We'd All Go Down Together (IC)

[Gizmo]

Midnight felt a nagging feeling of familiarity as Talos described his student's downfall, an uncomfortably common sensation on Anti-Earth. It took a moment for the parallels to slide into place in his mind, inciting a grimace behind his featureless mask as he glanced over to Eve. "Takashi and Aiko," he muttered contemplatively. It was disheartening but hardly surprising to hear the rebellion was going so poorly. When the large automaton requested his help repairing the other assorted robots, the young man simply nodded in understanding.

[April]

Sage ignored the conversation around her; it wasn't of immediate consequence and she could always recall it later if needs must. Instead she focused on tuning her thoughts into the minds on this Earth; a delicate touch, lighter than a feather, slipping between the feeble barriers the ego erects and hooking itself to the id. It was an effortless task, the ease born of years of constant and continuous telepathic use. While she differed from Psyche in sheer power, at least at range, she made up for in finesse.

Anti-Earth repulsed the telepath; while her own world had no end of villains, it was still fundamentally good. But the pettiness, cruelty and outright fear in over six billion minds hung like a shadow in Sage's thoughts, with precious few points of light.

--It is done,-- Sage stated trying to suppress her revulsion, slowly opening her eyes. --Who do I hunt first?--

[Electra]

"We need to find the main players," Erin told Sage. "Fletcher Beaumont first, but then also Hex, Blank, Pathos, and Singularity. We need to know what they're doing and where they are. If you can find your counterpart without tipping your hand, that would be good too. We need as much current information as we can get before we go. But don't push yourself too hard," she added with some concern, knowing her teammate. "This is a nasty world, and we're probably going to spend all of today just helping Talos and gathering information anyway."

[Gizmo]

Midnight made a short sound of agreement as he laid his duffel bag on a nearby table and began removing a variety of tool, their stainless sheen standing out amongst the dingy, corroded metal surrounding them. "Pathos and the Blank are bound to have formidable mental defenses in place," he noted as he calmly coaxed a small, spider-like robot closer, noting the limp in one of its eight legs. His counterpart would never have lasted as long as he had without some sort of defense against the Academy's resident psychic queen bee, and he doubted any version of Alex Albright would be careless with her own preparations.

[Avenger Assembled]

The teens spent a long and busy night down in the sewer, catching what sleep they could, eating their trail rations, when they weren't making plans for what to do on the world aboveground. Edge spent his time poring over the debriefings of the alternate version of Daisy Gibbons, doing his best to try and piece together everything he could about this grim world. It wasn't enough; Daisy had spent little time studying the combat specifications of her school before she was given permanent detention, but it was too much, between the grim alternate history that only reinforced the horrors the League had learned on their visits, the unhappy life Daisy had lived at the school as she learned the horrible things that would be required of her...luckily, they hadn't gone into much detail about her 'life' with Hex. That, Mark decided, would have simply driven him mad.

The robots down here were familiar, perhaps too familiar to Midnight who after all was a good student and was at least basically familiar with various Foundry designs. Here were war robots there, infiltration models there...but this Talos was a father, not a builder, his creations were all sentient, though not all intelligent, and they all bore the mark of terrible carnage about their bodies. Repairs weren't that tough, not with his expertise and all the parts available, but there were so many. Talos himself needed significant repairs to his chassis, the results, he explained, of going toe-to-toe with Captain Thunderbolt and Lady Anarchy while assisting a Resistance cell's evacuation down along the coast. "I can build myself another body," he explained, "but until I can do that for all my people...I prefer to use that power sparingly."

For her part, casting her mind out into the world was a thoroughly unpleasant experience for Sage, especially when she reached the minds of the students at the Syndicate Academy. She'd seen into places as bad, but seeing so many minds so-familiar gone paranoid and vicious in place of open and friendly, gone spiteful and cruel in place of loving and giving, was an easy enough thing. She found what might have been Singularity easily enough, a layer of numbness over a bottomless well of agonized despair, like looking into the minds of the victims of Dachau, but it was tougher to find the others amidst all the equally unpleasant minds at the school. She found 'herself' with Hex, Mark's mind turned cold and hard and deadly, though no thicker for all its evil, and while she couldn't make out the details, they were enjoying each other's company far too much for her comfort. Pathos was noticeable for the way she glowed like a radioactive sun, a happy, poisonous ball of malevolence that was in the middle of doing things to an unruly freshman that Sage preferred not to think about. As for the Blank, there was no sign of him at all...

It was early the next morning that Talos roused the students. "Mind-Master comes, and he brings with him a friend. Come with me."

