Mind Games: Remix (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Simultaneously with the moment Young Freedom met Talos...

Earth-Prime
Detention

It all happened shockingly fast. One minute they were all in their cells in this bizarre , soft little freakshow of a world, cooling their heels or raging over their imprisonment, bound by unbreakable snare, nullifying fields, or simply encapsulated in unfamiliar bodies that didn't do exactly what they wanted. A moment later, with a crack of light and noise, the electronic doors on every cell shorted out, and automatically rolled up.

Outside the doors, in the corridor that connected them all, stood their fierce, fearless leader of the Young Imperial, a cocky smile on his goateed face, the unconscious body of a young woman face down at his feet, blood leaking from her covered nose and mouth.

"GENTLEMEN!" Hex gave a terrible, evil laugh. "It seems that I have...gotten lucky with this one. Bwahahahaha! Come, let us make our escape and return to the land of civilization. Once, that is, we retrieve our other friend. The one who the poor, poor little Lor girl here was keeping sedated."

[Electra]

In the infirmary on the other side of the campus, Singularity began to stir from the most wonderful sleep. She didn't remember very much, but she remembered waking up in a strange place, and being able to hurt her constant tormentor, and then falling asleep so deeply that it had seemed like death. It would've been nice if it had been, it was so beautiful, calm and quiet. She could have stayed there forever. Now sleep was over, though, and she blinked awake in another strange place. Not everything was white, she noticed immediately, there were shades of blue and silver all over, and lots of machines. Very strange. It took her only an instant to realize that she was strapped down to the bed by something strong, and she didn't like that even a little. Whimpering with fear, she thrashed around until the bonds snapped, then leapt off the bed.

Once she was up, though, she wasn't sure what to do with herself. She was hungry. Wandering around the room that looked like a doctor-room on a medical show, she opened cabinets and drawers, looking for food. It was a disappointing search. This room actually had a door though, and when she tried it, it opened! Perhaps this was a trick, or another dream. She couldn't be sure, but she was very hungry. Still clad in the lavender pajama top and pants she'd been wearing since before she woke up, Singularity began walking down the hallway. There were people around, young people, though most of them older than she perceived herself to be, but they didn't seem to pose any threat. They were alive people, and none of them paid very much attention to her. She ignored them and walked onward, bare feet silent on the cool white tile floors.

[Gizmo]

A lean young man, head carefully shaven bald and eyebrows bleached a harsh white stepped out of one of the newly opened cells, a thin frown touching his mouth as he adjusted the cuffs of the black undershirt he'd found himself in. "Clearly this is the universe where I have no taste," The Blank sighed with annoyance, giving the unconscious girl at Hex's feet a brief look to ensure she'd be usable as a hostage if need be. The goatee wearing idiot had a trying habit of wastefulness when it came to the fairer sex. "Just give me a moment to put on my face, gentlemen."[/bg] Retrieving the matte black belt and fashion impaired buckled jacket from a nearby table, he donned the thankfully well tailored outfit before slipping on the featureless mask and beaten fedora."Better,"  he noted, cracking his neck once as his smooth baritone filtered through the built in gas mask.

[Lone Star]

The Prince in Yellow was in chains. Not normal chains, of course, but the kind that would keep Cthulhu from leaving Ryleh for a while. He stood, his arms and legs bound with the magical chains, and waited. His mind was quick, which was strange. Usually he could hear the voices of the unspeakable horrors whisper eldritch secrets in his head, but those voices were absent. The Prince in Yellow hummed to himself while he stood, relaxing. Suddenly, the chains broke and unraveled. He sighed in relief and summoned his tattered yellow robe. He would never be seen without it. Muttering a few unpronounceable eldritch words to himself, he levitated a couple of inches off of the ground and sped into the hallway.

