Capes In Space! (IC)

[Supercape]

1st December, 2010

Supercape tumbled in space next to the anomaly. It was only just outside the solarsystem, and he had picked it up whilst fancifully cruising his senses around pluto.

Of course, he just had to have gone and teleported there, didn't he...

And now, it seems, it was a one way ticket.

Lesson here: Strange timespace anomalies must be studied before jumped into...

He could fly of course, but at his speed it would take several decades to get back to Earth, and months to get out of the range of the anomaly. It was probably worth a shot, better than starving or dehydrating to death.

But it seemed he could still reach and and communicate via radio, and remote sense via radar. It was patchy, but it was possible. Perhaps someone on earth could help...

He opened up a quantum hole to earth, wobbly and imperfect, and honed it down to Freedom City. Damn, it was shoddy work, but he managed to pick up some communication device in the city.

"Hello, hello? Anyone there?" he transmitted to the device.

[Quinn]

Ah...lunchtime. The sun was shining, the breeze was breezy, and the top of St. George's Cathedral in Midtown was the perfect place to enjoy a good gyro. One thing for sure, Push thought as he opened his mouth to take a bite, the delis around here knew how to make a proper sandwich! And what was even better was that the police band was mercifully quiet. No trouble at all...

"Hello? Hello? Anyone there?"

. . .The sandwich was about a millisecond away from being a tasty lunch. A very large scowl crossed his features, as he poked his commlink.

"Whoever this is, you have just interrupted my lunch. This is the second time today my lunch has been interrupted. I do not like it when my lunch is interrupted. So. Two questions. One, who is this, and two, how in God's green Earth did you reach this commlink?"

[Supercape]

"Ah! I got through!" exclaimed Supercape excitedly "Spiffing!"

The stars kept rotating as he tumbled helplessly.

"I am most frightfully sorry, but I am in a bit of a pickle. The name is Supercape, one of Freedom City's heroes. Big blue cape. Rather splendid if I say so myself. I was just popping out for a bit, and I am afraid I am trapped just a few light seconds from Pluto. Might need a spot of rescuing..."

He looked again at the anomaly with more than eyes. It was... growing. It looked like a false vacuum state, and was ready to descend-collapse. In other words, it would soon release a deadly pulse of ghastly radiation. And he wouldn't survive.

"...oh dear..." he muttered.

[Quinn]

Luckily, Push didn't drop the sandwich. Unluckily, he was feeling a very sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Space? Supercape? Pluto!?

"How the...what the...you...Pluto...bwuh?"

He put the sandwich down, standing and staring into the sky with big eyes, as if he hoped to see Supercape hanging there in midair or something.

"Holy...buddy, did you get the wrong number. I'm a vigilante, aye, but the best I can do is throw around a kinetic bolt or two! How the hell did you get out there?!"

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse was almost back in his Tim disguise, changing in an underused bathroom in the park, when his phone rang. Picking it up, Powerhouse- for he was still Powerhouse, just with brown eyes instead of blue- flipped it open and listened.

"Hello? Hello? Anyone there?" The voice sounded worried. He spoke back. "Yes! I'm here, What's wrong? How can I help?" He asked, leaning over the phone, trying to get the person to talk to him.

[Supercape]

Supercape closed his eyes. It was easier to concentrate without the heavens rotating around him. And he seemed to have got crossed wires.

"Holy...buddy, did you get the wrong number. I'm a vigilante, aye, but the best I can do is throw around a kinetic bolt or two! How the hell did you get out there?!"

"I opened up an 11 dimensional quantum hole, by entangling the time-space fractals. By selective application of action - at - a - distance, if you can release the collapsed energy state of..."

He coughed.

"Never mind. I teleported here. And I cant teleport back. I was looking into some time - space anomaly, and it has hooked me. All quantum holes are off the cards. And worse, it looks like it is going to frazzle me some time soon. I need help, and fast. I need... a spaceship!"

"Yes! I'm here, What's wrong? How can I help?"

And then the second voice.

"Ah. Who is that? More help? Yes, that would be frightfully nice. Do you happen to have a space vehicle by any chance?"

[Quinn]

Despite the situation, Push couldn't help letting a little snark flow into his words.

"Oh, a space ship? Why, that's no problem at all, I'll just walk down to the nearest dealership and....right, fat chance of that. You're in deep, dude, gimme a sec to think...uhm..."

The second voice came through, but he couldn't focus on it. This was bad. Very, very bad.

Gottathinkgottathinkgottathinkgottathinkgottathink!

Flight? Too slow, and he sure as hell couldn't breathe in space. Launching something into space? Not viable, too far, and no way he had enough juice to make that launch.

"Ok. Ok, stay calm. Not you, me, sorry. Look, you teleported out there. Is there any way you can open a one-way portal back? I might be able to yank you through if that's the case. Or...do you have a ship? You said you're one of Freedom City's heroes, if you got one hidden I might be able to fly it?"

Ok, he was reaching at straws here, but no way he was going to stand here and do nothing while some poor cape got frazzled far from home...even if it did mean missing lunch.

