jack came from the opposite direction stepping out from the hallway near the fireplace. He was wearing a pair of athletic shorts and a basketball jersey.
 

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

"Hey guys, what's going on? What're you wearin'?" 

 

Mattie blinks and looks down at herself.

 

"What am I wearin'? What's goin' on here?" 

 

They were back at the bank, then the static, now they were here, and this looked like one of Mattie's mom's shows, y'know, the kind with a live studio audience or something, but how did they even get here and...

 

"What happened? We were just at the bank, now we're here, and..." She pauses, looking at the keys in her hand. "I don't even know how to drive! Who gave me car keys?"

[FlyingFresh]

Gookgak

 

"Hey Mattie. Hey Jack. You here too. That nice. Hmm. Wonder what is on TV." Gookgak activates the power switch on the television, but quickly gets distracted by another thought before he even really watches what happens.

 

"Ooh, me wonder if kitchen has any snacks!" He scampers over to the kitchen where he throws open several likely cabinets and opens the fridge.