Mind Games (IC)

[Lone Star]

Blake saw the carnage the evil Erin had caused, and nearly threw up. He groaned aloud, and brought his knees up. Blake placed his head in his arms, so the others wouldn't see him crying. He just wanted to go home. It would be too much to see his evil version causing chaos in Freedom City. He just wanted to be back in his dorm room, with his classes, and his friends. He silently wept to himself, and hoped they fixed the machine soon.

[Avenger Assembled]

"The work is done," called Talos, calling all the teen heroes together onto the platform suddenly. He made them stand on the big flat gear of the great machine, each one on a tooth, with one even for Daisy by herself, while he prepared to throw the great lever. "Begone from this place, with my blessing!" he called as he threw the switch. "And remember, you are not guilty of the crimes you have seen here!" he called as the portal opened above their heads and began pulling them all in, the familiar, friendly shape of Claremont visible before them. "Live for justice, not for revenge!" And the portal reached out, and began to tug at them, but it soon became obvious that they weren't alone in the wormhole...

[Electra]

By the time the white fog cleared from around Singularity, it was too late. She had only seen the outside of her prison a couple of times, but she vividly remembered what it looked like, and certainly recognized it as it approached through the strange gray void they were all moving through. She turned and ran away as fast as she could, but whatever was under her feet wasn't ground, and she couldn't find any purchase. "No, no, no, no, no," she muttered, balling up her fists as though she could fight whatever was dragging her back, even as the adrenaline-fueled rage of fighting gave way to exhaustion. A figure approached her, and she readied herself to fight, then stopped when the figure she saw was impossibly familiar, and yet entirely strange. She cocked her head. "Mom?" she asked with great uncertainty.

Wander pursed her lips and studied her counterpart, lost and mad and afraid. They had only seconds, she was certain, and nothing was going to stop the transfer now. And even if she could have, even if she knew how, Wander knew that she couldn't bring the creature she'd been turned into back to Earth Prime. This was the monster she'd always been afraid of becoming, and it had no place on a clean, safe world like Prime. The only thing she could do was to put her counterpart out of her misery, and she didn't even know how to do that. There wasn't much that could kill any version of her, and this one was even tougher than most.

"No," she told Singularity, reaching down and taking off her own shoes. "Here." She handed them to her counterpart, still wearing the stained and tattered pajamas that Wander had worn to bed what seemed like a really long time ago. "You'll need these." Singularity took the shoes and looked at them uncomprehendingly for a minute, then sat down tiredly and put them on. Wander stepped back, out of sight of the other girl, and went back to her own people.

[Gizmo]

The Blank faded back into view in the grey void, hanging back as he took stock of the situation. He was certainly in no condition to fight a version of Singularity in possession of all her faculties, and the other masked figure across from him was far more interesting in an case. "All black, how original,"  he drawled, adjusting his blood splattered cuffs compulsively. "So. Are we doing this?"

"Not now. Not here," Midnight replied in a quiet growl, forcing his counterpart to strain to hear his words as the brows above his red lenses lowered. "But I'll be back for you."

The Blank laughed with a airy frivolity he didn't quite feel. "You're certainly welcome to try,"  he smirked behind his featureless white facade, waving dismissively as they continued on their way home.

[Lone Star]

Blake stood up, and saw his evil counterpart. He glided up closer, his tattered robes flowing behind him. The Prince in Yellow, of course, Blake thought as he stepped closer. His doppelganger drew back his hood, and stared into KC's eyes. His face was aged slightly, as though the exposure to dark magic had stolen a bit of his youth.

"Huh. Never knew my good self was such a dork. You really don't know what you're missing. All this power. Anything you want to do, you can do it." The Prince said with a laugh. "You're wasting your potential, Blake."

Blake looked up at his evil counterpart. He was everything he was not: the dark power that lay within him. He smiled at him, regardless, and walked a bit closer. "Potential this." Blake said, and made a crude gesture with both of his hands.

[Avenger Assembled]

He's a monster, thought Mark as his double's bloody, immobile body went drifting past him in the dark. He's a rapist, and a slaver, and probably a killer, but... He remembered his father's lessons, and the lessons of the Centurion, well enough. Any man's death diminishes me. Especially my own. He thought about that grim hell they'd all just escaped, that so many of them were just going back to. Trevor's smart, he's really smart. Now that the other Trevor's gotten rid of me, there's nothing stopping him from taking over that other place and organizing it to be even worse than it already is. Unless I... He studied his body again, and as they passed in the darkness, he fired a blast of pure reality-warping energy at himself, knitting the wounds, empowering the nerves again, and making the other Mark's eyes snap open as he took in a long, deep breath. Hex stared at Edge, his eyes wide, taking in his surroundings with surprising alacrity, before he croaked, "...why?"

"Because you wouldn't," replied Edge simply. "And because you deserve to live with what you'll find when you get back." And if you're riding that other Trevor's butt, looking to take him out before he backstabs you again, maybe he'll keep his hands off Erin. He could only imagine what the white-faced version of Trevor had in mind for the poor, battered version of Erin, but it couldn't be anything good. Good people in this world were bad on Anti-Earth, and the Trevor he knew was a good man. That was how Anti-Earth worked. "Enjoy life on the other side!" he called as the pairs slid past each other, and as the portal slammed shut, depositing hero and villain alike in their respective dimensions. On Earth-Prime, Mark was distinctly sure he could hear screaming from Anti-Earth as the gateway slammed shut. He couldn't tell who it was, and really...he didn't want to know.