One of These is Not Like the Other (IC)

[Gizmo]

"It's funny 'cause I'm a fencer," Jack of all Blades stage whispered loudly to Ace, giving the scowling Avenger an exaggeratedly enthusiastic thumbs up as the vampire dressed himself.

Phantom's teleportation continued to make him queasy, and Jack spent the bulk of her scrying efforts grimacing with his hand over his eyes. When the sorceress held out her hands, the swordsman took it without thinking. He blinked as they began to slide into the empty realm of eldritch power that served as Phantom's proverbial superhighway. "Wait, did you say - "

Before he could finish the sentence, they were already in the snow covered mountain range. The swashbuckler pulled his greatcoat tightly around himself. "Aw, nertz."

[angrydurf]

Ace blinked wide as they emerged from the void knee deep in the snows of the Himalayas. He zipped up his coat and frowned at Phantom for a moment before pulling out a small flask and taking a drink, of the slightly warm liquid from it before passing it to Jack, "Here it'll help." He offered as color began to return to his cheeks as the Yetis milk did its work.

He looked around trying to pick out where exactly this prison would be.

[Cyroa]

The biting cold, though briefly unpleasant for two of the heroes, quickly faded into a mild annoyance thanks to Ace's preparedness. Walking through thigh-deep snow might still slow them down, but it seemed they had some time. The wind whipped around, creating a field a white that prevented normal vision from seeing more than a few feet however. Howeverm to Jack's unique senses, it was like a lighthouse light the way. Sure, it was under many feet of snow, but that didn't stop Jack from 'seeing' the technilogical prison, enfused with energy.

Beneath all that snow was a prison familiar to some of the heroes. A madman's design that when they broke it, caused a black hole to form though it's original intent was to power the most destructive weapon in creation. While this one was from a different universe entirely, it certainly looked like the same device. Inside, Dark Star floated, still and silent. No longer moving. No longer fighting. Nothing. Just waiting.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star was a hole in space usually. A hole made of energy. Now, he felt that hole accutely. Like he was hollow, dead inside. He couldn't believe how much it hurt. It was like the suns had all gone out from his life. There was nothing left. Just pain...and anger without focus now.

He had felt the other 'him' disperse. Or be dispersed by the heroes. And while he doubted He was dead, he certainly wasn't going to be back for a while. He wanted to kill the Other so badly it hurt, almost as much as it hurt to just live without her. And he didn't have a choice now. She was gone and did anything really matter anymore?

He had known for a while that he was going to outlive her most likely. He was an immortal font of energy. Sooner or later everything around him would crumble to dust. He loved her though and wanted to be with her, more than anything. He just figured he would have more time...

Now eternity seemed an awful concept. To spend it here, where everything reminded him of her, was a torture that was more than he could bear. Even the pain, the leeching of the machine was a faded ache in the background, overshadowed easily by the suffering of his soul. Eventually the machine would break and fail. It was what machines did after all. But his pain, his emptiness? He doubted that would ever go away...

[Gizmo]

Jack of all Blades accepted the flask from Ace without asking what was in it. He figured it was either unicorn tears or a ridiculously expensive whiskey; either way, so long at it worked, he didn't need to know. As warmth returned to his limbs, he pointed towards the beacon of energy. "Whatever we're looking for, that's gotta be it," he shouted over the noise of the wind. "Anything putting out that much juice has 'cosmic' written all over it." The swordsman frowned. "I think 'Star's there, too, but he's really... quiet." Jack's extrasensory awareness had always equated Dark Star's gravimetric energies as a symphony of chimes, the music of the spheres. In comparison, this felt like little more than an echo. If the hero was there, he wasn't actively exerting any energy. "C'mon," the swashbuckler instructed, leading the way through the snow.

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger strode unhesitatingly through the snow, following his fellow heroes and not looking affected in the least by the cold. I need to remember to warm up before I touch anyone, he thought. So they don't get any funny ideas. At the sight of Dark Star's prison, he called, "Phantom, can you see the generator that you cracked open before?!" He strode up to the container himself, giving it an experimental blow.

[alderwitch]

Phantom shot Ace an appologetic look from beneath her cloak as she floated along in Jack's wake. "Sorry, I forgot you were..." human "...not immune."

