ic A House Is Not A Home (IC)

[Electra]

Koshiro drew his hand back, quickly but carefully, when the talk turned to spines and biting. It looked like a regular cat! With a sigh, he folded a little trapezoidal mouse shape and twisted a long tail at the back, then sent it skittering and squeaking across the floor for the cat. Technically it was a breach of the rules, but it just looked like a toy. If Kimber could have her not-a-cat and Sharl could cart around an imaginary dog, he should be able to make a few paper things even when out of uniform, right? "This shouldn't take too long," he told Kimber. "It's just sort of looking around at places."

[Fox]

"Sharl and Koshiro want us to look at places the...um, team, could hang out," Indira elaborated, watching with great interest as Avro went after the mouse; she was almost perfectly still, dark eyes following the hunter and his prey with a mix of approval and appreciation. "Avro has learned quickly - it is a good trait," she added, before returning to the topic at hand. "I do not know where we will be going, but if nothing else, exploring a bit is better than book reports or staying home."

[Gizmo]

Kimber gave Sharl and Lora's backs a guilty look as they stepped outside; she hadn't meant to make the dog unsettled or cut short the time Sharl could spend with her. Avro, for his part, had apparently already forgotten about the larger animal, scampering after the mouse. Cornering and releasing it a few times, he finally lashed out with one paw, skewering the paper construct neatly. Happily devouring half of it, the disguised kitten abruptly stopped and looked over his shoulder at Koshiro with big eyes. Picking up the back half of the mouse in his mouth, he padded over to the Detroit native and dropped the kill at his feet, purring again and rubbing against his shins.

"He's been practicing on squirrels and things in the park," Kimber told Indira, shaking her head in bemusement at Avro's rambunctiousness. "Ooh, you mean like a clubhouse? That sounds great!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl was all business when he came back, the electronic teenager definitely looking to have something on his mind. "All right, before we go, we should figure out exactly where we're going. I think it's best if Koshiro drives, since he can take all of us at once. You said this place was trustworthy, right, Kimber?" he asked as he took a seat around a vacant corner table. He spread a map out on it, an electronic-looking map of New Jersey that glowed a faint blue in key spots. "Right now I've got three places for us to look at; the old interstellar base under Ditko Street, the Archetech warehouse near Lincoln, or the decommissioned nuclear missile site in Wharton State Forest. The Ditko Street one is closest to here." He pointed out the faint glowing circle over the district of Freedom City much more famous for its occult bookstores and New Age stuff than alien activity.

[Electra]

"All the way out in Wharton? You're definitely the guy who can pop instantly out of any computer without worrying about traffic," Koshiro groused, even as he accepted the trophy from the cat. "Hey, you caught that one pretty fast, huh?" he addressed Avro. "Next time I'll use rice paper so you aren't eating too much of the regular stuff." He stuffed the half-eaten paper mouse in his pocket. "I guess Ditko Street is probably the best option. Let's go there first, if you can get us in." He'd been to Ditko Street at least once in his travels, and he'd never seen a clearly marked elevator to an interstellar base there.

[Fox]

Indira frowned at the map, her eyes becoming featureless black surfaces in the heartbeat between two blinks. "There is an interstellar base under Freedom City?" She glanced up at the others, curiosity written on her features. "I did not know - I suppose I would have been the last to be told, but it is still very strange to hear such a thing is under our feet."

She had to wonder how angry her family's Lor officer would be if he found out, but that wasn't necessarily a point against the place. "I am sure we can find a way in, if we already know where it is. Even if it is hidden, it is designed to be used, and we are all very good at...what is the word. 'Infiltration'?"

[Avenger Assembled]

The team flew via Koshiro's giant paper airplane to Ditko Street, heading straight for the address Miss Americana had found for Citizen. "It was the headquarters of a team called the Newcomers back in the early 1970s," he explained to the others as they went. "An interstellar and interdimensional team of outcasts and exiles from all over the Lor Republic, even the Terminus. Most of their members left Earth or settled down here many years ago, but their headquarters is still here. It was called...the Wonderbus. Miss A swears it's intact and still right here in..." They swooped down low over the destination address to find a parking lot, Citizen's eyes widening in surprise as they came in for a landing. "I don't understand!" They were standing in a parking lot for Earth ground vehicles, a particularly deserted one behind a recently-gentrified coffeehouse.

