It's a Jungle Out There (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

The jungle was a strange and beautiful place for everyone, the trees towering above the heads of all but the fliers, the noise of animals in the undergrowth and even the smell of verdant plant-life powerful in everyone's nostrils. Here a brightly-colored poisonous frog hopped away from the heroes before landing in a nearby small pond, there an African Grey called down peckishly at them from its roost in a tall tree, there a pterosaur circled in the blue sky, half-visible through a break in the canopy.

Wait, what? No sooner had the teen heroes taken in that glimpse of a long-lost world did they overhear the sounds of gunfire from the clearing just before them. Rushing forward, they could see a small party of half a dozen UNISON agents, their blue uniforms torn and stained from days spent on foot in the jungle, firing bursts from their rifles to chase off a bizarre attacking force of perhaps a score of humanoid lizardmen! Despite their enemy's smaller number, the lizardmen were pressing their advantage, wielding thrown spears and rocks to bring down the UNISON agents.

[Electra]

The constant sound and motion of jungle travel had Erin jumpy and spoiling for action long before gunfire sounded in the clearing. As soon as she took in the scene of lizardmen threatening the UNISON agents, she leapt into the fray. Bat in hand, she went like a whirlwind through the crowd of stick-and-rock-wielding villains, knocking them down one after another before they even knew what hit them. Afterwards, she felt considerably better. "Is everybody okay?" she asked, looking around with bat still in hand and ready to strike.

[Avenger Assembled]

Wander tore through the startled Serpent People like a reaper through winter wheat, sending those very few who escaped her assault shrieking and fleeing as she tossed them around like ninepins. The started UNISON agents looked up at Wander with a look of profound relief on their faces, one with lieutenant's stripes standing up to snap a salute. "Good to see you, miss," he said, his eyebrows furrowing briefly as he looked over the teenage heroes. "And all of you. It's been a long 72 hours."

The Star of Africa was already in the air, looking at the UNISON agents with concern. "You are the rescue party who was lost? Did you find the White Lion?"

"Edet!" One of the agents, a muscular woman with ebony-dark skin, called a greeting to him in Dakanan before translating for the others. "I knew you'd find us, boy." Edet landed and made very rapid introductions between the team and the chief of the king's personal bodyguard. "The king is back in the village...elsewhere," she said with a flat look on her face. "He ordered I guard these men as we made our way back through the gateway. Praise the Lion he did, for the Serpent People followed us through."

[alderwitch]

"It *is* a dimensional gateway then. Has the gateway been closed?" Psyche asked curiously as she floated down to one of the downed lizardmen. Before she could get a response from the agents, she knelt down after checking to make sure the lizardman was truely unconcious and corrected herself, "Actually, let me see what I can find out from this fine fellow here."

Kneeling down in the jungle foilage, Psyche touched its scaly brow and closed her eyes. Her expression was serene and unconcerned for her vulnerable position. She trusted her friends to take care of any possible threats while she did her job.

[Cyroa]

James barely had time to realize there was a fight before it was over. He really needed to be more on the ball for these things if he was gonna have any fun. Of course, he immediately perked up at the man's words. Serpent People and a gate? It looked like he was going to be doing his other job here as well. "Which way to the gate? And how far?" He was still a little new at this but he let his senses extend, trying to find this gate.

[angrydurf]

Phalanx had tensed and just began to move forward when Wander sped past to handily dispatch the Reptilian marauders. As Psyche moved up to find out what the lizard folk knew he followed standing next to her at the ready in case something more threatening approached. "Is he being held prisoner by these things?" He inquired uncertainly it seemed unlikely that creatures this weak could contain a hero of the White Lions power.

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman paused mid-lunge when Wander had dispatched all the lizards. "Yes, reptile men! I showed you!"

After the UNISON agents started their talking, he stopped to ponder. "Well, if the Serpent People followed you through, then it's highly unlikely that this gate was open before and all this is coincidental, seeing as I haven't heard of similar stuff happening around here. Reckon someone opened this gate for a reason?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"No, ah, the King..." Adena, the royal bodyguard, coughed before adding, "The King broke his leg in the plane crash. Though I tried to insist that I tie him to my back and carry him across, he preferred to remain in the village of the Nade people through the gateway."