[Electra]

As she walked, Singularity looked around, trying to figure out where she was. She wasn't very successful, but she did spend a few minutes staring fascinated out a window at the trees waving in the darkness. They were so pretty, and she could even see stars in the sky! The pictures on the wall were also worth a second look, if only for the fact that they were colorful and novel. Then she saw a sign that said "Cafeteria," though, and all other considerations were forgotten.

The cafeteria was empty and dark, the food-serving windows shuttered and the kitchen door locked. Singularity solved that problem by causing the door to cease to exist, and walked in. It was a wonderful place. There were racks of fresh bread in plastic bags, potato chips, fresh fruits and vegetables, cookies and pies and pastries and cereal, and best of all, a huge walk-in freezer full of wonderful food. Hardly knowing where to begin, Singularity started sampling all sorts of food she hadn't had in a long time, taking a bite of fruit here, a piece of bread there, a handful of pickles from a jar, a cup of soda pop over a handful of sugary cereal. She wanted to taste everything! Finally she settled down in the middle of the huge mess she'd created, crosslegged on the floor with a five-gallon tub of mint-chip ice cream and a spoon, a rare blissful smile on her face.

[Avenger Assembled]

"A little bird told me that our little, ah, bird, aheheheh, was taken to the local butcher shop," said Hex as he guided the others slowly down the corridor, the lights clicking off behind them as they went. "We can't leave Singularity here, gentlemen, we've invested too much ourselves, and the school's invested too much, to waste her. For all that I'd love to see her...brighten up the place!" He grinned evilly, rubbing his hands with glee. "I'm sure they've got her strapped down and doped up, the way we would without a psychic handy."

[Gizmo]

"Stop rubbing your hands, Hex, you look like an imbecile," The Blank admonished dryly as he walked beside the probability controller, idly brushing a bit of dust off the shoulder of his jacket. "You sound like an imbecile, too. Does this look like the Academy's holding facility to you? 'The way we would' is the what we can count on our hosts not doing."  Between the cackling probability controller and the bumbling duo of Thrash and the Prince in Yellow, The Blank considered himself easily the most intelligent and competent member of their ad hoc group, and consequently the rightful leader. Conveniently, however, finding Singularity was his priority as well.

[Lone Star]

"Gentlemen." The Prince said as he glided towards them. "We're clearly not in our homeworld. I'm picking up dimensional interference. This looks almost...pleasant." The Prince said with almost a smile. "And calm your gigantic ego down, Blank." he said. "Before I steal that precious sanity you cling to."

[Gizmo]

"It's not ego when it's justified,"  The Blank responded with a dismissive wave, not even bothering to look in the Prince in Yellow's direction. "Normally I'd be more than happy to match skill against borrowed power, you glorified lackey, but even what's left of your pathetic mind should be able to realize that this is neither the time nor place. Now lets see if we can't find a helpful soul willing to give us some directions."  Idly opening compartments on the matte black belt he was borrowing from his counterpart until he found a pocketknife, he airily added, "And it's The Blank." 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Your problem, Blankie, is that you have no sense of class," replied Hex before he burst into a fit of maniacal giggles. "If having a sense of style and decorum makes me sound like an imbecile, well, I guess I'll have to sound like an imbecile. Blank knew Hex well enough to know that he wasn't actually as maniacal as he acted...but he still wasn't the sharpest tool in the box. "All right, boys, here's what we'll do." He stroked his goatee, looking at the others. "We'll split faster than Heavenqueen's...you know. Yellowface, you take the north side, Blankster, you take the south side, and I'll hit the center of campus. We'll find our little murder machine faster than you can say murder most foul! Now, a little costume change..." He snapped his fingers and a wash of white hit his allies, changing their clothes back to what they wore at home: aka, a MAN's costume. "Just don't let the pansies who run this place catch sight of you."

[Lone Star]

The Prince was in his tattered robes again. "Excellent. Good to be back in my robes again. I agree with Hex- splitting up is probably a good plan. We're more than capable of taking them on. Hex- see you later. You too, Blank." he said, being sure to emphasize it. He made his way up the north hallway before The Blake could say anything.