The only vehicle there was a worn-looking Winnebago, parked beneath an overhang at the edge of the lot, which from the dirt on the windows had been there a long time. In a cruddier city, in a less secure neighborhood, the tires would long since have been ripped off. "This is the right address. Ugh." Sharl frowned. "Maybe I shouldn't have given Miss A that speech about wanting a base just for teen heroes."

[Gizmo]

For her part, Kimber didn't look at all disappointed by what they found. "Oh, oh! Do you think it's like a Magic School Bus?! That would be outrageous!" Since they were flying around in Papercut's rather distinctive aircraft anyway, the ghost had switched into her costume with a thought, leaving the hood of her tattered reaper's cloak down so her translucent blue hair could move freely in an unfelt breeze. She'd also deactivated the simple glamour charm in Avro's collar, revealing the manticore cub's true appearance, even as he padded across her shoulders to slide into the empty hood, curling his scorpion-like tail around himself. "Ooh, but do any of us have a driver's license? If I ever did it's gotta be way expired by now."

[Electra]

"This is an interstellar base?" Koshiro asked, what enthusiasm he'd managed to drum up for this project waning even further. "It's got to be underground or something," he reasoned. "Maybe that nasty-ass trailer is parked on top of the elevator." He headed in that direction as well, letting his airplane collapse and fold away to nothing. "It's not actually the trailer," he explained to Kimber with a faint air of superiority. "Nobody would make an HQ inside one of these rust buckets. Anyway, even with a driver's license, it wouldn't go far on four pancaked tires and a battery that's gotta be totally shot." He began poking around the outside of the trailer, looking beneath for signs of a much more promising base.

[Fox]

Indira hummed to herself a bit, circling around to the Winnebago's front and debating whether or not she could slip into the vehicle without being seen by anyone who might be passing by. "It would not be what I was expecting," she agreed, frowning. "Is a magic school bus a true thing? There does not seem to be much magic here, only dirt, and time." She poked a window as she spoke, and immediately wished she'd brought real clothing along to wipe her hand off on. "Though it is perhaps a credit to the vehicle's creators that it has lasted this long. Perhaps we should check for underground structures?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Well, let's just see if there's something hidden inside-" Citizen stuck his head and upper torso through the Winnebago's doors and gave a startled exclamation. He pulled his head back, looked at the others as if he'd seen a ghost, and reached over to push open the doors. The minute he did so, something decidedly odd happened: the room visible past him was not the interior of a forty-year old RV, but rather a shag-carpeted living room with old-fashioned wood paneled walls on the inside. And just coming to the door to greet them was an eight-foot-tall humanoid covered entirely in fur!

"Heey kids," said the man-beast in a slow, slightly slurred voice, looking at them with massive, vaguely blood-shot yellow eyes. "You must be the hero kids that pretty lady was going to send over to check the place out! I was just getting out the nachos and the Fanta so we could have a nice party for you guys. I don't get to show the ol' bus off much these days anymore. Come on in and let's get groovy!" he invited them from his position inside the 'Winnebago'. "I was just putting on some Stones, man. People on Earth usually call me Bigfoot," he rambled on without being asked.

[Gizmo]

Kimber floated around to the open door when she saw Sharl's expression and clapped her hands in delight when they opened. "Ohmigooness! It's bigger on the inside, you guys!" She turned to Koshiro, bouncing excitedly in the air as best one could without the effects of gravity. "See? Magic Bus! Hee!" The fur covered alien who welcomed them seemed a little bit spacey, true, but in an endearing fashion as far as the trusting phantom was concerned. She floated inside the Wonderbus after him when he mentioned snacks. She couldn't eat them of course, but it was such a thoughtful gesture she appreciated it anyway. "Oh! Oh! Is there a garage in here? Can you put a van insides your van?!"

[Avenger Assembled]

The interior of the Wonderbus, which Citizen reluctantly followed Ghost Girl into after a moment's hesitation, turned out to be a palace: the interior space loomed as large as their dorm back on the Claremont campus, half-open doors showing corridors stretching everywhere. The main room that Bigfoot had set aside to greet visitors was decorated like a huge rec room with huge leather couches, a television in one corner, and sure enough a table full of homemade nachos, various flavors of Fanta, and a gigantic bowl of Cheetos big enough for an eight-foot fur monster to eat from. Visible through one open wooden door was what looked like a high-tech control room; the sensors and readouts there looking like something from the cockpit of a Tronikian flyer or one of the smaller craft interstellar teenagers Indira's age were learning to drive on more advanced worlds. This bus was the product of high technology indeed!