"Looks like a big gate of light," added one of the UNISON agents. "I saw something like it a couple of years ago when that evil parallel universe tried invading Geneva. There are a couple of them; one up in the sky, one down at ground level. We followed the White Lion's plane so close that we went right through the same gate. Fried every computer in both planes, too."

The Serpent People had not been subtle as they fled, both Hellion and Geckoman could follow the trails they'd left into the underbrush, while James could sense the dimensional rift hidden by the trees and branches before them. Ominously, though, James could sense a second dimensional signature; a different traveler, traveling a different road to the same destination on the Cosmic Coil. Someone else had been here, not through the Gate of Light itself, though they'd gone to the same place in the end.

[Cyroa]

"Two gates? Great. Wait, what was that?" James frowned, looked to right and swore. "Guys...we have a problem. Edge is missing. And someone or several someones maybe just passed through the dimensional barrier. And they didn't use the gate. Some other method but it's going to the same place. He was right here just before we got to the fight. I think...I think he might have been nabbed by some of the Serpent People. I can't follow their method, but this gate goes to the same place. We need to get moving."

[alderwitch]

"Hold on," Psyche said, her voice calm as she pulled herself out of her trance. Of course, she was alarmed by Edge's sudden dissapearance but with him gone, it was important to keep the team focused and together. "Phalanx, we'll be taking these lizardmen with us back through the gate. If you could gather them all to a central location so I can telekinetically lift them, I would appreciate it. They belong on the other side of the gate and I wouldn't want to leave them stranded. This one doesn't know much but it's their leader who sent them out searching."

She raised a hand to her temple, concetrating hard for a moment and her eyes took on that vaguely unfocused look, "I can't reach Edge, which I imagine means he's on the other side of the gate. I don't see him between here and there either. The path is clear and I don't see any ambushes but my vision is limited to this side of the gate."

When the lizardmen had been roughly piled, Psyche extended that glittering field to them as well as she fired off marching orders in a quietly athoratative tone that she only ever seemed to trot out when Edge was taken out of the fight, "Which means Wander, Phalanx, you have point. Geckoman, make sure I haven't missed anything. Hellion, I'll need you with me. Its going to take my focus to transport these guys and if it comes to a fight, I don't want to drop them. I could hurt them."

[angrydurf]

Phalanx frowned and glanced around clearly startled at Edge suddenly vanishing. As Psyche took over and ordered them about he quickly fell into doing as he was told cutting lengths of sturdy vines and tying the lizardmen in a large clump for her to carry with all the significant speed he could muster.

He then took his place at the lead eager to get to the rift and find out what happened to Edge.

[Electra]

"What if the gate is the ambush?" Wander asked dubiously, even as she fell in just behind Phalanx. "If these things came from that side, maybe they were just a distraction, and Edge is the bait. Are we going to be able to get back once we step through? We could get stuck in some other universe again, with no one on the other side knowing where we are. And these lizard things don't seem to have the kind of technology they had in Erde, to let us talk back here if we need to."

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman pointed at Psyche. "Super-genius with us? And if we can find Edge, serendipidity will shine on us! Hell, possibly him going missing is fate shining on us! Hell, I think I know how to split a quantum field, although you don't want to know how unless it's an emergency."

[alderwitch]

"It's a calculated risk," Alex agreed as she focused to carefully lift the fallen lizardmen. It wasn't that they were heavy, so much as she didn't want to squash them under each other. "The 'Gate of Light' as they think of it hasn't opened in a 'long time' and I don't want to push Edge's luck by having him trapped on the other side. Better to risk an ambush. I am relatively certain Hellion can get home for help if he absolutely had to in the worst case scenario."

She floated up after the unconcious lizardmen, "These lizardmen were sent by 'men of metal' from the Volcano after the 'man from the sky'. I don't think the lizardfolk are the threat so much as frightened minions. Once we get through, we'll be more careful in our approach but we must get through that gate before it closes."