[Electra]

Erin spent the evening helping Trevor repair robots, finally nudging him and the rest of the team to get some sleep in the wee small hours of the night. She had a difficult time following her own advice, and could easily have gone without, but it was important to sleep now, while they were still in friendly territory. If they had to stay longer than expected, who knew when they'd get the chance to rest again? In the end, she settled in next to Trevor and managed a few hours of uneasy sleep, but was glad to be roused by Talos.

Rising to her feet, she brushed herself off and checked to make sure beacon and belt were still in place. Pulling her cap on to hide her hair once again, she headed out after the robot supergenius.

[Gizmo]

It had taken a little cajoling to convince Midnight to turn in for the evening. Examining Talos' designs first hand was fascinating, true, but as he spoke with the ancient android and came to understand that the smaller robots were self-aware individuals his work took on a new light. It was on odd feeling to be playing the medic, and the scope of the damage to be repaired only increased the growing responsibility he felt. Ultimately, only the irrefutable logic that he'd be more useful rested, while Erin's presence beside him helped calm some of his disquieting turmoil.

As they prepared to head out once more, he noted quietly to Wander, "Realize that if 'Mind-Master' has a plant in this Academy..." The black clad youth left the rest of the worrying thought unspoken.

[Electra]

Erin pursed her lips, able to follow his train of thought. "The universes don't line up perfectly,'' she pointed out, "and our universe's school has proven to be pretty good at detecting infiltrators. Maybe in our world, the plant never got in, or was expelled before any of us could notice. Or maybe we'll learn something," she allowed grimly. If the face they saw was familiar, it could mean they needed to do some housecleaning back on Prime. She brushed a hand lightly over Trevor's arm as they walked down the subterranean passageway, as though to reassure herself that they were both still the people they'd been before coming here.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mastermind had been quiet the last few years, his occasional clashes with the Freedom League generally happening outside the United States and thus not making the news. But the immortal genius's silver armor, floating cape, and full-face-mask were still instantly recognizable as he teleported into the brick and steel-lined chamber, the psychic powerhouse the same man who had bedeviled the Liberty and Freedom Leagues over so many years...but of course, he wasn't that man at all. At his side was a very young woman in a green uniform, her black hair cut short and her eyes downcast: on closer inspection, the girl couldn't have been more than fourteen.

Mind-Master, as his name was here, bowed low to Talos, and then to the other heroes. "Good morning," he said, a faint, indefinable accent in his ancient voice. "I am Mind-Master, and this is my pupil, Carytid." Somewhat reassuringly, the girl's face was not familiar, though of course the senior Claremont kids didn't spend a lot of time hanging around with the freshmen. "We have come to talk with you, champions of the Mirror Earth, about your plan."

"You brought her here?" Talos's metallic face narrowed as he studied his putative ally and the child by his side. "You told me she would remain."

"Carytid's fervent desire is to come with you," said Mind-Master, eyeing the teens. "So that she might be liberated from the nightmare that the superpowered beings have brought to this world, learn how to use her abilities for good instead of evil, and then to return to this dimension as a liberator. She-"

As politely as he could, Edge interjected. "Uh, sir? If we're going to do that, we need to hear from her, too." Not many people would have casually interrupted Mind-Master, certainly not Mark, but then, this was a serious situation.

"Yeah, um..." The girl shrank a little as she looked at the others, not quite ducking behind Mind-Master's cloak, but she still spoke, "Yeah, I can't...I can't stay." She forced herself to look, finally fixing her gaze on Edge. "My name is Francois Gravois. I'm just a sophomore at the Academy. New meat, they call us. Uh, I didn't volunteer or anything; I tested for the metagene at school, and they..." She looked away again. "They did stuff till my powers came up. I'm an earth controller, the way Captain Thunderbolt is for electricity, and now that I can work as part of a team, they want me to work in the sewers. With, um, Singularity," she shot a glance at Wander, then went on, "But I can't do that. I've had to hurt people to defend myself, but I won't just...just destroy them, and their homes, because they're rebels. So I need to leave."

"Francois has a family," Mind-Master went on, his face grave. "Her father is an accountant in the Syndicate's employ, and her mother is a computer programmer, one of Daedalus' proteges, and a younger sister. If she vanishes, her family may suffer grievously at the Syndicate's hands. Certainly her sister will be conscripted into the armies of the Syndicate just as she was."

"That's...that's why we've got to save them," said Carytid hopefully. "We've got to save my family, and take them to your world. Will you help us?"

For his part, Edge didn't even need to glance at his fellows before replying, "We'll do everything we can for your family, Carytid. Nobody deserves to grow up in a place like this, or...or to have to leave their family behind, and not know what's happening to them. We'll save them, and we'll take out the whole Academy while we're at it. I promise."

[April]

Though she went to bed tired the psychic impression Sage sensed from the world did not let sleep come easy. She woke early as she always did and did a quick stretch and workout, just enough to limber up and get the blood flowing. She was on edge and she felt as though someone or something had a knife pressed into her back.

