The Other Guys (IC)

[Cyroa]

James nodded to himself as he took a seat. He’d sent the message to the others once he was ready. He didn’t want to meet at Claremont, not with nigh-omnipotent Summers there. He hadn’t said much in the message besides that he needed to meet with them about something relating to the “L†event. At the moment only Persephone and Phantom knew what he had in mind. While this wasn’t exactly super secret, it wasn’t something he planned on broadcasting either. This was more…off the books kind of thing.

He waited for them in a parking lot of Dairy Queen, sitting on table and eating an ice cream.

[Electra]

Erin was very curious about James' clandestine meeting. Meeting in a Dairy Queen wasn't exactly his style, and though he could certainly sneak around when he wanted to, not that she was thinking too hard about that, he rarely kept his hero activities too much on the down-low. She arrived exactly on time at the restaurant, parking her truck in the front and heading over to wear James waited, totally inconspicuous in her civilian clothes. "There are places in this town with better ice cream," she pointed out drolly, then leaned on the edge of the table to wait.

[Cyroa]

James smiled as Erin pulled up to the otherwise empty parking lot. He nodded to her as she parked and walked over. "Oh there are. But here, there's no cameras. No witnesses for the most part either. Pretty deserted all in all actually." He grinned and licked the icecream cone. "'Sides, I own this one. If you want some ice cream, help yourself." He takes the keys out of his pocket and holds them out. "Just lock the door when you're done. I gave everyone the night off to make sure the general area would be empty." He shrugged. "We're not going till the others get here to so looks like we've got a few minutes to kill."

[Electra]

Erin looked at him blankly for a moment, then laughed. "Since when do you own a Dairy Queen?" she asked, "or did you buy it just for the occasion?" She wasn't about to turn down free ice cream, so she took the keys from him and headed inside. Walking into a dark fast food restaurant gave her a momentary jolt, but the lights came right on when she flipped the switch, and it smelled like antiseptic cleaner and waffle cones, a fairly nice smell. "I have always wanted to try one of those ice cream shell dippers."

[Gizmo]

Unlike Erin's truck, there was little to announce the arrival of the Night Cycle until it was actually pulling into the parking lot, its engine tweaked to perfection by the slim youth riding it for near silent performance. Sliding to a smooth stop, Trevor swung himself off of the bike with fluid grace, setting his helmet down atop it and unfastening his matte black jacket in the summer heat. Noting Erin inside the parlour, he nodded curtly to James. "You've found Lucas?" he hazarded, getting right to the point of the other young man's vague note.

[Cyroa]

James grinned and called in after her. "Help yourself then. Go nuts," he laughed. "I've picked up a few properties and businesses along the way. This is just one; and I pick them up for various reasons. I've been quite busy after all." It wasn't all about magic and dimensional guardianship or heroing. He had other irons in the fire too.

He looked over as Trevor aka Midnight drove up, giving the darkly clad youth a nod in greeting. "Trevor's here," he called out, letting Erin know. He shook his head as Trevor walked up. "No, I haven't. And I have been looking a little too. Not tons, but enough. No, this is about something else," he said, licking his ice cream cone a bit more. "Not sure if Eve is going to make it but wanted to give her a bit of time. If you want some ice cream, help yourself," he said, nodding inside.

[Electra]

Erin spent a couple of minutes looking at the various ice cream dispensing implements while James and Trevor talked outside. She abruptly remembered that she had not yet had a chance to talk to Trevor about what she and James had talked about on his spaceship the other day. Not that she wanted to betray a confidence, but there was no reason to leave Trevor in the dark to flounder around and maybe make things more awkward than they needed to be. That was the reasoning, anyway, but she hadn't quite worked her way up to saying anything about it yet. Oops.

"Hey James!" she called. "Do you know how to work any of these things? I'd hate to break your ice cream store."

[Cyroa]

James shook his head in amusement, smiling. One of the most dangerous women on the planet and she couldn't fill an ice cream cone. Yet another endearing, and a little entertaining, quality in her. He turned a little to call after her. "The soft serve stuff? Just put the cone underneath and lift the handle up a little bit. Should come right out. When you're done, just lower the handle. Nice and easy." He paused. "If there are none out there, think the waffle cones are in the back or something. Check the fridge," he said with a shrug. He checked his watch. He'd give Eve another minute or two. After that, time was wasting.