[Cyroa]

James nodded at Psyche. After a moment he grinned. "Wanna piggyback ride?" Sure the situation was tense, but no reason to be all stuffy over it. He might as well goof around and have fun while they were risking their skins.

He looked over at the rest of the group. "I'd assume someone is watching the gate if they know about it. It's a natural bottleneck. But if it is new, there's a good chance no one's defending it too seriously at them moment. After all, the UNISON guys came through." He nodded. "Oh yeah. I can shift between the planes. From any dimension to any other. And I can probably carry someone with me too. I could even, maybe, follow whoever just went through. But that's risky as I really have no idea where exactly that is. So no worries. Let's go get Edge and rescue the king. Should be fun."

[angrydurf]

Phalanx shrugged at Geckomans worries of an ambush. He had trouble considering the primitive reptilians a real threat and it sounded like the gate or whatever it was was in the other dimension anyway.

"Lets get moving then." He said and started to march into the jungle in the direction indicated keeping a wary eye out just in case.

[Avenger Assembled]

The 'Gate of Light' was awfully cheery for a void in the universe. Glowing with a warm yellow radiance that looked like nothing more than bottled sunlight, the half-circle shaped hole in reality looked downright welcoming if you weren't conscious of its true nature. Stepping through the tree-clad gate took Young Freedom across the border between dimensions in an instant, carrying reluctant and enthusiastic alike suddenly to an entirely different jungle. As each young hero stepped through, they were confronted with a lush tropical paradise rawer and richer than the world they'd left behind.

The trees seemed to rise impossibly high overhead, the smell of raw, unspoiled nature palpable in their nostrils as the buzz of a million insects and the roars of long-extinct animals reached their ears. Wherever they were, they certainly weren't on Earth; those who'd heard their fellow student and Edge's former girlfriend Zarana talking about the world she'd left behind were all reminded of stories about the Lost World, a dimension where long-extinct animals and a mishmash of Earth and Serpentine cultures lived together in violence.

There was a familiar face there to greet them, or at least a familiar costume, standing amid the scene of a recent skirmish alongside the jungle path. "Your majesty!" Edet's joy at seeing the White Lion, unmasked and unbowed despite the splint on his leg, quickly faded to subdued relief as Africa's greatest hero and his traveling party, standing over several fallen, unconscious Serpent People, looked at the teenagers with concern on his handsome face.

"You're the rescue party?"

[alderwitch]

"We are, your majesty." Psyche said politely but swiftly, "I'm Psyche and we're Young Freedom. We're classmates of Edet. Excuse me for a moment."

She slanted a glance to Phalanx, touching his gloved hands with her own, her brown eyes worried. She didn't even need to use their bond to communicate her need for him to take over talking while she looked for Edge. Smiling her thanks to him, Psyche left her hand on his and closed her eyes. Beneath the lids, movement flickered as if she was deep in REM sleep. Instead she was casting about for their lost team-mate.

'Mark? Mark! It's Alex. Can you hear me? Where are you?' She sent the thoughts out before casting her senses out to start searching, moving from their current location and toward the volcano that had been in the serpentman's thoughts.

[angrydurf]

Phalanx flew through the gate ahead of the others as he was best able to withstand surprise attack. After Psyche spoke he gently squeezed her hand in support and sent his thought to her confidently 'We'll find him, start looking.' then drifted forward to land next to the famed King of storied Dakana. "I'm Phalanx." He said plainly continuing to explain, "We found another group of UNISON agents on the other side of the gate, they were able to direct us here."

He glanced about for a moment and further explained, "During the skirmish with the Lizard men who had followed the rest of your party one of our members vanished. We believe he was taken here though perhaps through other means than these gates." He looked to Hellion to further explain the dimensional disturbance he had earlier detected.

[Electra]

Erin took a moment to reconnoiter as she stepped through the portal, taking in the downed serpent people and the presence of the man they'd come to rescue. If it was a trap, it was a well-laid one, with all the bait they could ask for laid out in a neat line to keep them moving onwards. Trouble was, she couldn't see any way around following that neat line and just hoping they could scramble their way back out again later.

