ic The Edge Of The World IC

[EternalPhoenix]

August 21, 2016. Northwestern Outskirts of Freedom City. Jameson Airport Lounge. 8:00 AM.

 

Her name was Inari Jefferson. She was about 5’ 5”, African American, and held a Doctorate in Archaeology. She was waiting. Their benefactor’s (for lack of a better word) plane wasn’t set to leave for the better part of an hour. Inari was already packed. In fact, her luggage was on the Learjet already. Everything but her regular gear, which was on her. The compound bow and quiver were on her back, and the climbing axe was on her hip. She was waiting for who would basically be her four assistants on this trip. Though, with that said, they were professional superheroes. She couldn’t boss them around like they were undergrads. Her normal place of employment was FCU, but for this trip she was on a short sabbatical.

 

Inari was at the bar, nursing a club soda. Hopefully this trip would go well. Inari had only gotten this job because she was just about the most famous archaeologist on the planet. That didn’t matter too much to anyone outside of archaeological circles, though. It didn’t seem to be important that her discoveries came at cost of up to half her field team. She simply had a knack for finding what either really didn’t want to be found or that someone with a lot of money and thugpower didn’t want to be found. It had only been three times (okay, four, but she was barely a HS grad back then) over a period of 12 years. All it had been was simply survival, nothing more. Better fighters, better archaeologists, and overall better people had died. She hadn’t. That was all there was to it. Still, it was nice to be wanted.

[Exaccus]

Though it was not his immediate field of specialization, Nathaniel had been rather drawn to the expedition, it would be rather intresting to learn what had become of these metahumans if they even existed in the first place and so here he was, clad in his Chrysalis Battlesuit and making his way through the terminal towards the lounge.

 

Spotting a woman at the bar roughly matching the description of the contact he'd been given he makes his way over clearing his throat a little as to avoid sneaking up on her whilst she was clearly absorbed in thought.

 

"Doctor Jefferson?"

[Deel]

          A looming shadow strode into the airport proper, dressed only in the Claremont pants-and-hoodie set – with the unusual addition of sandals to keep from being barred entry. (So many places wanted him to wear shoes, but honestly wasn’t it just easier for him to stomp things flat with his bare feet?  It wasn’t as if he bit his toenails in public…)  The truly unusual aspect of his entry was how few people took notice of him.  Everyone who did was impressed with his height – he was a bigfoot, after all – but most people didn’t, simply because he walked soundlessly and lightly.  He looked like he was a normal height.  He carried a normal duffle bag and seemed normally self-assured.

                Hau-Tayoomae focused his attention on the search for Doctor Inari Jefferson.  He rather wished he had her scent, but he was getting used to the fact that humans dealt in pictures.  He was still a little embarrassed over how long it had taken him to understand that 2-dimensional renderings could form images, but figured he had the concept enough that he could compare a picture to a person.  It didn’t take him long to notice two people near the bar, one of whom was a human woman who looked a lot like the picture the headmaster had provided.  He carefully positioned himself so that she was between him and the bar – last time he had been in a drinking establishment, the bartender, misunderstanding his age, had contrived to supply him with a Harvey Wallbanger. 

                Mammoth might make the occasional mistake, but he wasn’t likely to make that one again.

                He didn’t speak aloud, just listened for a bit.  Naturally, if the others have any peripheral vision at all, they’ll noticed the gangly and furry boy politely eavesdropping.

[Somet]

    Stephen didn't exactly feel at ease as he came through the front door of the building that housed their rendezvous point, only perking up slightly at the sight of the sign that implied that a bar was up ahead.

    Maybe it was the idea of working alongside a few hero's for the first time, instead of running through the nearest wall in order to get away from them. Either that or the Chinese food he had last night was starting to come back up on him. Making his way to the bar he noticed the group of three... perhaps only two people and one small giant standing near the bar. He recognized the woman with the bow on her back as the archaeologist they were supposed to confer with and took a deep breath.

    He took this job figuring it would be a good transition from how he used to work most of the time, figuring that archaeology was just another form of taking things that belonged to other people and handing it over to someone who would pay for it. The money also wouldn't hurt that much, as did the possibility of establishing a decent rep with a few of the local superheros around here before he started talking about signing up with Project Freedom or another group.

    So with only slight hesitation he walked up to the bar with his mask on and asked the bartender for a rum and coke before turning the the others to listen in on their conversation.

 

Edited August 21, 2016 by Somet

[Tiffany Korta]

The flight out was the weird part the stress and excitement of leaving for potential adventure, of cause it didn’t help that usually it had her shipping out for another battlefield. Though she’d always enjoyed the flying then as it was almost always one of her friends in the Night Witches. That why she liked to “borrow” the Ministries teleporters, like the one that bought her here to Freedom City.

By now she was use to all the stares, at seven foot you tended to stand out in almost any crowd, and strode into the bar with a definite aim in mind. She had a massive resistance to alcohol but it was more a tradition at this point, a quick vodka before she took flight, she blamed Dimitri to introducing her to the habit.

