Electra Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 March 3, 10pm It was after curfew on a school night, so technically even being out and about could be grounds for a detention, as could skipping class the next day, but Erin wasn't too worried about that. At this point, she figured she'd either graduate or she wouldn't, and if they pulled off this mission they'd probably all get extra credit, and if they didn't, it was likely that she wouldn't make it back. Some things were just more important than school. All her friends had had plenty of opportunity to back out as well, so assuming they all showed up, they were all in the same boat. She'd been here for hours already, making sure the transport was set up, checking and rechecking her heavy backpack of supplies, going over all the intelligence they'd gathered on their last trip to Anti-Earth. She wasn't much of a leader, but if she was going to put Trevor's life and the lives of her other friends in danger, she was going to be as ready as she possibly could. The lights in the main room of Young Freedom's subterranean headquarters were muted, but the lack was made up for by the bright computer screens that had popped up here and there to supplement the archaic-futuristic equipment that Alex's grandpa had installed many years ago. It wasn't a pretty headquarters, but it was functional and free, and in just minutes, it would hold four of Freedom's finest.
Avenger Assembled Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Elsewhere Mark had been staring at his costume for over an hour before he finally put it on. He couldn't dwell on what he'd lost, not even as much as it hurt, not when there were so many people who'd suffered so much more than he had. Into the mirror in his dorm room, he said, "This is for the people who've never had a chance." He touched his reflection and added, "I miss you guys." And with that, he was gone, disappearing by means of his own power rather than the Young Freedom teleporter: he was supposed to be practicing that sort of thing before he got out to Africa, and going to a familiar spot was the best way to do it. Down in the Young Freedom headquarters, Mark appeared in a curl of swirling energy, the transition too fast for him to think about it. He adjusted his costume and gave Erin a little smile, not having seen much of her in the last few days between meeting with the headmaster, the Freedom League, and getting in touch with his relatives outside of the city. "Hey, Wander," he said a little cautiously. "Guess I'm the first one here?"
Electra Posted March 9, 2011 Author Posted March 9, 2011 "Nah, I've been here for hours," Erin joked dryly. She wasn't in her regular uniform, or rather, she had her uniform on, but covered by a black turtleneck and close-fitting black pants. Her hair was concealed by a black cap, making her look more like a burglar or a stagehand than a superhero, but it was a lot more practical than blue and gold for working in the shadows. "You got your food and extra clothes, any equipment you're going to need for your part of things?" she asked, just to make sure. Mark wasn't the most responsible person at the best of times, and he'd been a little flakier than usual lately, not without cause.
Avenger Assembled Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 "I do," said Mark, "uh, all the stuff I thought I'd need, anyway." He patted the little bag over his arm, looking at Erin's stealthly outfit with a thoughtful look on his face. "Oh, uh, I guess I should dress down too. I don't want to be the guy everyone spots." Normally Mark was proud of his colors, of course, but he didn't want to get everyone else into trouble. So instead he reached down, touched his cape, and with a little ripple of colored dots his costume suddenly shifted over to a black and grey like asphalt. "Good colors, and they don't look like a bad copy of Hex's costume. But do I look depressing?"
Electra Posted March 9, 2011 Author Posted March 9, 2011 Erin smiled a little. "You look fine," she told Mark. "I'd lose the cape entirely if I were you, but it's probably not going to matter. We're all better off in dark colors for this trip. The others should be here any minute, I know Trevor has a lot of stuff he's bringing along." She took a deep breath, studied the rough schematic of the Academy that was all they had to go on. "Are you ready for this? "she asked him. "It could get really tricky, really messy once we get in there and start working."
Gizmo Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 "Tasteful," Trevor corrected as he stepped out of the shadows and into the room's muted light. He was already clad in his uniform as Midnight, but for the time being he left his mask unfastened and hanging about his neck, leaving his face framed by the light consuming costume and his well worn fedora. "Also slimming." Hefting a sizable, black duffel bag, the pale young man explained, "Took a while to collect all the parts." Moving to stand next to Erin, he set if down and crossed his arms. If he was feeling apprehensive about the coming task, he kept it from his stoic expression.
April Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 A light touch on Erin's arm let her know Eve had arrived, the petite mindwalker standing opposite of Trevor, her eyes focused on the Academy schematic. A cursory look was all that Eve required, filing the layout away in the recesses of her perfect recall. Like the others, Eve's lightly padded, tight fitting uniform was a subdued black and grey; not much of a departure from the norm. The telepath turned to look at Erin, studying her friends face. --You certain about this?-- she inquired, an eyebrow raised, even though she already know the answer.
Electra Posted March 9, 2011 Author Posted March 9, 2011 "I am," Erin told Eve aloud, not having much of a talent for mental communication. "Not looking forward to it, but it's something that I have to do. But if you're not, it's not too late." She looked around at all of them, regarded them silently for a moment. "I know this mission is going to be difficult and extremely dangerous. You'll be putting your lives on the line to, among other things, save somebody who's done awful things, and who may not be worth trying to save if you look at it objectively. If anybody wants to go home now and forget about it, this is the last chance, and no hard feelings." Well, maybe some hard feelings, but a lot fewer than if somebody folded in the middle of the mission, that was for sure. She looked at each of her comrades, meeting their eyes in turn.
April Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Niveous eyebrows knitted together as Eve regarded the taller woman, a faint frown on her face. They were the faintest of gestures but combined they projected a look of disapproval that spoke volumes. With a slight shake of her head, the telepath wrapped one arm around Erin in a light hug and, standing on her tiptoes kissed the taller girl on the cheek. --Nonsense. You're family to me; I'd sooner cut my throat than not help you.--
Avenger Assembled Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 "No. No, this is something I need to do. That we all need to do." Mark shook his head. "There are so few people with an interest in saving that world, we've got to do everything we can to make things right." I've got to make things right. Mark thought of his double, the wicked, twisted reflection of himself that had done, that would keep doing, so many terrible things. I wonder if his mother's still there. I doubt it. "We've been down this road before. But this time, we're going on purpose, and with the best of us together. We'll do it." He nodded, then added, "And by the way, the Raven wears a cape, and she does okay."
Gizmo Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 Trevor simply remained standing next to Erin, a silent, black clad sentinel, arms crossed as he inclined his head slightly, trusting nothing need be said. They'd already discussed the mission from every possible angle, weighing the risks and considering their responsibilities. Ultimately, the issue was straightforward: this was something Erin needed to do, and so Trevor would be there to help her see it through. Additional concerns didn't enter into it; even his own reasons for wanting to revisit Anti-Earth were strictly secondary.
Electra Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 Erin nodded at all of them, smiling slightly. "Well, if we're going to do this, there's no group of people I'd rather be with. Supercape will be here any minute to transport us, I've given him reference coordinates for the sewers where we met Talos last time. We may drop into the middle of a fight if he's still there and they don't recognize us. Mark, it's your job to get attention and establish who we are before we have to damage potential allies. Sage, you're doing everything you can to find Pathos and shield us from her. Midnight, you and I are doing any fighting that needs done." It was all just restating what they'd already planned, so it was a lot easier for her than making plans. Saying them again made her feel better. She picked up the bag Trevor had brought along, testing its heft. She could carry it and fight without a problem.
April Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 --Finding Pathos won't be a problem,-- Eve said, though she looked a little worried. --I can find anyone. Shielding? That's another matter entirely. If we stick close together I can make anything with a mind forget our presence. Line of sight is important for psychics like her.-- With a shrug she added, --I'll keep her busy for you. But please, stay in mental contact. I'll keep us all linked, and we'll be able to rapidly communicate in a nigh-untraceable manner. I wouldn't trust comms.--
Supercape Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 With a wobble of more than three dimensions, in a bending of space time that was not easy to look at, Supercape appeared, dusting off his huge cape. "There we go, getting better at that!" he said with a Grin as his head spun slightly. "Ah here you all are. And here I am, not too late, I suppose? Although late is all relative in eleven dimensions, I guess. All a bit quantum for me..." he said with a wave of his hand and a cheeky grin. "So, Supercape the taxi driver at your service. Anywhere in the multiverse, I'm your man. Nobody here got some super-density or super-mass I should know about, or some other space time warping properties to their physiology? you never can tell in Freedom City!"