While Phalanx spoke and Psyche used her powers, Wander began looking around, studying the ground and the surrounding trees for any sign of their teammate or where he might have gone. This primeval jungle wasn't exactly her usual stomping grounds, but the way people moved and the way plants broke and dirt gave way were pretty universal.

[Cyroa]

James jsut looked and listened as they found their target. Mission accomplished, yippee, though the Lion was still in an alternate dimension and a broken leg. But it was only a few steps for the guy to return so that particular mission was pretty much done. Of course the new objective was to get Edge back.

He looked around, keeping watch and seeing if he could detect any more magic or dimensional movements. The others would wrap this section up and then they could go find Edge. He could probably teleport the Lion back to civilization if necessary, though the guy probably wasn't going anywhere without his men. James gave a mental shrug; Psyche'd figure out what the plan was soon enough.

[Ecalsneerg]

Ok, ok, what did Raven teach me, other than older women can indeed be hot? Assess the situation! "Highness," he said to the White Lion. "We're looking for our friend. We think he was taken through into this dimension by means other than the two gates." He quickly rattled off a brief description of Edge. "Have you seen any sign of him before we arrived, or tell us anything about what these Serpent People are capable of? Since they seem too stupid and animal-like to do all these car-aaaaaaazy jungle shenanigans."

[Avenger Assembled]

Psyche's mental reply was a good deal more ominous than she'd hoped. She found dead silence when she reached mentally for Mark, and a grey patch around the mouth of the volcano when she followed the mental map left behind by her exploration of the Serpent-Man's mind. Whatever was up there, going as far as the line the Serpent-People had been able to cross, she was confronted with a grey void like static in the landscape of the mind. As she approached that void, her mental ears caught a strange sussurus of voices, whispers in the darkness of the soul that faded away whenever she listened too closely. It was like trying to catch voices on the wind, or the whispers of dead ghosts.

Those looking for travel could see no particular sign of Mark or whoever had taken him, though what was evidently a recent battle had happened on this very spot. Without a more intensive search, it would be difficult to tell exactly where Mark had gone. With her experience in escape routes and lines of attack, Wander could easily make out the paths that the Serpent-Men had picked, their inhuman footprints on the soft jungle soil, as well as those paths the humans with the White Lion had taken to get here.

The White Lion embraced Edet as a son, a determined look on his face, then said, "I am afraid I have not seen your friend. But if he has been taken by the force holding the mouth of the volcano, then I fear something dire may befall him. My investigations there have been...impossible," he admitted unhappily, "given my injury, but there is outworld activity there, and not from Earth Prime. As for the Serpent-People, I don't believe they are the true enemy here. The war here has been one of survival, two proud peoples pushed together by a common enemy, but unable to unite against them." He shook his head sorrowfully.

[alderwitch]

Psyche's serene expression faltered then faded. Lines of tension creased her young face as she battered her senses against the unnatural barrier. Covering her ears with her hands as if they could block the silibant hissing, Psyche gathered every scrap of her force of will into as tight a focus as she could before she threw it out to Mark, hoping the lance was strong enough to reach him despite the barrier.

'We're coming.'

She sagged back on her heels, shaking her head to clear the building tension headache.

"They have some barrier that's able to block me. I'll try once we're inside again." Psyche had some lingering concerns regarding the effect those murmering voices might have on her powers but that was pure conjecture and not worth voicing. Her voice was calm and steady, "Which means we're doing it the old fashioned way. Wander, Geckoman, you'll have point. I have a feeling they'll know we're coming. Hellion, if this goes bad, you're leaving to go get help. If you hear the call to retreat, I need you to hop, no questions asked."

[angrydurf]

Phalanx frowned at the discovery that their enemy apparently had some means of blocking Psyches senses. But it did not change his resolve to find their missing friend and teammate. Not knowing what more he could offer without any tangible target to fight he settled in next to Psyche as they prepared to move out.