The feeling did not go away when Mind-Master arrived with his charge.

Sage watched the exchange with eyes narrowed, studying Carytid. --Will you submit your mind to verification?-- she asked "out loud" more tersely than she intended. --If you are not false I see no reason why we cannot assist you.--

[Avenger Assembled]

Carytid's mind was like a complicated origami sculpture, pulling out a few layers was easy enough, but going too deep would have had serious consequences. Eve found a girl with a mind shaped by years of worry: her father's anxious drinking, her mother's high-strung personality, her little sister's combativeness, all had come together to make a girl much older than her face and body had any right to be. She was in the Academy all right, it was easy enough to find the memories of the tests at school that had found her power potential, the arrival of the men from the Syndicate, the terrifying, near-lethal tests that had awakened her abilities, and then finally the grim, brutal training of the Syndicate's Academy. Mind-Master had found her some months earlier; attacking a group of freshman students, capturing them, and reading their minds to find which one had the most potential for good.

[April]

The telepath frowned after completing her scan, her hand lingering at the side of Carytid's head; having needed the physical contact to conduct the deep scan. She had been extra careful with the scan, taking care not to inadvertently destroy the young woman's mental defenses or leaving her dangerously vulnerable to suggestion, the fact that Carytid didn't resist made the task much simpler.

The mindwalker released the Academy freshman, brushing a strand of black hair behind her ear and offering the earth controller a sympathetic look. --Thank you,-- she said, her sympathetic mental voice a whisper, --and sorry.--

Sage turned away from Carytid and faced her teammates, giving them a slight nod.

[Electra]

Erin nodded in return, looking troubled. "Stick with us and we'll take you with us," she promised the girl, "and we'll do what we can for your family. They have to at least be willing to let us help them." She looked over at Trevor, shrugged a little. "It'll cost us time," she murmured, "but I don't think not trying is really an option." She tried to look at the situation objectively, but it wasn't easy. Though maybe it would have helped a little if the girl stopped looking at her like some kind of nightmare horror.

[Gizmo]

Midnight made a minute inclination of his head, barely tilting his chin downward. "Sage vouches for her," he noted simply, the handful of words making it clear in his particular way that they would help Carytid and was refusing to let the ever present air of wariness and distrust that permeated Anti-Earth prevent him from fulfilling his duty to an innocent. There was no way he could in good conscience leave the mousy girl to her faint now that she'd requested sanctuary. Rescuing her family as well, however, was going to prove problematic, he reflected, frowning silently behind his mask.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mind-Master's telepathy, relayed through Sage's mind "to reassure you as to my good intentions," and Carytid's description gave the kids a good idea of what they were in for. The Gravois family were privileged servants like what the Lucas family once had been: they had a home of their own in Ashton guarded by the Syndicate flag flying in the yard and the presence of various super-thugs living in the neighborhood. "We don't have any kind of house security," she said, "I mean, just an alarm system my parents put in to keep out kidnappers." The Resistance, it seemed, occasionally kidnapped civilians who worked for the League for information. "The real problem is the Syndicate system in the neighborhood. That's a really good neighborhood," she said, sketching out a version of suburbia with an APC on every corner, "and it's that good because the Syndicate watches us all the time. We can get there with the sewer, but I don't know what we'll do after that."

[Electra]

Erin studied the crude sketch, her brow furrowed. "We need to figure out a time when they're all going to be in the house together, then disable the security system on the house, as well as any cameras that can see into the house. We have to be quiet about it, we can't afford to let on that the Resistance is up to anything out of the ordinary." She pursed her lips and thought. "MIdnight, if you could get a look at the security beforehand, that would make it much easier to disable it, right? Maybe Edge could change up your costume and you could go out as your counterpart and have a look. I mean, it's not likely you'll get caught anyway, but it doesn't seem like they'd stop a super... I don't know, superwhatever while he's doing his rounds." She didn't like the idea of putting Trevor in danger, but his skills were what was needed for this. "We can back you up from the sewers in case things go wrong."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I guess the logical thing to do is go at night?" suggested Edge, a little doubtfully. "But going that long might put us in danger too." It was only after years of experience that Mark was able to plan this well, and he was very proud. "If Midnight goes in during the day, though...well, no one would expect someone to be sneaking around then!" he exclaimed. "This isn't a world where the bad guys hide and prowl around. They'll just walk in and bang on the door. It might be different since the Blank is a Claremont student, but if he's got a life outside the school...it'll probably work." He confirmed with Carytid that she'd be able to help: Carytid herself had not officially left the school at all, and Mind-Master's formidable psychic abilities were currently put towards making sure that Mr. Beaumont believed that Carytid was on a special assignment for him in the Fens. She'd already picked up his booze.