Electra Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 It was a somber-looking group that Supercape walked in on, one that looked ready for action. "You're right on time," Wander told him, taking a printoff out of the computer and handing it to him. "We want to go here, to these coordinates in this universe, and hopefully to get picked up from the same place when we're through. You can communicate across dimensions, right?" Supercape's cross-dimensional senses and general knowledge gave him a good idea of the place they'd be going into. It was underground, an open area surrounded by pipes and wires and flowing water, the usual subterranean noise of a big city. Freedom City, from the coordinates, or one of its analogs. There was plenty of electricity around, but not in the sort of concentrations that would suggest booby traps so much as high power underground lines in the vicinity. It was hard to read much of anything, actually, through all the static caused by one thing and another. But Supercape could also read standard notation, and Earth-V-Malign-1(enemy) was familiar to anyone who dimension hopped. Anti-Earth was not a very nice place to find oneself by accident, or on purpose.
Supercape Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 "Oh dear" said Supercape, as he read the printout. "What a ghastly place. Are you sure I cant interest you in this little planet I found in the Andromeda spiral? Clear blue water, three gorgeous red suns, white sands..." He looked around. "No? Ah well then. And yes, I can pick up any cross dimensional radio transmission. I can even keep in contact with you the whole way, providing I concentrate on maintaining the m-dimensional pan-Heisenbergian spiral collapse entanglement... you see, if you consider the multiverse as a membrane oscillating in cross-particular non inertial..." He looked around again. "Ah yes, well anyway, I can communicate, yes. All ready for the trip?"
Avenger Assembled Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 "We're ready," said Edge, who despite his seriousness shot Supercape a little smile to defuse some of the older man's nervousness. He was taking a risk doing this as well, even if he wasn't going into the same kind of deadly danger that the others were. "Don't worry," he told Supercape reassuringly, "we know what we're doing." Luckily, Supercape didn't know Edge well enough to realize what an incredibly dangerous thing that was for him to say. "Think of this as an experiment in applied physics. With, uh, people shooting at you. But probably not! As long as we're careful. And lucky!"
Electra Posted March 11, 2011 Author Posted March 11, 2011 "It'll be fine," Erin said, trying to project some confidence. "Just remember," she told Supercape, "if we come out in the middle of an ambush, you get yourself away and let us handle things. We'll radio you when we're ready to come back. But it's probably not going to be a problem," she assured the older hero." She hefted the duffel bag, made sure she had her own backpack, and that everyone else had their things. "All right, we're ready to go," she told Supercape. "Whenever you're ready."
Supercape Posted March 11, 2011 Posted March 11, 2011 "Very well then" replied Supercape, cracking his knuckles and studying the Printout. This one took a little longer than normal. Inter-dimensional travel was a little more tricky, especially as he hadn't been to this dimension first. It was hardly top of his wish list, after all. He started mentally sifting through the infinite dimensions that split and entwined around each other, until he had honed down the correct point of divergence. "All for one..." he mumbled, still concentrating, and laid out his hand for the other Hero's to grasp. And when they did, two worlds, two points, became entangled and the almost unfathomable occurred. There was a bending and distortion in the space around them that hung in the air. And then, they had arrived.
Avenger Assembled Posted March 11, 2011 Posted March 11, 2011 Empire City The sewer was surprisingly dark, even for Midnight and Supercape with their advanced senses. It wasn't hard to guess why: in a world overrun with malevolent superhumans, a technically-minded rebel in the sewers would probably go to the trouble of fortifying his underground fortress with material that blocked investigatory radiation. But they could all see OK by dint of the lights laid high along the walls, showing them the deep, wide sewer corridors that were so like the sewers back home. Soon a rustle came out of the darkness, and a rat with glowing red eyes and mechanical step came chittering around a corner to greet them. It gave a little tick, studied them, and within seconds the wall itself rolled away, revealing a mechanical fortress within, like gazing into a clockwork world of automatic men and gears. And at the center of it was a familiar robot, his brass body pitted with green scars and corrosion, his step clanking at his approach. "Hello, my friends." Talos was warmer than your average robot, but anyone who'd seen newsreels of Talos-Prime knew that the ancient Greek brass statue had his share of very human emotions. "I knew you would return." "We would not leave you without help," said Mark, stepping right into the robot's underground fortress without hesitation, glad that it was so much more hospitable than the darkened sewers all around them. "I believe you remember myself, Midnight, and Wander. This is Sage, our friend, and this is Supercape, who helped us get here." He'd hoped that neither Sage nor Supercape had some too-wicked counterpart around these parts that would make this part of the operation not work, but so far there weren't any problems. Talos did fix a robot eye on both before he spoke. "Yes. Yes, I am familiar with you both. Come in, please."