[Supercape]

Supercape was normally a reserved character, but the prospect of imminent evaporation did little to maintain his reserve.

"Noooo.... I'm afraid I am rather stranded, young man. A sitting duck, so to speak. "

However, there was a possible solution. He had, whilst scanning, detected the famous spaceship of Captain Kraken, the space pirate, settling down on Earth. He had no idea what the pirate was up to, but the ship was fast, for certain.

"There may be a solution, a risky one, no doubt. If you would be so good as to ask Captain Kraken if you could borrow his ship..."

[Quinn]

"You are absolutely crazy, you know that? Absolutely frakkin' nuts!" Push roared as he vaulted off the roof, landing neatly on his bike and taking off at high speeds.

This situation was insane. He was going to convince an interstellar pirate (for he had heard of the Captain before) who had repeatedly had the chutzpah to attack Freedom City, couldn't stand heroes, and had the head of a squid.

"Cthulhu f'thagn..." He murmured as he rounded a corner, stopping abruptly and staring at a storefront. A wide grin started to spread across his features...

"Cape, I think I've got an idea. Ten to one it'll wind up with me and Powerhouse walking the plank over Saturn, but it's something. How long can you give us?"

[Supercape]

Supercape switched his attention back to the Anomaly. It was all but invisible to the human eye, but it lit up like a christmas tree to his superhuman senses.

"I'm not sure. A couple of hours, maybe. It depends on the rate of quark-pair collapse. Even given Heisenbergian root calculus differentials one has to include m-theory decay into the parabol..."

He coughed again.

"Never mind. A couple of hours, but there is some random factor in it. Speed, as they say, is of the essence. "

[Flare Knight]

"Urrr...No." Powerhouse said, confused by what was being asked. "I'm not that well connected, is there some other way I can help?" he asked, removing his contacts so that he could be the real Powerhouse again. "What do I need to do? Where should I go? Where are you?" He kept asking, throwing the rest of his stuff in his bag and bursting his way outside the bathroom, looking around and attempting to find the location of this person who needed help.

[Quinn]

Within 5 minutes, Push was throwing a box on the back of his bike, looking up at the shop (Kennedy's Kustom Kostumes) and smiling again. He pressed the commlink again, reestablishing the link and checking the police bands for the location of the ship.

"Powerhouse, meet me two blocks over from where I am, Jericho Boulevard, Centre City. And bring cards. Or dice. Supercape, if you can do anything to buy us time, do so. Try flapping you arms, probably won't do much, but it'll be a funny story for the funeral."

And he sung his legs over the side of the bike, taking off at max speed again.

[Supercape]

"Hmmm. Flapping my arms eh? Well, its probably as effective as anything else I can do here, so I can't really object. Good exercise at least, stops cramp setting in..."

"However, whilst I can't be with you, I can sense you. I can't travel through quantum wormholes, but I can transmit and receive through them. That's how I am communicating with you. Any two points in the universe, I can communicate and scan."

"And that may be worth something. I can help by scanning, its like a radar, only better. I can pinpoint Kraken's ship, and you, and anything else that isn't shielded or well hidden. "

[Flare Knight]

Not entirely sure what was going on, Powerhouse did as he was told, buying a set of cards at a nearby continence store, for what he had no idea, and started running towards the place he was supposed to meet. "Whatever you say...I'll be there soon." He muttered, heading to the meeting point, not jumping, but instead running- he didn't run enough-, to where the other hero wanted him to be, not entirely sure why he was going, but he knew it would help the man- whoever he was- in his predicament-whatever it was- as Push said, apparently, he had been told to do it as well, so it at least made it easier for him to do as was asked.

[Quinn]

The bike roared to a stop outside what looked like an abandoned car garage, and Push parked it in a side alley beside it, wrapping it in a tarp he kept stored in the back as usual.

"One of these days I've got to get a decent method of stashing this thing...Wyrd used a cloaking device a few months back, hmm..."

A quickchange, and a completely different individual stepped out from the alley...the Dread Pirate Quinn!

He cut a dashing figure in his new outfit, a classic pirate longcoat with oversized cuffs, a tricorned hat and knee-high boots, with a redder than blood sash around his waist, and an eyepatch (conviniently see-through on his side) over one eye. Oversized trousers and a puffy shirt were beneath the coat, with his undercover bulletproof shirt hidden underneath. No reason to be dumb, after all. The only things unchanged were his long red scarf, still wrapped around his neck and covering his lower face, the massive hammer still slung across his back, and the messenger bag over his shoulders (though he had decored it with a few piratey bits and bobs from the costume pack).

I must be completely mad. Of course, if I wasn't, this'd never work.

[Supercape]

Supercape fought through the electromagnetic interference caused by the anomaly.

"Incidentally, to whom do I have the pleasure of addressing? I couldn't exactly pick and choose. The anomaly is making everything rather static here, from a transmission point of view, although reception is fantastic. I can listen to all manner of radio stations whilst observing my impending demise. I can tell you, the BBC World Service isn't as quality as once it was. "

"And on a more practical note, the Stellar Buccaneer, Captain Kraken's ship, set down just north of Wharton forest. It appears to have some crude visual cloaking device around it, from what I can determine from the energy signature..."