[Gizmo]

"Covered," Midnight assured Wander when she suggested Edge use his reality warping abilities to alter his costume. Instead, the lean young man pressed a button hidden on his belt buckle, causing his outfit to shift from pitch black to blemishless white in a ripple of morphic molecules. The particular jacket he'd selected for the mission had just enough of a formal cut to it to fit believably on the utilitarian end of his ostentatious double's wardrobe, a high, buttoned collar giving it the air of an officer's dress uniform. "Sooner the better," he noted, straightening his cuffs.

[Electra]

Erin nodded, a smile tilting the corners of her mouth despite the circumstances. "I should have known you'd have planned ahead,"she murmured. Looking over at Carydid, she said, "We're going to do everything we can for your family. But once we start an actual operation, things could wind up moving quickly. Before we go anywhere, you need to tell us all you know about what's going on at the school this weekend. Where are the senior students and the faculty likely to be? Are there any field trips or training runs or important visitors planned? And where are they keeping Singularity these days?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Carytid gave a start and stepped behind Mind-Master at Wander's approach, shooting her mentor a fearful look! For his part, the immortal psychic gave Talos a serious look before eying Wander as well. "It's all right, Carytid. Her mind is nothing like that others'" Cautiously, the young teen stepped out and explained: many of the senior students were away this weekend on a special field trip to Antarctica, where a LIGHT colony had been found by stealth observation and was in the middle of being destroyed. That left only students who didn't generally go with the rest of the class for high-level combat missions: students like the Blank who preferred to concentrate on his own network in Empire City (she gave a shudder at his name too), or students like Hex who were slated for a career path in the city itself. Singularity was kept in an artificially-dug cavern beneath the Academy, dug out by the infamous Earthen Lord himself.

[Gizmo]

In his newly white uniform, Midnight folded his arms, frowning behind his mask. Having many of the senior students out of the way was fortunate enough, but frankly it was their personal counterparts he was more concerned about. Perhaps that was simply egotism, but they were easily the trickiest part of operating in an alternate dimension. Some small part of him, however, was glad to hear there was a chance he might run into the Blank before all was said and done. Quashing that feeling, he ran a thumb along the jawline of his masked face, considering. "Cavern... Interesting."

[Electra]

"Well, we destroyed the last holding cell pretty thoroughly, then blew a hole in the roof," Erin recalled with some satisfaction. "Even with the regenerative powers of impervium, it must've taken awhile to fix. If we could tunnel into the cavern, we could potentially buy extra time before they realize she's gone, in the confusion topside." She frowned. "Then again, we don't have a lot of time to be subtle. We might have to just smash and grab when we can. Do you know exactly where under the Academy this cavern is?" she asked Carytid.

[Avenger Assembled]

Caryatid said, "Yes, I helped shore up part of the reinforcements after the last escape attempt. It was actually pretty interesting, see, because she'd been digging down instead of up, and using the bones of..." Mind-Master shot her a look and she said, "Uh, but you don't wan't to hear about that. Anyway, I can find the place for you. I can bring it down, too, if you can make sure I'm not taken by surprise while I'm doing it." She looked nervous again before she said, "Are you sure you know what you're going to do with her? I mean, she's, well, I'm sure she's a good person and all, but she's..."

"It'll be all right," said Edge, giving the girl a frank, reassuring look. "We're superheroes. Every bad thing the Syndicate does? We do a good thing. Every innocent hurt, every crime unpunished, every sin rewarded? We're the opposite of all that. No, we're its better. The multiverse isn't a very fair place, but we can make it fair. For you, your family, and everyone else we can reach. I promise that we'll do everything in our power to make things right. And our power is vast. C'mon," he suggested, "let's get moving. We can't let Midnight take to the surface without us close at hand behind him."

[April]

--The longer we wait the more our risk of discovery increases,-- Sage opined, leaning against the wall near the exit. The telepath was anxious to get moving, the sooner they could bag Singularity, extract Caryatid's family and bail the sooner she can return to a world whose thoughts didn't revolt her.

--When we get near our objective, gather close. I can hide us from the minds of those around us though I can't do the same with cameras and surveillance gear.-- she arched an eyebrow at Midnight, --You wouldn't happen to have a tech solution for those, would you?--

[Gizmo]

Pulling a small, slim tablet from his jacket pocket, Midnight shook his head slightly. "Have to ask?" It took a moment to reconfigure the miniature computer's setting to connect to the subtly different wireless signals of Anti-Earth, then a moment more to slice through the firewalls between him and the security systems which blanketed the entire city under their wary gaze. Once he was in, it was a fairly simple matter to insert a line of pre-written code which would cause any cameras with recording to loop back to the same time the day before, while independent systems would simply cut out as though malfunctioning. It wasn't going to fool anyone long term, but it would get them where they needed to go and back unnoticed.