She waved her hands, unearthing the prison from the snow in a fountain of white powder. Insanity that anyone would build one of these things let alone more. She shot Avenger a look and reminded him, "Honey, last time I teleported him out of there. It was excrutiating and it almost opened a black hole in the center of Freedom City." She rested her hands on her stomach below her cloak and said, "I'd rather not do that stunt again if we have another option."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh yes," agreed Avenger, hmming at that. "I was distracted at the time." He reached over and put his hand on Taylor's stomach too, his gloves hiding the fact that his skin was the temperature of the air outside. "I guess the black hole's not very threatening at this juncture, though. Could you take the whole setup and drop it back in Freedom City, say in Archeville's labs?"

[Gizmo]

"I could try cutting it open," Jack of all Blades offered, pulling the collar of is greatcoat up against the wind and snow. Off the looks of the others, the swordsman shrugged. "I didn't say it was a good idea, I'm just throwing it out there. I might be able to drain some the energy off of this thing," he added thoughtfully, "but if it's got as big a battery as I think it does..."

[angrydurf]

Ace slowly circled the prison unit looking for a control or access panel. Something he could work with. "I can't say with certainty what effect that would have on Dark Star Jack." He said distractedly, "And I'm not really game for starting up a black hole ... well really anywhere."

"Ah ha!" he exclaimed as he found a panel and pried it open. Ace pulled a keypad like device from his coat trailing a tangle of leads and probes like some kind of electric jellyfish and quickly set about latching the probes to the strange electronics of the prison. "Borrowed this from a Buddy in AEGIS, new prototype they're testing." He explained as he began punching keys on the small pad biting his lip and clicking his tongue as he worked. A smile split his face and he looked to the others, "I think I have it. Get ready in case... He's not feeling himself." Ace was fully aware of the effects such confinement might have on their friend.

He punched the final button and there was a shower of sparks from the panel and a click hiss as the prison opened the hum of its gravtic field going silent.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star blinked slowly while the field collapsed around him and his stolen energy was either drawn back into his own body or shot upwards in a brilliant display as it dispersed. He drifted out of his former prison as he had months ago. Only this time, he wasn't quite himself.

As he floated above his former prison, his voice was flat, emotionless. Dead and empty of life. He didn't sound like himself, or the Other. "I'm glad you are unharmed. Thank you for dispersing Him and releasing me. He is gone for now. If he returns, so shall I."

[alderwitch]

"Oh, no. Don't you dare take off into the sky. I do not want to have to spend the next several months tracking you down across the stars." Taylor said, reaching up to shove her hood back, "Not until you've checked to see if Stesha's healing with all your massive senses. If she doesn't wake up, I'll open up the portal for you to get your vengance on myself."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star paused, just before he started his ascent at Taylor's words. It took a moment to sink in. More important than the words was what those words implied. ".....healing? She's dead. I saw it. You saw it." He stared long and hard, his control over his own energy slipping slightly, starting to flare. His voice got quiet, almost lost amidst the howling wind. "Are you saying she might not be dead?" If she wasn't dead...the universe regained just a tiny glimmer of hope for him despite his hesitation...

[angrydurf]

Ace grinned, "Dead is not nearly so final for some as it is for others." he explained confidently, "Especially in our line of work."

It was an area Ace had more personal experience in then he cared to discuss in general. "But coming back is never easy and I think she'd much rather come back to you than Jacks mushroom garden." He glanced to Jack, "Lovely as it is."

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger picked the easiest thing to say, or at least the less complicated. "Come home with us, Dark Star. Help us make sure she comes back to you." He walked up and extended his hand to his flying friend. "It's...it's actually going to be okay this time."

[Gizmo]

Jack of all Blades looked awkwardly between the others before turning up to Dark Star. "Right, uh... we don't really know each other that well, but, erm... cheer up, huh?" He sighed as he finished doing up the buttons of his great coat. "Yeah, yeah, 'shut up, Jack'. I'll just stand over here and freeze my magnificent butt off in the bloody Himalayas, then," he muttered to himself under his breath, taking a few steps away to give the others a modicum of privacy.

[alderwitch]

"She's under the soil in our basement. Go look." Taylor said wearily, exhausted now that the adrenaline was fading. She rubbed one gloved hand over her eyes tiredly. "I can get everyone else back to the apartment myself. We can meet you upstairs."

[Avenger Assembled]

"We'll meet you there," agreed Avenger, stepping back and taking Phantom's hand. "It's going to be okay, Dark Star. I really think...it's going to be okay." He actually smiled behind his mask, at that.

