Something Old and Something New (IC)

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum spoke up sometime before Dynamo. She nodded to Viktor's question and replied, "I remember my trip as well. Ended up way back in time, at least by human history standards. Crossed the world too. I started out over the city and ended up somewhere over the Indian Ocean. As best as I could place anyway. Helped a fleet of ships fight off a...I don't know what...sea monster? Kraken? Leviathan? Turned out the ships were completely crewed by women looking for a safe harbor."

"I managed to find an island for them and used the return portal to send them there. If it wasn't for this fellow by the name of Quark, I never would have made it home. Anyone else know of a group called the 'Time Guardians'?" She looked around the assembled team for any trace of recognition.

As for Dynamo's story, Fulcrum replied simply, "That was very brave of you."

[quotemyname]

"Sounds like y'all both'd some really excitin' times." Colt began after the stories were related. "But I reckon I'm stickin' t'what'd said earlier. Portals'n I just don't mix." He mad a motion to Fulcrum, "Facin' the threat'a not comin' back't all? I ain't too sure that'd sit well wit' me." He turned to look at Dynamo, "An' three years? Naw, I wouldn't like that one bit. Hell, I reckon that's longer'n I been here! I like't in this here dimension, an' while'm all fer helpin' people, I'm stayin' put, thanks." He gave Grim a sideways glance and a smile, "Reckon I jus' got too much't lose."

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville looked back and forth among the team as they shared their stories, mind boggling at it all.

Could my time Gate have done all this? What am I saying, of course it could have! But if I activated it, why do I not remember?

"I can scarce believe what I am hearing, but I do not doubt what you say. Bu- wait, did you say Quark? Quark?!," he repeated, the odd shocked-funk he was in breaking. "Short lad, multicolored hair? Last I saw it was electric blue, but-" He shook his head, "he pulled you from the past? But the others returned on their own, or, rather, the portals that scattered them all brought them back here, right? So why was it different with you?"

If anything, she alone should be the one to snap back, since it was her Terminus energies I had used in my Time Gate. Unless... my work with them, or the overload, or some combination, changed the energies enough that it repelled her, like two similarly-charged magnets! Oh, if that is the case... and if Quark had not shown... !

"Did he say anything to you? About all of th- oh, confound it, I just put that one out!" Archeville dashed off screen again, and the sound of extinguishers discharging could be heard.

[Dariusprime]

Mona took a drink of her coffee, nodded and slowly replied, "Yes, that's him all right. Yes, he brought me home. I sort of...burnt out...the return portal. Those women were adrift out in middle of nowhere, and I had this weird idea that maybe I could make the portal work for me. I managed to transport them to an island, but the portal vanished moments later. I was stuck until he showed up."

She went back to her coffee as Viktor worked out the latest disaster. Addressing Dynamo, she smiled, "You're looking good, Sparky. Glad to have you back, even if it was only a few hours for us. Is this a permanent return or will you be returning to a future life?"

Once Viktor returned to the camera, the last question did receive an answer. "Yes and no. Quark was a bit, eh, odd, lets just say, and evasive. He did however mention something about a German genius pulling a H.G. Wells." She gave Viktor an expectant look.

[Dr Archeville]

Okay, time to come clean. I can do this. I can do this.

"Mine was less H.G. Wells and more Tim Powers," he began, then dropped his attempt at levity. "Yes, I have a time machine down here, or had one, as it has overloaded and exploded. I have no memory of switching it on, but the security feeds I have been reviewing show I did approach it last night, followed by a burst of static -- interference from the gate's activation, I would assume -- then showing it active all day. Another burst of static around midnight, then the footage shows the results of the overload, though not the explosion itself." He placed a hand over his chest, "as I said, I remember going to sleep last night, in my bed upstairs, hoping Mona would be back from her visit to her parents on time, but awoke in the medbay down here, and injured as if I had been caught in the explosion."

Mona knew of it, since it was from her that I charged the Daka crystals with Terminus energy that would allow it to tear open a portal in spacetime. But do I mention that? Or is that something she should volunteer?

"Which means that I must have activated it, and that I am responsible for... this... chaos," he confessed, eyes glazing over as the full realization of what uncontrolled tears in space & time could have done hit him.

[Heritage]

Lynn slowly sipped her cup of sickly-sweet, cream-drenched coffee as the others expanded on their unfortunate time adventures, pausing to rub her fiancé's arm when he mentioned 'a lot to lose'; however her expression began to darken the more she watched and listened to Dok as his guilt in the whole affair became increasingly obvious.

"Which means that I must have activated it, and that I am responsible for... this... chaos," he confessed, eyes glazing over as the full realization of what uncontrolled tears in space & time could have done hit him.

The shapeshifter sighed and slowly shook her head. "Man, what is it with you mad scientist types? You always have to mess with stuff." She stepped over to the viewscreen and gently rested her hand against the smooth glass, as though the German uber-genius could feel her calming touch. "You're a good man, Dok, but sometimes you just...push that envelope a little too far."

[quotemyname]

"Does'e?" Colt asked curtly, "Er's't somethin' else't's pushin' him? Y'all heard'em. He doesn't remember activatin' th'machine." His eyes darted between the interceptors,

"Doc, y'all know that there lab better'n we do. Ya start'ny new experiments lately? Acquire any new species'a alien'er bug'er anythin't could'a bit ya're gotten in'ta yer head?"

