ic House of L: Wake-Up Call (IC)

[Gizmo]

"Should look for Geckoman, too," Trevor suggested, the eyes of his domino mask narrowing. "He's... he's The Raven now." The dark haired young man's tone held the faintest hint of a grumble, suggesting that even his near preternatural patience was being tested by this altered reality. Outwardly, however, he maintained his composure. "Can you bring up the Bank of Freedom?" he asked James. "Something odd there, too."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Imposter? As far as you're concerned, I'm the real deal, honey," said Chris, drawing a boomerang from his pocket. "Now, answer my questions. Who and what is the Geckoman?" He held up the boomerang between two fingers. "As you can tell, I need to know."

[Avenger Assembled]

When James brought up the Bank of Freedom, the teen heroes watched a remarkable scene play out, too fast to intervene. The Freedom League had evidently arrived to subdue the armored madman in the bank; the League's lineup made up of all its greatest heroes of the past like Sea-King the avenging monarch of Atlantis, Galatea the robotic champion of justice, and the first Lady Liberty, the one who'd fought in World War II. Though the Centurion was supposedly alive in this world, evidently he wasn't with the League today.

The teens were surprised to recognize the man in the armor: Dr. Mayhem being a supervillain they all knew from their world. Mayhem was a crazy man, a deranged temporal refugee from an alternate present he'd helped destroy. He looked equally crazy here, being dragged into the back of a police paddywagon by Lady Liberty and Galatea, his armor broken as he ranted, "You fools! You fools, it's all changed! It's all changed AGAIN! If you don't do something, you're-" They tossed him into the back of the pitch-black wagon, and though the sensors in Hell-Ion's ship picked up nothing unusual, the teens all watched as the darkness around Mayhem dissolved briefly into all-too-familiar inky-black dots before the man disappeared entirely. The door behind him slammed shut with an awful finality.

[Electra]

"Oh, God," Erin murmured as she watched the screen, hands clenched into fists. "That's Rick's power, it's got to be. It looks just the same. He may be dead, but he's not done changing things. If something doesn't fit into this world, it gets... undone? Erased? I don't know what those dots do, but we probably don't want to find out." She looked at the others. "If we don't act like we belong here, at least enough to get by, we could be in even more trouble than we already are."

[Cyroa]

James frowned and nodded along with Erin. "I have to agree. We'll need to gather the others, quietly too. But I'm beginning to wonder if Rick is actually dead," he mused to himself. He'd research that as well, adding it to the computer's entries as it continued to search for their companions and friends who would still remember the truth. And it became even more important to find them sooner rather than later, especially if their theory was correct. "We know where Sage is. One of us should go get her, without someone realizing we're different. Otherwise I'd just beam her directly up here without asking. The computer is pulling up the rest of them. It shouldn't be long now."

[April]

"Of course," murmered Eve. "I'm sure he's on his way." Glancing at the door to the changing room the green-eyed psychic (and teen music sensation!) offered an apologetic smile. "Could you excuse me for one moment, please? I always like to spend just a few minutes to myself prior to a performance." Breaking into a wide grin, Eve admitted, "I get so nervous!" Consenting to her request, the attendants left the room giving Sage much needed privacy.

Closing her eyes and turning her thoughts inward, Eve gradually became aware of her surroundings from a perspective outside her body. "Now where are you, Chris?" she thought, casting her awareness out, searching for that surprisingly familiar mind. Filtering innumerable minds, spread all throughtout the continent (and then some) from her awareness and picking up on a thread of thought from Chris Kenzie, Eve traces it back to the source.

Eve's awareness settles just in time to see the Raven deck Spellbound.

--Chris! Whatever are you doing?! You're supposed to be at Claremont. Don't tell me you forgot!-- Eve's mental voice was playfully scolding, and then she took stock of the scene "before" her and the playfulness leached from her voice --Raven, that was not a very gentlemanly thing to do.--

[Gizmo]

Looking from Erin to James, Trevor tilted his chin upward slightly. "I'll go. Eve knows me. Besides, don't have to worry about running into a double or fan girl mobs." If it wasn't for his remarkable deadpan, the last thought might have almost qualified as snarky. Instead, removing his domino mask and placing it in his shirt pocket, he unrolled his sleeves and made himself presentable for a recital.