Gizmo Posted March 11, 2011 Posted March 11, 2011 With a brief nod of greeting for Anti-Talos, Midnight quickly took in their surroundings, his mutated vision allowing him to see even as he fastened his featureless mask in place. After a moment, he stepped over to Supercape. "Nobody goes back unless you can confirm we're ourselves," he warned the older man with a gravelly tonelessness. "Singularity should be obvious and Hex is no actor, but the Blank... hnn." They couldn't risk their doppelgangers making the return trip to Earth-Prime in their places, no matter what. Turning his attention back to brass automaton, the black clad mechanic retrieved his duffel bag from Wander. "Came prepared for more extensive repairs this time," he explained. The last time they'd met, he'd managed to help effect some maintenance work that Talos would have had difficulty performing himself, but time and supplies had been strictly limited. "Upgrades, too, with approval." Advanced though the android may have been, he lacked the resources of his malicious counterpart to keep himself on the cutting edge of technology.
April Posted March 11, 2011 Posted March 11, 2011 The telepath nodded curtly at the robot as she entered the lair, though she stopped briefly in the entrance and cocked her head to the side. --Familiar how?-- she asked, more curious than concerned. Her friends had briefed her on the particulars of this Earth but none mentioned her counterpart. Sage hoped that was a good thing. While she wanted for an answer from Anti-Talos, she took position near the wall and sat down on her haunches. The background noise, the millions of minds that she constantly sensed and was accustom to, had shifted in tone. Closing her eyes, the telepath began the process of acclimating to this world.
Electra Posted March 11, 2011 Author Posted March 11, 2011 "We'll contact you by radio when we're ready to return. Thank you again for your help," Wander told Supercape, before turning her attention to Talos. "We came on purpose this time, and with a plan. Last time we were here, you helped us a lot, and we want to do something to help you. We're hoping you can give us some information that will let us do it. We need to get any information you have on the Syndicate Academy, and anything that's happened there since we left. We're going to take the place down, but we have to do it from inside."
Avenger Assembled Posted March 11, 2011 Posted March 11, 2011 "I cannot," said Talos, creaking sorrow slipping into his mechanical voice. "One of my prize students made a mechanical student to infiltrate the Academy, some months ago, but she was found out and reprogrammed, and used to find him and..." He looked away, sitting with a quiet whine of metal. "Help my people first," said Talos frankly, his height putting him at eye level with Trevor even while seated. "Their wounds are mine. And then, then, I would not mind at least a chassis repair, much less internal adjustments...but as per your earlier question," he said, turning back to Erin, "I cannot. But I know someone who can. My friend the Mind-Master has found an agent inside the school, one whom he contacts telepathically. I will send a messenger to him, and he will meet us here with a connection to his agent...tomorrow." "He means he knows your double, Sage. Or knows of her." Unbidden, Mark kept thinking about his own double, even as the Anti-Talos nodded in agreement to Mark's words. "It makes a lot of sense. All your power, all the power your family has, and that sort of thing...that sort of thing stayed common between worlds. You'd be one hell of a bad guy." He wondered if Hex's mother had left. Or died.
Supercape Posted March 11, 2011 Posted March 11, 2011 "We'll contact you by radio when we're ready to return. Thank you again for your help" Supercape gave a small salute. "I don't like the look of this, if you ask me" he muttered, scrutinising anti-Talos. "But I dare say you know what you are doing, given you have been here before..." He started doing the reverse calculations for the trip back, and already a wobbling of space around him could be seen. "I'll keep a quantum hole open so I can pick up your transmission. I have to sleep at some point so that will be black out time I'm afraid, but I let you know if there are any problems my end. For now, I'll just wish you good luck!" The wobble intensified. "I'll be watching!" he smiled, and with that, he was gone.
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