[Gizmo]

Back in his pristine white garb, The Blank seemed to be in a considerably more amiable mood, tipping his fedora to Hex before setting out to the south. As soon as he was out of sight of the others, however, he made a beeline for the school's cafeteria, easily avoiding detection as he followed up a hunch. Sure enough, as he quietly slipped into the kitchen, he found Singularity sitting on the ground, face smeared with food. It wasn't that that cause his face to contort under his mask as if he'd just been punched in the stomach, however. "Smiling..."  he murmured under his breath, hardly believing it. Quickly composing himself into a sneer, he shook his head. The inherent weakness of this dimension was like a plague; he would have to be careful not to contract it. Still, it would take the morons he'd been saddled with a while to catch up, and in the meantime what harm was there in letting the mentally fractured girl gorge herself into a happier, more easily controlled state of mind? Leaning against the door frame, he continued to watch, waiting for her to notice him in her own time.

[Electra]

It was definitely an odd sight, someone he normally only saw hysterical and violent in a rare moment of... well, maybe it wasn't sanity, but it was a lot closer than she usually got. Singularity's close-cropped hair stood up in sleep-tousled spikes and the lavender pajamas were already stained with what looked like blueberry pie filling and green ice cream. She looked like a very overgrown little kid having a romp in the kitchen when Mom and Dad were sleeping.

It didn't take long for Singularity to sense the change to her environment, and after just a few more happy moments, she looked around and realized that she was not alone. Her entire demeanor changed immediately as she dropped the spoon and scrambled to her feet in an instant, fear and consternation written plain on her face. Recognizing the blank white mask and uniform, who it belonged to and what it meant, she stared at The Blank indecisively, putting her hands over her ears in a futile gesture of self-protection.

[Gizmo]

"Hey, I told you before," The Blank responded reflexively through a wince, "I couldn't very well wait for an emergency to test the sonic cannon, could I?"  Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose through his mask. "See, this would be so much easier if they'd left just a little bit more of your mind intact,"  he complained, spreading his hands in a long suffering gesture. "Go on, eat your fill," the well dressed young man all but demanded, nodding pointedly to the pile of half finished foodstuffs before pushing the door open a crack to keep watch. "We've nowhere to be." 

[Electra]

Singularity kept a very close eye on the man, even as she backed up to where he told her to go, back to all the food. She didn't like the man, was afraid of the man, but didn't know what to do about it. She couldn't hurt him, she knew that much. He had the uniform on, and if she hurt people with the uniform on, it hurt her so bad she didn't even want to think about it. But she wasn't in the box anymore. Maybe she could get away! She found a bread bag and filled it up with fruits and vegetables and spoons, then carefully tied the top of it. While the man was looking out the door, she spun suddenly and ran through the wall connecting the kitchen to the cafeteria, and then out through one of the broad cafeteria windows without breaking stride.

[Avenger Assembled]

Just as the Blank saw Singularity vanish through the window in a shower of glass, he heard a discreet laugh behind him. "Well well well, and yet you're still better at that than Tentacles back there," said Hex, cocking his thumb behind him. "Let's move!" he said, firing his grapple gun out the window as he ran. "We've got to catch her before she gives the game away to half this city!"

[Lone Star]

The Prince was lost, to say the least. "Damn them." he said aloud. They always seemed to do this. He glided down the hallway, his tattered robes flowing behind him. They always left him behind. He bet they had already found Singularity. As he floated down a hallway, he saw a running figure out of the corner of his eye. "Score!" The Prince said as he pursued her.

[Gizmo]

"Going to stab them all,"  The Blank muttered darkly under his breath as he fired his own grappling hook, following right behing Hex. "Not even going to wait 'till they're sleeping, just walk up, once right in the throat, then blood."  It served him right for not disabling Singularity the moment he found her, of course, but he was considerably more inclined to take his frustration out on his obnoxious fellow cadets than on himself or the mind-shattered girl.