The entire place smelled of patchouli oil, and not just to the nose. The shag carpet was thick and a shocking shade of orange, the paisley paneling on the walls a riot of color, the couches all cracked, broken, and then patched together with duct tape. From the patches of brown fur in occasional places, Bigfoot had evidently not always been good at cleaning up after himself. And the big Cholaxian himself was...

"So yeah then after Ryder went back to his band in Salt Lake City it was just me hangin' around the old Wonderbus that must have been back in 93 or 94, after the last big Terminus invasion anyway, anyway after that it was just me in here." He scratched his ear and went on, "I still tour and have gigs with some of the other non-human groups on Earth but there's not much demand for an old Cholaxian on drums these days." He suddenly grinned, showing a mouthful of yellowed teeth. "But that's okay, I mean I've still got my tunes and my ride, and that's all a guy needs, right?" He reached over and carefully, lovingly removed a 78 from its sleeve, depositing it on a vintage record player that soon began booming Sympathy for the Devil.

"So why are you selling the Wonderbus?!" called Sharl over the sound of the music, vaguely remembering stories of Cholax, the savage forest planet with the subhuman inhabitants. Whoops. Well, it's been 2000 Earth years, surely the exploitation stopped by now. He turned, distracted for a moment by the eerie wibbling and wobbling of molten wax in neon-lit fluid in a row of multicolored lamps nearby, as the big alien spoke.

"Well I mean I figure you kids need a base too, right?" said Bigfoot as he raised his massive, trunk-like arms and began swaying to the music,. "I want to help out the younger generation! Youth power! Fight the squares! I remember when we did that all the time, traveling the country in the Wonderbus and solving mysteries, eating big...sandwiches and then maybe making time with the ladies afterwards!" He winked a blood-shot eye. "And anyway the reactor core is running low and I'd have to go all the way out into Lor space to fix it and, heh-heh-heh, Papa B's still got some outstanding warrants out there if you know what I mean!" he said with a wheezy laugh as he tried and failed to clap Sharl on the back. "Anyway, I'm getting old, Citizen. I'm sixty years old and that's near an eternity for a Cholaxian. I want to get back to my home forest and dance under the trees before I die. Steel coffins just ain't very groovy, you know what I'm sayin'?"

[Electra]

Koshiro lingered by the door to the van for a long time, well after the others had gone inside. "Haven't any of you ever heard of stranger danger?" he muttered under his breath. "Guess it doesn't matter when you can melt through the freaking walls..." Finally, though, unwilling to be left standing outside alone, he stepped into the startlingly large interior. "Smells like a head shop," he muttered. "We'd get busted every time we stepped out the door." Despite himself, though, the utter strangeness of the spatially warped HQ fascinated him, enough to have him jogging to catch up to the tour group. "This thing has a reactor core?" he asked the giant hairy stoner. "How would we fix something like that?"

[Fox]

Bigger-on-the-inside technology wasn't unheard of, but it was still rare enough that Indira had to look around appreciatively when she entered the van. It was impressively camouflaged; that was a good feature for a base.

The paisley was somewhat less of a good feature. She knew from her brief time as a human that the human visual range was relatively limited; her eyes took in a lot more colors on both sides of the spectrum, which really, really was not helping the design choices inside the Wonderbus.

Still, she had a lot of sympathy for Bigfoot's desire to go home, and it showed. "I understand," she insisted, trying to be heard over the music. "I hope that you have a chance to see your trees again! What are you using for fuel in your core?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh, it's got, uh, whaddya call it in English?" Bigfoot scratched the top of his head and growled gutterally for a moment. "That's what we called it back on Cholax, man, before the Star-Khan's army showed up and really harshed on everything, man. Shot people just for some stupid element with too many electrons." He plopped down onto his big chair, looking briefly disconsolate. "That's how I got to Earth in the first place, gettin' sold off by my idiot cousin just so he could buy more guns. Got no pride at all." He slowly, slowly began to lean over as he talked, eventually winding up on his side on the giant couch. "Man, I ate too much. Hey, that's what it was! Atoms with too many electrons, so when you hit them with stuff they explode! Anyway, that's what powers the wrinkle drive these days. You can go anywhere you want without leaving Earth. I'm gonna take a rest now." He closed his bloodshot eyes.

Citizen was dead silent for a moment, staring at the bizarre figure and slowly collecting himself. "Okay...okay, so it's got some kind of spatial drive?" he hazarded to Wraith, the only other person there even vaguely familiar with interstellar technology. "Powered by heavy elements, but his supply has run low. That makes sense after forty years on Earth. I guess he's probably planning to get a ride back to Lor space on one of the patrol ships that stops with the Freedom League?" He hmmed. "Let's check the reactor room and the space-tech stuff out," he suggested tentatively to the others. "We should at least see what he's got."

