Never Split the Party [IC]

[Dr Archeville]

Date: July 16th, 2011 (Saturday, the day before the first Gorgon Announcement)

Continued from Off-Hours Visit

North Bay, where, a month prior, terrible forces were unleashed, stopped by the apparent sacrifice of one of Freedom's most beloved heroines, Mona Teymourian, better known as Fulcrum. And now her fiance, Doktor Viktor Archeville -- the man who had unwittingly released those terrible forces, forces which had secretly bubbled and seethed within him and his family line for centuries, now purged -- stood on the site again, along with Mona's friend Carrie (whom Archeville knew had powers, but did not know she went by the name Silhouette) and some of her friends, and a whole lot of weird machinery.

"Hello," he waved to her as he walked over to the assembled machines. His voice was firmer, stride surer, than when she last saw him in the asylum, much more like his old self that Carrie knew from television interviews and the few dinners they'd had with Mona. "Ah, so this is the dimensional breacher of which you spoke? Fantastic!"

[Aoiroo]

"Yes, this is the Brit Machine, and this is Miss Harriet Wells."

Carrie motioned to the machine and the women behind her in full Victorian regional attire. The machine itself was about the size of a small car, and was comparable in appearance to the description of H. G. Wells Time Machine. There were a few notable alterations, mostly that it had several more seats. Miss Wells turned from the machine to Viktor and smiled walking forward and holding out her hand,

"Doktor Archeville, I have heard so much about you from Caroline and also from many of the dimensions I have previously travelled. Though I do believe this is the first time I have met any particular instance of yourself so it is a pleasure."

Carrie took a moment to look at Viktor who looked much better then she'd last seen him. It was a guess that whatever he did do managed to work,

"Miss Wells assured me that you're allowed to take a full examination of the machine as she already has the technology patented in her home dimension."

The woman led Viktor to the machine and started to open a few panels,

"Yes, please I would love to hear your opinion. Though I must ask you not remove any of the parts, bit of a sensitive machine she is."

[Dr Archeville]

"Oh, I would never remove anything, unless she wanted me to," he replied, smirking slightly at Miss Wells.

Now, now, just because I am feeling like my old self again does not mean I should revert to my old-old self.

He turned an eye to the machines, circling around them with hands clasped behind his back. "I would love to know more about the worlds you have been to. I have only met two other versions of myself; one went well, one went... poorly. But," he shook his head, "that can wait; first things first. I presume Carrie has told you of where we may need to go, but has she spoken of how we may find our destination?"

[Aoiroo]

The Victorean clad women spoke up,

"Some sort of giant brain scanner, quite interesting technology though from her description it does not sound much like something one would usually use for this purpose."

Carrie stretched as she walked forward,

"Yeah, well it may or may not be accurate, my assumption is that it's like a giant MRI or something. I told her about the likelihood that we may be entering what is all entense purposes of hell on earth as well,"

Ms. Wells frowned slightly,

"About that, I may not be able to get you very close to your destination depending very much on the location. From the description I have been near that dimension before, and though I may be able to navigate its edge so you can be towards the bottom, how far from the epicenter is really important to whether or not I will be able to pull the machine away from the realm for the return trip."

"So, you might not be able to get us very close if we get in there for fear you might not be able to get out."

"Well yes, but I am still willing after you helped out with my friend on the Victorian Express."

"Yeah, that situation sucked."

[Dr Archeville]

"A mental scans, yes," Archeville nodded, "since that is the only unique trait of Mona's I would have to target. Tracking her by her energy signatures would not be as feasible, since her energies are very similar to those of the interdimensional spaces."

'Victorian Express'? Is that the ferry, or the passenger train? Who knows, it could be both in that world! Ah, so many questions!

The Doktor placed a hand on Miss Wells' shoulder, "I am more than grateful for any help you may give, madame. Dimensional travel is one of the few areas with which I have some difficulty"

and more than some trepidation

"but I consider myself blessed to be able to call on others," he glanced at Carrie, "where I have failed."

[Aoiroo]

Carrie shrugged her shoulders,

"Only definite failure is to never try, or something like that, I'm sure there are a few words missing there."

She stretched a bit,

"So, Viktor how goes the work on the macro brain scanner tracker thingy. You have any idea how big it'll be? Portable would be best, though making it small I don't know limits circuits. Though people are making everything so tiny nowadays."

[Dr Archeville]

"'You never enter the parallel worlds you do not breach in to'?," Archeville responded, shrugging. "Something like that."

Should I have called the Atoms in on this? Or Young Freedom? They all have much, much more experience with other dimensions than I do. Would they take my calls? Is my desire to do this alone -- well, semi-alone -- more hubris on my part?

The Doktor scowled and shook his head, then looked up at Carrie and was smiling again. "I have it right here, actually," he said as his withdrew his shiny new Electromagnetic Screwdriver from his labcoat pocket. "Just finished rebuilding it a few days ago, and I have already fed all of Mona's biometric data and brainwave scans and anything else I thought would be useful in tracking her. Now I just need to interface it with Miss Well's devices to give it the range we will need."

[Aoiroo]

"Okie dokie, so how long will that take?"