[Cyroa]

James nodded, pulling a little beacon off it's resting cradle before tossing it to Trevor. Given the three of them, Trveor was the best choice to go without attracting any unnecessary attention. James simply choose to ignore the girl mob comments. It wasn't like he was entirely happy with his current 'form' either. "Here. It'll allow for an easy lock-on as well as a comm device. We'll monitor you from here." He gave a mental sigh, taking a moment to sort out his new memories from his old ones, seeing what other little tidbits of information he needed to know while the computer continued to run through the searches.

[Avenger Assembled]

A shimmer and flash of light got the suitably-disguised Trevor into a corner of Claremont High, an obvious reflection of his current high school. It wasn't that hard to find Sage, either, not with a vaguely-familiar Ms. Harcourt announcing to the auditorium full of admiring parents, teachers, and students, "Ladies and gentlemen, in honor of our brave soldiers, we're proud to present to you the Parisian Pixie, the Eiffel Idol: Eve Martel, here to sing our National Anthem!" And with that, everyone rose to clap, Sage bustling out in a hugely patriotic dress, an odd look on her face, as if her mind was elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Hell-Ion's advanced sci-sensors had easily picked out Chris Kenzie, wearing a bizarre reflection of the Raven's costume as he battled a maniacally laughing witch-woman. All around him, though, at the very edges of the shadows, Hell-Ion could see the universe beginning to waver ever-so-slightly.

-

"Gecko-Man is reality," said Spellbound, still holding her jaw. "It's you who's fake! You who's a big bully who hits girls and acts like a big jerk! You're not what you're supposed to be at all. But when Geckoman and I destroy you," she said, her voice getting harder, "things will be right again, and he and I can be together forever and ever and ever and ever and..." She cackled and waggled her fingers, and Raven's boomerang turned into a hissing, venomous snake! "Destroy him, my pretty!""

[Electra]

Erin watched Geckoman's battle playing out on the screen, her fingers clenched on the back of a seat hard enough to leave dents. "He doesn't know about the deletions," she said tersely. "He doesn't know that he could get erased if he doesn't play by Rick's rules." She turned to James. "Send me down there," she told him. "I can deal with Spellbound and get him out of there. Even back in the day, girls could hit other girls." She smiled grimly, opening her bat.

[Ecalsneerg]

--Chris! Whatever are you doing?! You're supposed to be at Claremont. Don't tell me you forgot!-- Eve's mental voice was playfully scolding, and then she took stock of the scene "before" her and the playfulness leached from her voice --Raven, that was not a very gentlemanly thing to do.--

-- Oh, bugger off. -- Chris took great delight in even these mild swear words in this world. -- Think, Eve. We've never dated. Hell, we've hardly had a full conversation. Sure, we have in this world, but not in the real one. Remember! --

This argument was cut off by his boomerang turning into a snake. "Dammit, woman, if I can't hit you, you're being quite hypocritical in attacking me!" He leapt back in fear from the snake and swung a fist at it.

[Cyroa]

James just smiled wryly. "I think this might be an extreme situation, but yeah." He quickly handed her another device like the one he'd given Trevor. Time was of the essence before Chris and his mouth did something to get himself deleted without ever knowing it. "Keep in touch Erin," he said with a smile, beaming her down.

[Avenger Assembled]

Erin arrived in the middle of a battle; the flying, cackling witch above hurling fireballs at the 'Raven' as Chris whirled and jumped to avoid her attacks. He was keeping up his usual string of insults, but as Erin watched, the shadows in the deserted house were beginning to lengthen ever-so-slightly, a faint rim of inky black dots around their edges as they ever-so-slowly made their way towards the trash-talking hero.

[Electra]

"Chris!" Wander called as soon as she appeared, "listen to me! You need to do and say whatever you think Edge would do in this situation. It's really important, and I'll explain later." She didn't dare make it any more clear, lest she start breaking whatever the rules of this bizarre world were herself. Readying herself, she looked up at the flying Spellbound and used the line she'd made up on the way down. "All right, evildoer, you like flying creatures? Let me introduce you to a bat!" With that, she leapt into the air, swinging to try and and knock the crazy villainess off her broom.

[Avenger Assembled]

Wander's witty quip seemed to make her blow fly straight and true. She clobbered Spellbound with a single backhand swipe, sending the teen science witch tumbling to the ground with a loud thump. Just as Wander made her landing to take stock of herself, Chris, and the fallen villain, she saw the shadows behind Chris rise up into a single mass, a shambling, terrible form of inky blots reaching out for him!