[Gizmo]

"I died in the wood myself, I so totally get where you're coming from," Kimber assured their host before he eventually wore himself out and took a nap. The idea of all of Bigfoot's friends leaving one way or another until he was all on his own stuck the phantom as particularly poignant, though she tried not to dwell on it too much. Being all alone wasn't much fun to think about at all. Looking about the room, she spotted a heavy, dingy orange blanket and telekinetically floated it through the air to drape over the sleeping alien.

Floating back over to the others, she nodded enthusiastically. "We absolutely gotta explore some, yeah!" Humming to herself as she flitted about like a seal swimming through water, lyrics gradually came back to her. "Hmm~hmm do~do~do~doo, dum relaxed and feelin' good..."

[Electra]

"I'm all for exploring, just so long as we let ourselves out afterwards and never come back," Koshiro muttered as they left the room. "This place is like a giant St. Bernard spent twenty years shedding all over the head shop in somebody's creepy uncle's furnished basement. We'd have to gut the place and fumigate it, then maybe we'd have something halfway ready to be an HQ." He started walking around the main room, looking into doors to see what else there was to the place. "I like the idea of moveable place, sort of, if we could find a place to park it and it didn't need hookups and stuff, but we haven't got the cash or time for this kind of fixer-upper."

[Fox]

"That...is true," Indira reluctantly admitted, looking around as she followed the others; so long as they were off the street and out of Bigfoot's line of sight - even if he was resting - she let her eyes fill out to pure, black voids and left them that way - it was considerably more comfortable. "The smell is very strong, and the colors are...I do not believe you can even see some of these colors, but they are unpleasant. I do not think Sharl or myself are very familiar with the technology, anyway - I certainly am not. If I am translating 'spatial drive' correctly, then I know what it is, but I have only a basic idea of how it works and no idea of how to fix it if it were to break."

She shook her head, and made a motion that was like she was glancing at the others - but with utterly featureless eyes, it was hard to tell. "It is unfortunate. There is a great deal of room here, and the opportunity is likely very rare - it is at least worth...what is the phrase? 'Checking it out'?."

[Avenger Assembled]

The team toured the Wonderbus from top to bottom, or at least as much as they could see given that the current resident had left several doors locked, including to a room that (from the chemical smell) was probably his bedroom. The Wonderbus really was a model of super-science engineering; the reactor core (running on 30% power) was more advanced than anything Sharl or Indira had seen outside of pictures of some of the Lor hearthworlds, while the sensors in the 'cab' could scan as far as away as Earth orbit! But the place had a well-worn air that was tough to ignore, as well as that faint-to-strong smell and the Cholaxian hair that seemed to be lodged in most places, and the striking 60s decor (probably a reflection of the different visual patterns of alien species) gradually began to transform itself into nothing but a riot of paisley amidst regular geometric shapes, the shag carpet thick beneath their feet.

The Wonderbus was a nice place to visit, house-sized on the inside at least, but they wouldn't want to live there. Sharl made that decision when they found the pool room; its heart shape and speckled crimson stone body suggesting an intended purpose that was...best not thought about. "You know," said Sharl as they finished their tour and headed back to the main room to say their goodbyes to Bigfoot, "he really is a sympathetic case. Maybe I can talk to Miss A about her company acquiring the bus, and we can use it as a team vehicle...if we have to!" he added with a glance at Koshiro. "Just in case."

Bigfoot woke up long enough to make his goodbyes, shaking the hands of everyone he could and waving a cheerful goodbye from the door, and the team was off to their next destination! "Up next, we're going to Hanover! Miss Americana has set aside the 15th floor of the old Archetech building there for our use. She said since it's my team, it's my job to give you guys the tour! I think you'll like it."

[Avenger Assembled]

Papercut's paper airplane took the team to the 15th story of one of the towering Archetech buildings that had fallen into Miss Americana's custody the year before; the skyscraper of science looming over the Hanover neighborhood that held it. The plane landed them all neatly on the rooftop helipad, and one there a quick trip on the elevator took them to the area Miss Americana had actually set aside herself for her sidekick's team.