[April]

A sleek, matte black and clearly foreign car turned into the parking lot of the Dairy Queen and parked a few spaces down from Erin's truck. As the sound of its throaty engine ceased, Eve stepped out from the confines of her Bugatti Veyron, dressed to match her exotic vehicle. Approaching Trevor and James she casually waved at the former and smiled at the latter.

--I'm not too late am I?-- Eve asked as she settled down at James' table.

[Gizmo]

Trevor had perked up subtly at the sound of the engine in Eve's sleek vehicle, and was walking over to it even before the diminutive French girl had parked it. After a slow walk about the vehicle, he dropped unceremoniously to the asphalt to peer at under it's front end. "Sixteen cylinders, ten radiators, excess of a thousand horsepower..." he murmured softly. The dark haired mechanic was not easily impressed when it came to automotive engineering, but the Bugatti Veyron was undoubtedly a work of art. The paint job didn't hurt his appreciation, either. Smoothly standing back up, he looked over to Eve, saying, by way of greeting and understatement, "That... is a very nice car."

[Electra]

Erin came back out in time to admire the car as well, holding an ice cream cone that had been very sloppily dipped in chocolate magic shell. Most of the cone portion was chocolate coated as well, but she'd made up for that with extra napkins. "Really nice car," she echoed Trevor, then looked between him and James. "So what are we here to talk about?" she asked, mostly to James. She'd have liked to examine the car a little more, but her hands were pretty sticky at the moment from her epic struggle with the soft-serve machine.

[Cyroa]

James looked down the street as the distinctive engine was heard. He looked on in appreciation as the car pulled up and Eve got out. He returned her smile as he nodded in agreement with the other. He hopped off the bench and stood with the others near the vehicles, admiring. "Very cool," he said, still smiling. He thought it at the same time, for Eve's sake. He'd go completely nonverbal if it was only her out of respect but the others lacked her gifts.

"Well, now that we're all here, we can get going. But this is not the place," he said with a smile. He tapped the beacon. "Ok 'Seph, bring us up." A brief moment later, they were all surrounded by a swirling lights and the parking lot faded away. The scene around them resolved into a massive metallic room and the lights faded away. Their vehicles were there as well in this large hold. There were boxes and crates stacked neat and orderly all over. There were even other vehicles there, all tied down and secured, ranging from jeeps to an APC to a good sized minisub.

James nodded as he looked at all of them. "Before you ask, yes, you are back on Hell-Ion's ship. It's my ship now. Everything here is run by Persephone, an amazing AI." While Erin knew this already, he had to fill the others in. "Apparently, Hell-Ion built this ship to be special. A kind of temporal and dimensional anchor as assurance that it would be stable in case of a reality or temporal quake of some kind. When everything returned to normal, the ship was immune to the ripple and stayed in existence. Persephone found me less than day after all that happened. The ship is huge and can do same darn impressive things." He took a breath, letting them absorb that as he let them in on the 'secret giant orbiting spaceship' bit. There was more coming, but one thing at a time.

[April]

--Very cool,-- Eve murmured, subconsciously echoing James as her eyes wandered over the various objects found in the hold a sense of amazement, appreciation and wonder surging out from her. An intense thread of curiosity wove its way into Eve's emotional cocktail at the mention of Persephone. --A fully functioning AI?-- the telepath asked excitedly. --I know we got a rudimentary one operating at Global Cortex, that's one of our subsidiaries, but it isn't out of the prototyping stages yet.--

[Electra]

"Fully functioning!" Persephone assured Eve with a smile, appearing on a full-length wall screen next to the group. The AI's projection was that of a willowy blond girl with sparkling blue eyes and a generous figure, clad in the distaff version of the uniform Hell-Ion had worn in the parallel universe. "I'm programmed to run the ship and see to James' needs, of course, but aside from that, I'm my own woman!" Suddenly, she stepped out of the wall-screen and into the real world, holographic projectors in the walls flashing momentarily as they picked up and projected her image. "It's so nice to see you all again! I'm so excited about all this! Would any of you like some refreshments? I've got tea, soda, lemonade, cookies..." She noticed Erin's drippy ice cream, and with a very slight supercilious look, added "napkins?" A little black servo robot that was basically a squat column on treads with four arms rolled up and presented Erin with a pile of napkins. "The ship is fully stocked to meet any of your needs!"