[Electra]

Singularity didn't know where she was going, but there was a lot of room to run, and she was making good use of it. She vaulted cleanly over the brick wall that marked the boundary of campus and began running down the middle of the street. The city was a maze of strange and unfamiliar streets, but all she wanted was to be away. Cars honked and swerved to avoid her, and the ones she couldn't avoid, she simply shoved aside. There were people yelling, but she ignored them, intent only on making good her escape from the loud-noise man and the white box.

[Avenger Assembled]

Suddenly, just as Singularity turned her head as she ran across the road, she saw two bright lights bearing down on her! The eighteen-wheeler plowed into Singularity with a schrooonk of its horn and a huge crash of metal and glass, the huge truck collapsing in on itself as surely as it had hit a concrete wall. The noise was tremendous, enough to catch the attention of the villains swiftly pursuing the fast-moving Singularity through the night. They had her trail!

[Gizmo]

The Blank resisted the urge to groan aloud at the vehicular collision as he swung next the Hex, releasing one grapple line while another shot out from the sleeve of his jacket. "Subtle," [/bg] he commented dryly. "You realize we'd do well to avoid drawing an entire city of good samaritans down on our head, yes?"  The fool's probability controlling powers had only gotten more obnoxiously blunt since coming to blows with his father.

[Electra]

Singularity yelped at the collision and staggered away, walking in drunken circles for a moment as she regained her equilibrium. People were coming in her direction, looking at her, reaching for her! She had no time to fight them, though, there was an even greater threat coming behind her. The bad-luck man and the scary man and the man with no face were all on her trail, and they would put her back in the box if they caught her. She leapt away from the reaching hands, soaring up over the rooftops and across half of the south side. There was water coming up soon, she saw it sparkling in the early morning light. Dimly she remembered something about walking in water to disguise one's tracks. Maybe if she could get to the water, she could get away! Throwing a look over her shoulder, she increased her speed.

[Lone Star]

The Prince watched her leap into the air. He was not going to let her get away. The Prince recalled in the back of his head evil tomes, and their rites and spells, and recalled one in particular. He held his palms about a foot apart from each other, and uttered the blasphemous syllables of the spell. He opened his eyes and he felt the power flowing through his veins. The Prince shot from the ground, his mind alight with the dark secrets of the universe, and he flew in hot pursuit of Singularity. He was going to earn his teammates respect one way or another.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'm surrounded by morons!" spat Hex, his cape floating dramatically behind him in the breeze. He watched Singularity leap into the air, soaring majestically towards the horizon, and pointed. Suddenly iron bars swooped into being all around the fleeing fugitive, a square cage like one that zoo animals were kept in on Anti-Earth. "No more running," Hex spat contemptuously as the cage began to fall back towards them. "She'll be able to break out if she works at it. Yellowknife, get ready with a spell: Blankie, this is no time to get soft and cuddly. When she gets down here, I want the two of you hitting her as hard as you can."

[Electra]

Singularity screamed as she slammed full-speed into the cage that materialized around her, looking around wildly as she began to fall helplessly from the sky. "No-no-no-no-no!" she cried, bracing her legs against the bars and pummeling the top of the cage so quickly her fists barely seemed to move. "Please no!" She knew where the box came from. The bad luck man could make things like a magician, all sorts of things however he wanted. The bad luck man had been part of her personal hell since the beginning, and she knew more about him than the scary man and the no face man. He was the one who had made the cage. He was the one trying to put her back in the box. "No!" she screamed again. She would not go back in the box.

The top of the box fractured and broke away, leaving Singularity to scramble out just before it hit the ground. She cast one quick look towards the river, knowing she couldn't reach it, and then turned on her tormentors. If she attacked them, it would hurt. It would hurt anyway. It was her only chance. With an incoherent scream, she leapt for the bad luck man, missing him by mere inches from a hundred feet away, tumbling to the ground, and then rolling back to her feet.