The rooms here certainly were luxurious, and didn't smell of chemicals or have old Cholaxian hair on them either: there was an advanced wall computer and basic, albeit well-equipped, general science lab and workshop for Citizen and anyone else they might recruit with scientific aspirations, what looked like a nice rec room with a big screen TV and couple-year-old game system, a little kitchette, library, and all the other sorts of gear you'd expect to find around a well-furnished teen science hero's place. There was even a small room with bunk beds!

There were sensors enough to track through security cameras all over the city, and a communications system that tapped right into the city's cell grid. "The computer's one of the biggest outside of Miss Americana's personal labs. It's got room for me, for Lora, and enough processing power we could maybe hack into the school's computers if we wanted. You can put a cell number in here, or wherever, and people can call your supername and it'll reach you anonymously. It's even armored enough that you'd have to work to mess with it, Kimber."

The whole place had a nicely glossy chrome feel, though not quite mirrored enough for the teens to see their reflections as they explored the small complex of rooms. For his part, Citizen seemed to have something on his mind, crossing from corner to corner as he switched off a couple of monitors. "Miss A's real busy today with a...thing, so we shouldn't have to worry about anyone disturbing us while we're here."

[Gizmo]

"Hey, I've barely ruined any of your computer stuff lately!" Kimber protested when Sharl singled her out to illustrate the mainframe's durability. "I'm totally not even that bad! You know how many of the machines in the school lab get all, like, melted and stuff each year? ...a lot, probably!" The phantom floated about the place with her arms folded and knees tucked underneath her.

The Archetech facility was pretty fancy, she had to admit, the Wonderbus had had more personality by her standards at least. The gleaming metal and high-tech wonders were a little sterile in comparison though undoubtedly more practical. She coasted back through the air when Sharl spoke up again. "A 'thing'? Ooh! Is she on a date?!" she interjected. "Miss Americana's super pretty, I bet it's a date."

As suddenly as that train of though had arisen, it was soon pushed out of the way as she noticed the holographic teen's distraction. "Hey, is everything okay? Checking out bases was your idea in the first place, right?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Miss Americana's personal life is none of my business," said Sharl with an embarrassed half-smile. And that was certainly true, and he didn't even need to fake the embarrassment. After all, it wasn't Miss A and Steve Murdock who were dating, but Gina and Steve, a mental image that was best left in the back of his mind with the other disturbing things he'd contemplated as a superhero. "Anyway, the base stuff is good, and I think we'll do fine wherever we end up. I...actually had another reason for calling you guys together." He shot a look at Koshiro; his roomate hadn't known about this either, but Papercut had been there for the encounter that started it all. "Here, let's use the conference room."

The conference room was reasonably high-tech as well, with a new glossy wooden table and wall computer slaved to the main unit for everyone to see, but this room Sharl didn't do much to show off. Instead he waited until everyone was in, fluttering about nervously, before he took a seat at the head of the table. "A couple of months ago, Papercut, Cobalt Templar, Riff, and I, had an encounter with a team from another dimension. On Erde-J-Nazi-1, a government called the National Socialists conquered the world in the 1940s using technology given to them by Superior. Though their rule has been slipping in recent years thanks to heroes from Earth-Prime, they still control much of the planet's population. The people that we met were, well...the versions of us from that dimension."

"It was pretty grim. It was very grim, in fact. And I made a promise to the other Sharl. I promised him that we would find a way to save his Tronik." He looked around at his teammates and went on, "The National Socialists have been using them...using them like sentient lab mice with superpowers for years. His sister is dead; half his family is dead. Hell, from what I gathered, his Tronik is a mostly-restructured National Socialist prison. They lost twenty-five million people! We can't just leave them there to be experimented on unto death, with the lucky ones as slaves to the pitiless butchers of their own people!"

[Fox]

Indira quietly stood by as Sharl told his story, her eyes filling back up with that featureless black now that they were once again out of the public view. "That is very likely easier to say than to do," she gently pointed out, her voice tinged with sadness. "If this other Tronik is in another dimension, it will be difficult to access and difficult to get back - and very likely well-guarded, even for a group that can fly, create paper armies, slip through cracks or walk through walls. If you have a plan, however, I would like to help - no people should be left to such a fate."

[Electra]

"This place probably has some gizmo that can get us there," Koshiro guessed, looking around at the slick conference room and the high-tech building that surrounded it. "You hear about people going to different dimensions all the time, right? The old Young Freedom went to other dimensions every week, to hear CT talk about it. It can't be that hard, and once we're there, we can find Tulink and get him to help us. If we wear Nazi clothes, we should blend in with the people there well enough." He didn't even raise the question of not going. There was no question about going.