[Gizmo]

Trevor looked about the ship, his lips setting in a thin line. Hell-Ion's ship did not bring back many pleasant memories, and its presence in their restored reality raised a number of troubling concerns. "You've not concerned about one of Lucas's hallucinations persisting?" he asked James brusquely before catching himself. The lanky youth gave the holographic blonde an abashed look. "No offense intended, Miss, ah, Persephone. Altered memories have largely faded; I apologize if I... don't live up to the example of 'Kid Midnight'." Speaking with someone more familiar with an alternate version of him was an odd sensation, to be sure.

[Electra]

Erin took the napkins somewhat awkwardly and tried to eat the ice cream cone quickly without making any more of a mess. She was almost used to the spaceship by now, as much as she thought she'd ever be used to it, and was more curious than ever about the purpose of the meeting. "I think we're all fine for refreshments," she told Persephone, then turned her attention to James. "So what is it you want to talk to us about, anyway?"

[Cyroa]

James nodded as they returned to the topic at hand. "This ship, in addition to being an anchor, also has a dimensional drive. Erin already knows this but my 'job' is a dimensional guardian. I protect the dimensional boundaries of this world, enforce the pact, things like that. I'm the...junior partner in this. My partner is Phantom. It's a big job, don't get me wrong. And it isn't easy. But its mainly about this protecting this reality," he said.

He looked around the supplies he had begun to gather. "I've been to quite a few realities now. More than a few really. And let me tell you, this is probably one of the best and safest I've ever seen. There are realities that are constantly at war, either with them selves or even with an outside entity like Omega. Or falling to the forces of 'evil'; their bad guys are ruling or winning. What passes for good guy are getting hammered. They just can't win on their own," he said half to himself. "I mean to fix that," he said softly.

He turned back to the other. "You've seen what it's like when things go wrong. We fixed thing here. We got lucky really but we still did it. I aim to try it in other places, other realities. I'm not saying we're going to fight their wars or take on a whole planet or anything. But little things, key events, giving them a chance to get back on their feet. That we can do," he said firmly. "This isn't going to be some big heroic thing. A lot of this is likely to be a bit gritty, unpleasant even. Likely no one here will ever know. There's no glory in it. It's just to give someone else a shot at what we take for granted. And I can't do alone."

"I can make hard decisions. I can deal with atrocities and the horrors quiet easily. I've got powers and magics, sure. But there are things I can't do. Reading minds? Finding out the truth someone has hidden no matter how smooth they are? Keeping us in contact with each other, no matter what's going on? I'm no telepath, but you are Eve. Your powers make you invaluable on something like this. Erin? Well, she can tear through tanks and survive anything that comes her way. She also knows how bad it can be out there and she's a survivor. I'm no planner. I know nothing about tactics or strategies. But you do Trevor. You can see the solution, to win the battles. I can't, not to mention a host of other skills I'm sure." He looked at all three of them for a moment, putting his personal feeling aside. This was bigger than that.

"If you don't want to do this, it's ok. This is...ridiculously arrogant to even consider, let alone attempt. But I still intend to try. I asked all of you first for two reasons. One, you've seen or at least glimpsed what things could be like. And two...honestly, you're more likely to be ok with this. You haven't settled in on the hero thing or your not as 'squeeky clean' as some of them. Its why I didn't ask Mark. I love the guy but this isn't exactly going to be his cup of tea," he said with a smile. "I don't want to ruin his view on the world any more than it already has been."

He shrugged a little. "That's it. That's why I asked you here. To see if you want in. If not, I can't blame you."

[Gizmo]

There were several beats of silence before any of James' guest spoke. Trevor considered the other young man's proposition with a carefully schooled expression. He made a compelling argument. Both the goal and the suggested methods appealed to the stoic teenager, who ran a hand slowly over the lower portion of his face, glancing over the gauge the reaction from Erin and Eve. Turning back to their host, he quirked a single eyebrow a fraction of a notch upward. "This thing has a vehicle bay for my bike?"