[Cyroa]

He was...confused. Hopeful, yet afraid to hope. He wasn't sure he could deal with that. But he was by nature a hopeful person. He really wanted to believe them, though the sight of her being killed was still fresh in his mind.

His mind was reeling from the concept, not to mention the questions flashing through his mind. Only some of which were 'She's not dead? She can heal in the sun...but can she resurrect herself? They buried her in Jack's mushroom garden? How is she suppose to heal in the dark? Don't mushrooms grown in the dark? Is it possible she isn't lost to me? And why does Jack even have a mushroom garden?'

The questions were still racing through his mind but...there was a stab of guilt as he looked at the others. From the swordwielder's almost hurt expression to Phantom's exhausted one, they didn't exactly look their best. They had gone through a lot after all. They had lost Stesha too plus had to fight off an enemy bent on their desctruction. And he'd been ignoring their pain for his own. That was an unworthy thing. His voice had gone from dead and life-less to a little bit of hope back to shame. This was not his best day ever. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude and heartless. You've been through a lot. We all have. I apologize for marginalizing your pain. You don't deserve that. It was wrong of me." He sent out a burst of regenerative regeneration to everyone. It might not be needed but it was the least he could do. "I'm sorry for your being here Jack. I'll bring you home or wherever you like as soon as we return to the city." He gestured, opening a wormhole to Avenger and Phantom's basement. "Right after I check her of course. And move her somewhere sunny." He gestured through the openning, letting the others precede him.

[Electra]

The mushroom garden looked much the same as when they'd left, bright as a sunny afternoon from Ace's bottle of light, with half-grown mushrooms scattered hither and yon to clear a roughly Stesha-sized hole in the middle of the bed. There was one small change, though. Right in the center of the clear space was a seedling, no more than a couple of inches high, easy to miss unless you were looking for it. It was the only green thing down here, among all the white mushroom spores, so it was distinctive as it unfurled a few tiny leaves towards the magical sunlight.

[Gizmo]

"Yeah, yeah," Jack of all Blades said dismissively, waving Dark Star's apology away as he stepped through the wormhole, brusquely adding, "Just glad you're okay, Twinkle Twinkle." Getting imprisoned in an energy-sucking hellhole while your evil multidimensional counterpart blaster a sizable chunk out of your girlfriend qualified as a pretty bad day in the swashbuckler's estimation; he could probably afford to cut to earnest hero some slack.

[angrydurf]

As Dark Star warmed to the idea Ace smiled if even Avenger could be hopeful surely there wasn't anything to worry about. A flicker of concern crossed his face as he saw the plant. It was a good sign of her recovery but people sometimes came back ... Different. HE was sure they would manage to make it work regardless so he clamped his mouth shut not wanting to ruin the moment with his trivial concerns and refreshed the mystic sunlight to help her grow.

[alderwitch]

Taylor walked through, dismissing her costume with a thought and leaned against Jack's side, heedless of the chill emanating from her husband's body. She folded her arms over her breasts and above her stomach, her worried gaze on the small flower. Her fingertips slid over the Eye of Heshem at her throat, a nervous tick for those that knew her. Taylor hoped that Dark Star would find some spark of life inside. Something to give more than the faint hope that they all had.

She leaned her dark head against the leather of Avenger's costume, "Ace's been giving her sunlight. I suppose we could find some water..."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star blinked at the sunlight coming from...nowhere. And in Jack's basement of all places. But given his friends, Dark Star didn't even bother asking how it was being done. He was just grateful it was. The sight of the little green sprout fed the seed of hope in his heart a little. He nodded at Taylor as he floated before the plot of dirt, letting the portal close behind. He let his senses extend, seeing what he could find, though he doubted he'd find much of help. The mystical healing thing was more up Taylor's alley than his own.

[Electra]

There wasn't very much to see down under the soil, mostly an extremely dense root bundle about five feet long, a massive root system, really, given the size of the tiny plant it was connected to. But the little plant was growing, slowly but perceptibly, creeping upwards and unfurling another fingernail-sized leaf as they stood there. In the maelstrom of cosmic energies in the little room, it was sort of hard for Jackie B. to sort things out finely, but he gradually became aware of a distinct type of energy coming from the soil, a light green, new plants in spring kind of energy that was so faint, it was hardly more than an echo.