Carrie walked over and got a closer look at the device. She remembered him using an older model when the Alphadroid attacked to do a number of things. Though she doubted she'd be able to use it, at least not without practice. Dragonfly might of liked a look at it, but she flat out refused when she asked as Silhouette. Given, she didn't blame her, if Carrie had had her girlfriend mind controlled, she'd of been pretty pissed too.

"The devices are here as long as you need them, but the actual trip might be a little hard to time. Temporal displacement is tricky as all hell, and it makes cause and effect hard to quantify that's for certian."

Her mind jumped back to the freezium and she was certian that Miss Wells was the same as she herself looked a bit sheepish.

[Dr Archeville]

"Unfortunately," he said after giving a slightly exasperated sigh, "I have absolutely no idea. The bigger the area, the longer the search, and, well...."

I have no idea if this will even work... such an impossibly large task... but I must try!

Archeville could not help but grin a tiny bit at Miss Wells's words, "yes, I," his tiny grin turned into a tiny frown, "have some experience with the difficulties and intricacies of temporal travel. Though I do hope," his smile returned, and he began looking for a spot on the steampunk-esque devices where his tech could interface, "that we only have to deal with dimensional barriers and not temporal ones as well!"

Finding what he believed was a proper spot, Archeville connected his tech to Wells's and began making adjustments.

[Aoiroo]

The machine made no real sounds to indicate the actual happenings but apparently when the interface completed there was a slight click from the machine. Miss Wells went over to it immediately but everything seemed fine,

"Alright then, will we be leaving today?"

Carrie thought about it. She had brought her supplies, water, some protein bars, a change of cloths, the change of clothes (the very dark colored change of cloths). Though really you couldn't exactly expect this to be like a day trip, they really didn't know where we were going,

"I'm ready, but is there anybody else we might want to bring into this. I really haven't been able to contact many people. Anybody in the Interceptors is right out, Cannonade I haven't been able to get into contact with either."

Dragonfly was right out too.

"Huh, we really don't have many people we can call for this can we?"

[Dr Archeville]

"Too much time has passed already," he exclaimed as he continued making connections and taking readings, "so the sooner we leave, the better!"

Is that all she is bringing? Well, I suppose she does not have as much pocket space as I do.

He was about to comment on her choice of luggage, when he was struck by her next words. Thanks to his restored/rebooted/revamped brain, though, his maudlin thoughts passed almost too quickly to notice, and his reply came back almost immediately. "Not many, and though who could are engaged elsewhere. As... cherished and loved by so many as Mona was, her rescue has not appeared to be a top priority among others. Though I suspect that some of my... allies are holding back because they know I would want to handle this myself, since it was the usurpation of my company and resources by that alien, and its infestation of me, that lead to her loss. I caused her loss, and I am going to bring her back!"

At his last words he practically slammed his Screwdriver into the final connection on Wells's machine, slotting it next to the slender crystalline control rod at the "driver's seat." The strange vehicle began to hum and glow, and the great disc behind it began to slowly spin.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie let a small frown appear on her face,

"Viktor, I get you may see this as some sort of redemption, but you shouldn't try to do everything yourself. If you isolate yourself from those who would otherwise help you, you can very well be setting yourself up to fail."

Stretching she looked at the machine as it hummed to life, climbing up,

"But you are right, it has been too long. Time dilation between the dimensions can be a kick in the face that's for certain, so sooner is always better then later."

She found herself a seat on the machine and waited for the others to join her,

"So lets fire this thing up and go snatch up Mona before she grows old alone, that'd be such a shame."

[Dr Archeville]

"I do not think she can grow old, any more," he said nonchalantly as he hopped into the driver's seat. "Part of her whole superpowered paragon... thing. But that," he slapped his leg, "is no reason to lollygag!"

Adventure! Exploration! Thrill! I can do this! I can do this....

Archeville waited for Silhouette to get settled with all her gear, and for the okay from Miss Wells, who was (quite understandably) concerned about their jaunt. As she instructed, Archeville pushed the crystalline control lever forward, feeding more power into the dimensional borer. With the pinprick it created, the Doktor's Screwdriver could scan through multiple dimensions, and after what seemed an eternity locked on to the signal it sought. As soon as it had, he threw the lever forward, pouring more power into the borer; the great disc at the back of the vehicle spun faster and faster, generating a sphere of crackling crimson energy the enveloped the machine, then in a wink it vanished.

"This is quite a bit bumpier than I had imagined!," Archeville exclaimed as he tried to control the bucking, roiling conveyance. Well's dimensional travel machine was great for getting from Reality A to Reality B, but going to the Terminus itself -- that weird 'interstitial' realm between (and eroding) all Realities -- was quite another. Soon after entering, an errant ribbon of energy grazed against the machine, knocking out the stabilizers; now the Doktor was desperately trying to avoid hitting another that was headed right for them. But Doktor Archeville was no Midnight, nor even a Geckoman, ans his piloting skills were far from up to the task. The craft was hit and torn asunder, Archeville in one half, Silhouette in another, and both split off from one another, veering towards (and in imminent anger of crashing into!) alien worlds below.

~~ To follow Doktor Archeville, click

here. To follow Silhouette, click here. ~~