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum's face softened. She couldn't stay mad at Viktor. Not for long anyway. Although possible he could be overacting, he normally did seem to take set backs and mistakes very hard. If he'd been in the same room, she'd give him a big hug. His anxiety levels had improved dramatically over the last few months, for which she had several explanations, including the one he shared.

Nonetheless, she smiled wanly. Colt's suggestion hit a little too close to home. If he'd mentioned those scenarios just a few months ago, she'd have said an enthusiastic 'yes!'. She doubted Viktor would say anything, and doubted even more that his darker half had somehow returned. Then again, the little voice of skepticism in the back of her mind recalled the old adage that a tiger did not change it's stripes. Not to mention his recent, erratic behavior.

Best not to think about it.

Focusing more on the specifics, she inquired, "How did the time machine work. Did you use that daka crystal from your lab? The one that absorbed my energy?" Hopefully he didn't. While her research suggested Terminus energy was excellent breaching agent of space-time, the stuff did, after all, come with some serious stability issues. "Anyway, let's focus here. We need to track down these portals. Maybe whip up some sort of detectors? Vince, think you could review our camera footage? That way we can track down all the anomalies and make sure no one else ended in scenarios similar to Dynamo's or my own. Or worse, serious damage to one or more timelines or worlds. All-in-all, assuming we've had some of the worst problems, we've gotten very lucky so far."

[Dr Archeville]

Oh, Lynn -- your forgiveness of me constantly amazes. Now I know I need to get you an outstanding wedding present!

Though, speaking of, your beau brings up good points.

"No alien species or new life forms here," he replied to Colt, shaking his head, "and ever since that 'Conquering Mind' unpleasantness last month, I have been working on psionic shielding for some of my workspaces, to prevent outside influence."

And since my Other has been gone for so long, and appears permanently so, I can relax a bit and not have to worry about it using psi-shielded rooms as places to plot and plan, away from Elena's prying mind's eye!

"I have, however, been noting some anomalies in my system reports lately, though," he offered, tapping his chin in thought. "Minor things so far -- misplaced or mislabeled equipment, atypical power drains. I had thought it might have been evidence of some cyberattacker, but I have yet to track down anything concrete on these anomalies."

His face lit up just a tiny fraction when Mona spoke, both from hearing her voice and hearing her technical questions. "That crystal, yes, and some of the fragments you were exposed to later. Would use-" His eyes shifted for a moment

Come on, come on, you can do this!

but he squeezed them shut and looked back with steady eyes at the group, "would use Terminus energies funneled through one of my micro-wormholes to breach spacetime and permit temporal travel. But I believe," he turned slightly, checking the news feeds he'd been half-listening to the whole time, "that the portals are disappearing on their own. Probably because the device that created them is no longer operational."

[quotemyname]

"Terminus energy, Doc?" Colt asked, "I reckon that's some powerful bad juju yer messin' wit' ther. If'n them portals're closin' in'n of'a their own'a 'cord, that's great." Colt turned away from the monitor briefly. He scanned the expressions the rest of the team wore, trying to pick up on any doubts in their minds that might match the ones he had.

"But Doc?" He asked, "Closin're no, what'a y'all reckon's the chance't somethin' slipped through while none'a us was lookin'? Half'a the heroes'n th'city were sucked 'way t'day. N' the sensors in th'brownstone ain't exactly geared toward detection on this level. We might'a missed somethin'. Somethin't could'a just waltzed int'a town. Somethin' ... Dangerous?"

[Heritage]

Lynn was less concerned about the Terminus energies than perhaps she should have been, but interdimensional physics and weird energies were not her forte anyway. However something else Dok said perplexed her much more, and reminded her of some discussions in her psychology classes.

"I have, however, been noting some anomalies in my system reports lately, though," he offered, tapping his chin in thought. "Minor things so far -- misplaced or mislabeled equipment, atypical power drains. I had thought it might have been evidence of some cyberattacker, but I have yet to track down anything concrete on these anomalies."

"Uh, Dok? This might sound kind of weird, but...have you ever gone sleepwalking, like when you were a kid? Or taken Ambien? Because I have a hard time imagining someone sneaking into your high-tech Wacky Shack without you knowing about it, but if it was more of an 'inside job'..."

She nervously looked around at the others present. "I mean, there are cases of people doing crazy stuff in their sleep, like making food or driving their cars; one old guy hurt himself pretty bad playing football in his bedroom." Then she pointed at their mentor's forehead and laughed mirthlessly. "And with a brain as active as your's...who knows, right?" The shapeshifter took refuge behind her mug of coffee.

[Geez3r]

"I had thought you might be responsible." said Eli finally after a long silence. "All the distortions were either to or from this point in time. It would make sense that this was the point of origin for the temporal shifts. I had time to try and figure out how I had got sent to the future. Not to mention a few more scientific minds to help bounce ideas off, among other things. So I tried to figure out who or what in this time could cause such a thing. It got to be a rather short list by the end there."

"Don't ask me about the philosophy behind it though. Not sure if it was always meant to happen or if this created an alternate time stream or something else entirely. It wasn't all that bad from my end." finished Eli. He sounded sincere. But he also didn't look at Archeville even once while he said this.