[April]

The emotional subchannel that Eve communicated with had faded in intensity to its normal low level, a subtle background 'noise' that everyone here was at this point accustomed when they were around the young telepath. This emotional subchannel abruptly closed the subtle, feather light contact Eve maintained with the minds around her withdrawing as James delivered his speech.

Eve adopted a pensive expression, arms folded across her chest as she leaned against a bulkhead, her gaze directed downward. She considered what James was asking of them, the noble intentions and the amount of risk versus very little reward and she found herself comfortable with this. Even so, she thought that James was overestimating her ability, and was afraid she'd let the others down.

The emotional subchannel reopened carrying with it a faint sense of determination and acceptance. Green eyes looked up at icy blue, and Eve nodded.

[Electra]

Erin listened quietly as James laid out what he wanted to do and why, and then while the others made their decisions. He made a good case for it, explaining all their strengths and how they would work together, what his plans were, how urgent the need was. Still, at the end of it, part of her wanted to grab her teleporter beacon and go home as fast as the speed of light would take her. James had been to bad dimensions, he knew the nasty things that were out there, but he hadn't lived there, gotten down in the blood and the muck and the dirt of a world where everything had hit rock bottom. Maybe if he had, he would understand a little more why it seemed so unsafe to leave the lights of Prime for other worlds, even if it was supposed to only be on a visit. He'd promised to always bring her home, but anything could happen when you did hero work, and there were no real guarantees in life.

She ran a hand uncomfortably through her hair, aware that she was the only one who hadn't given an answer, and that the silence was stretching. Even though she wasn't sure she wanted to, maybe she had to. She had been rescued by heroes reaching across the dimensional divide and helping her when there was only risk and no benefit in it for them. That was surely a debt that needed repayment, and maybe this was the way. "I want to do it," she finally said aloud, awkwardly, "but if I need to opt out of some missions, you have to let me." She knew James would understand what she meant.

[Cyroa]

James paused, a bit surprised they had answered already. "I was actually figuring you might want a day or two to think it over but...ok." He raised an eyebrow at Trevor, and gestured around the massive hangar with the cases and various vehicles already secured. "I'm pretty sure we can find a place. If not, there's always the rooms, quarters, storage areas or workshops," he said with a wry grin. "This is a BIG ship. Wait till you see the zoo."

He nodded at Erin. "Believe me, I understand. This is going to be completely optional. Only when you want in. I'm on two different teams, besides this one, not to mention my duties as Phantom's partner. We go when there's enough of us and when we can. This isn't and can't become our entire life. Just trying to help out as best we can, juggling everything else. But someone should be doing it. And to my knowledge, no one else really is." He held up a little device. "If you want, 'Seph can get you a beacon. Makes it easier to be transported up here. In different realities, you'll have to have one but that's mission specific. This is a general 'carrying' one if you want. It is darn helpful when you want to go visit the tropics on a whim though," he said with a grin.

He shrugged his shoulders. "A couple ground rules though. First off, no one gets left behind. I don't care what the reason. Whether you're hurt or lost or whatever. Even if you come to decide you want to stay on some other reality. It won't matter, you're still coming back. Even if 'Seph and the ship are forced to retreat to keep safe, I will still come back for you."

He gestured once more at the equipment around the hanger. "Next is technology. Regardless of what we use, we are not going to leave anything there that they couldn't build themselves. If we're giving equipment or whatever to some, they would have to have the know how to build it themselves. I've no intention of screwing up a planet's entire time line because we left a few toys behind that we shouldn't have."

He shrugged a little. "Those are the big ones. Beyond that, it's a case by case thing. And there are a lot of them. If you have any questions or concerns, voice them. For the record, no one is in charge here. Not me, not you. We're a team, a group. And decisions are made by the group. If we want to pick a leader someday, that's for then. For now, I just want to make sure this all works out."

[Electra]

"When do you want to get started?" Erin asked, running a hand through her hair. "I mean, do you have stuff specifically in mind to do now, or is it going to be when you see something that needs fixing, you'll get in touch with us and we'll go fix it? I know you and I have gone on a couple of chases before, but this sounds like it might be a lot more, you know, involved, if we're trying to save entire realities."