[Flare Knight]

"Errr....I'm Powerhouse." He said to the strange man in his Cellphone, as Push appeared wearing the strangest, most confusing, outfit he had ever seen. He grimaced. "And I have no idea what is going on, at all, but I'm glad to help." He said, looking at the other man. "And why are you dressed like that? He said Captain Kraken, not a costume ball...Not that I know what you are supposed to be." He said, exasperated, as he looked towards the general direction of the forest and pondered exactly what should be done in this situation. "Mr., what are we supposed to do after we get the ship and head up to rescue you? Won't we be caught in the Anomaly too?" He asked, confused but willing to help.

[Supercape]

"You won't" reassured Supercape "unless it chooses precisely that time to explode. I can warn you about that, of course. "

"Unless you use quantum entanglement to teleport, you should be fine. As far as I know, most faster than light transportation uses variations on the Alcubierre drive but then again, its hard to be certain. If you take a peek at its engines whilst flying here, I can give more reassurance..."

[Quinn]

Push tossed a small pile of clothing to Powerhouse, then thumbed at the alley.

"What? You think Kraken'd just let us on his ship? Besides, I've heard of the guy. He likes the whole old-school pirate thing, and if we plan this right, we might get on board without a tussle. Got a similar outfit for ya, so get changed fast, time's not on our side here."

Then Supercape's second broadcast came through, and he tapped a finger to the comm.

"Don't like giving out names. Just call me a friend."

[Supercape]

"Jolly good show!" said Supercape, with as much encouragement as he could muster. Although he would have preferred to know exactly who is friend was, he sounded like the sort of friend one would need in this crisis. Dynamic fellow.

He had mentioned this hero called Powerhouse. Supercape had heard the name, but for the life of him couldn't recall much about him. Strong fellow, big muscles kind of chap, if his memory served.

He tried scanning a few radiowaves to see if he could tune into any hero gossip or information about Powerhouse, or his associates, but it was all just media garbage.

I really should study the heroes of Freedom City a bit harder... he admonished himself.

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse was, as natural to him, baffled at Push's actions. He stared at the clothing for a short time, then nodded and did as he was told, like he always did. "I don't really know what a Pirate is, but okay." He said, slowly pulling on the outfit on over his clothing. "I don't see why we can't just negotiate with him in our normal stuff, but if you say so. I mean, this thing is apparently dangerous to everyone, so it seems like he would help us without us having to pretend to be....what did you call them, pirates?" he said, putting the hat on and looking supremely uncomfortable as he did so. He didn't know what a pirate was- obviously- and had no idea why it was an imperative to dress like them, but then again, he didn't know who Captain Kraken was either, so it probably balanced out.

[Quinn]

You've got to be kidding me...this guy's never heard of pirates?

"Pirates? Thieves of the sea? Way back when humanity was sailing around instead of using steel ships, pirates would steal and plunder from merchants and coastal cities and...well, consider these jokers under Kraken to be like space criminals. At least, that's what the newspapers say about this jerk. Supercape, can you give him the Cliff's Notes on this Kraken guy?"

He swung his leg over the bike, motioning for Powerhouse to hop on the back.

"I've done some modifications to this sucker. Don't know if it can break the sound barrier yet, but it's damn fast, and we need all the speed we can get. Hop on, matey, I'll fill you in on the plan en route."

[Supercape]

"Deary me" observed the rotating Supercape. The invisible Anomaly had just collapsed another level. A burst of Hawking radiation hit him. Quite harmless at this magnitude, but still...

Little point in applying his super senses to the anomaly just now (other than his irresistible scientific curiosity), so he may as well try to help his new friends.

"Ahem" he coughed down the airways.

"The Stellar Buccaneer has landed about 25 miles north north east of Freedom City, just past he forest. It won't be visible to the casual naked eye, but you will probably feel or see some distortions near it. I can direct you as you get close..."

[Flare Knight]

Powerhouse's blank face looked like he had just been given irrefutable proof that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and could only sigh. "Whatever you say." He said to both of them, scratching the back of his head. "We should at least try negotiating instead of attacking them head on though." He said, not entirely sure if this crazy person would even try that, but he kind of felt like he had to. If the Crazy Man was going to be Crazy, then Powerhouse would have to be good. "Uhh..We're working as fast as we can, Mr. Cape. we'll keep you updated." He said, getting on the bike when Push told him to.

[Quinn]

Push sighed with the sigh of a man exercising infinite patience. Not that Powerhouse didn't have a reason, sometimes Quinn could look fairly eccentric.

"We ARE negotiating. It's just in this situation, Kraken would be more likely to negotiate with people who look like they'd fit in his view of the world. Which means we wear costumes, savvy?"

The roar of the engine brought another smile to his face underneath the scarf, and the two tore off at top speed, aiming completely the wrong way.