[Electra]

Vaulting up from the floor, Erin dove for Chris, trying to knock him out of the way of a threat he couldn't yet see coming. "Stop it, Mr. Lucas!" she yelled to the air. "You don't want to do this! He's a hero, he's Mark's friend, he's just a kid!" Even as she leapt, she wondered if being deleted hurt, and what happened after that. She wondered if they were both about to find out.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Dammit, Erin, what's going on!?" shouted Chris as Erin teleported in and knocked Spellbound flying. "I can't act like Mark! See, I am emotionally affected by my life getting torn apart!"

Suddenly, Erin leapt at him. "Oh, now what?!" He noticed the darkness looming around him. Oh...

[Cyroa]

James watched his screen, continuing the search for all the missing members. He wasn't paying complete attention to the respective screens showing Trevor and Erin, though he did track Erin's progress a bit more honestly. When he glanced up and saw the dakrness forming, he wasted no time. He quickly moved over to the controls and targeted Erin and Chris. He initiated an emergency transport for them the very instant it locked on. He wasn't sure it would stop the reality ripple but hopefully with Chris away from the girl and not spewing contradictions to her, it would settle out.

[April]

Sage knew this wasn't the world they left, she only needed to utter a word, any word, to confirm that. That and she would never consider dating someone so scruffy looking, or one who wore that much green. About to level a biting retort at Geckoman, she realized that, despite how happy she felt now she would always know, deep down, that it was wrong.

"Je suis vraiment désolé," she whispered, her vision blurring slightly. "I .. I cannot do this."

Turning, Eve fled the stage.

[Gizmo]

Her voice... Trevor realized, his mouth falling open slightly. His expression clouding almost imperceptibly, the dark haired teen leapt forward, sprinting down the aisle toward the stage. --Eve-- he concentrated, hoping that the telepath would be able to pick up his thoughts, --It's Trevor. I'm sorry, but we have to go.-- As the audience began to murmur in confusion, he slid through the crowd, leaping onto the stage with a fluid bound and slipping behind the curtain without acknowledging the protests of the recital's organizers.

[Avenger Assembled]

A single lashing tentacle of slick, inky dots whipped out at Chris Kenzie, as if ready to pull him inside and make him disappear forever. But Wander's shout, and Chris' own nimble agility, seemed to interrupt something, and instead of grabbing him, it simply slapped against the back of his head, a thick, wet feeling as a faint afterglow of the slick black fluid of the universe itself seeped through his hair. But then the great shape in the shadows faded, leaving the two heroes alone in a quiet, empty house with an unconscious supervillain. A few moments later, Hell-Ion's teleporter reached them both, and they vanished in twin bursts of bright red ion fire.

[Avenger Assembled]

It didn't take Kid Midnight long at all to find Eve, the young heroine standing shell-shocked just off-stage. "Trevor! Oh, thank the Lord you're here!" exclaimed the school's drama teacher, vaguely recognizable as the woman Trevor knew as the contemporary Lady Liberty of his own world. "She's having some kind of terrible stage fright breakdown! You've got to help her chase away the blues for the sake of our men in uniform!"

[Gizmo]

Trevor stopped for a moment to give Ms. Walton-Wright an inscrutable look. There was so much wrong with this picture that he really wasn't sure where to start. Even ignoring the seemingly arbitrary recasting of the modern Lady Liberty, the drama teacher's impotent tizzy grated on the lanky youth's nerves. Finally he turned away, simply saying, "Please stop talking." Stepping over to Eve, he placed a hand lightly on the traumatized girl's shoulder, keeping his surface thoughts calm and reassuring as he caught her eye before activating the beacon James had given him. "Let's get out of here."

[Ecalsneerg]

"What's going on?" snarled Chris as they teleported to Hel-Ion's base. "Tell me what the hell is happening!" He swung a fist, smacking Erin in the side of the face.

He came back with a very painful hand, tears in his eyes. "What did they do to Liz, Erin? What did he do?"

[Electra]

Erin's first instinct was to hit back, but in a split second she had redirected the destructive impulse, grabbing Chris' wrists and pinning them to keep him from lashing out again. "It was Rick Lucas," she told him, "I don't know exactly what he did, he changed the way the universe works. It's like the aspirational rules for heroes when he was young are the rules for the way the whole world works now. He even changed you guys. Can you remember things from this world differently, like a second set of memories?"

She turned to James. "Do you have a holding cell on this thing?" she asked him. "Can you get Spellbound up here and contained? If we can talk to her when she wakes up, we'll know if other people can remember the way things used to be."