[EternalPhoenix]

Inari glanced up from her club soda. “Doctor Deoxy. Good to see you here.” She looked beyond him, seeing the massive sasquatch nearby, the giant of a woman, and the (much less conspicuous) new man at the bar. “In fact, it looks like we’re all here. So let’s not waste any time. The plane leaves in less than a hour. If you’re going to back out, now’s the time. Once we get on that plane, there’s no turning back.” She tossed back the rest of her drink in one gulp and stood up. “You know we’re headed to Antarctica. The client, for lack of a better word, is Priya Arya. She has more money than most gods I know of, and she wants to find this place. Basically, the Incas-or somebody-seemed to have a whole city full of metahumans. I don’t believe it, not yet, but I’ve gone out searching with less proof than Ms. Arya has. The location is deep in a mountain range near the center of the continent. We’ve got a week’s worth of supplies, but the bottom of the world is a cruel place. Cold beyond anything you’ve known. Wild shifts in weather. Storms that can last days. Saying it won’t be easy is an understatement. But if we find it, we will mostly likely literally change the course of history and shatter what we know about pre World War Two metahumans. So, I’m getting on that plane. Are you?”

[Deel]

                Seemingly, the big kid was anticipating a conversational break; the moment he wouldn’t interrupt, he said:  “Hello!  I’m Mammoth, and you’re Doctor Inari Jefferson!  And I’m not backing out; I even brought my own books and breakfast bars.  The headmaster and that other one said there might be a city of metamumurans, so I wanted to go.  I come from a whole people of memahumans too, but we don’t have cities, but maybe we did once!  And I’m not afraid of crazy cold – the squirrel tells me my fur is thick enough!  And I’ve flown on a plane before, and it doesn’t scare me too much.  But I like running!  And dancing.  But I know not to dance in an airplane!”  His voice is a deep but quiet rush, implying that he is naturally soft-spoken but really wants to get words out.  He seems articulate, in a way, but also mispronounces the occasional long word.

                Almost before this rumble has died down, he turns to Voin-Z.  “Hello!  I haven’t heard of you before now, but I haven’t heard of a lot of people.  They keep telling me lots of people are famous, but then they tell me I should try to read books instead of the little papers where the famous people are.  You’re wearing metal!  They say some people do that to keep from getting hurt.  I hear there are penguins there.  Do you think they will try to hurt us?”

                A split second later, Phantasmal catches his eye.  “Hello!  That’s a great hood!  Is that what you wear to keep warm?  I hear humans wear all kinds of things to keep warm, even bubbles!   The catbird says you are his – that must mean you can go all kinds of places!”

                Finally, although he really was the first to arrive, it’s the good Doctor’s turn.  “Hello!  That’s a great suit, and I really like the bottlecaps on your boots!  Or maybe they are attaching things, but they look a little like bottlecaps.  You have great eyes!  They just kind of sit there in your head, being great!  Can you see paths with them?  That would be great!  I can see paths, but only while I’m on them.”

                Toward the end of this chattery introduction, Mammoth grabs up his dufflebag and holds it to his chest in a kind of parade-rest ready pose.  “We better get going, we have to catch the plane before we can ride it!  When I rode in a plane before someone had already caught it before I got there.”

[Exaccus]

Doctor deoxy found himself slightly stunned by the barrage of questions, but unperturbed he waits patiently for the towering metahuman teenager to finish before answering the ones directed at him "Yes, they are indeed rivets a kind of bolt for holding the metal together; My eyes are rather unique, they percive the world devoid of colour, but it is my mind that perceives and finds the paths my friend." he says offering his hand "I do believe he plane is waiting for us at the moment." he says with a slight curling of the corners of his mouth in what might've been the slightest smile in history "But on another note, you are truly a fascinating being...would you permit me to run some tests at a later date? I would be more than willing to compensate you for your time." turning next to the amazonian woman "And of course yourself Miss...?" having not noticed nor assumed that the seemingly ordinary man at the bar was not only on the expedition until he had been told but seeing nothing extraordinary about him had assumed him to be a highly trained individual and not of interest scientifically.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Exaccus

[Somet]

   "...Catbird?" Stephen said whilst squinting his eyes at the large Metahuman. He almost missed the entire one sided conversation from him and in fact was still process what he said. "How old is this guy?" Was his thoughts as he absentmindedly lifted up the lower half of his hood so he could sip his drink. The burning drink helped him focus more on the tasks at hand, and helped him edge out the chattering Mammoth.

    "Dr. Jefferson, are we the only ones our employer has hired so far?" He asks once his drink is downed, quickly and quietly pulling out a disposable towelette and wiping down the rim and inside of the glass. "Because if we are going after this history changing discovery then I'd doubt that she'd rely on only one group, metahuman's or not." After setting down the glass, the towelette disappears from his hand as he stores it in his dimensional pocket. "Just figured I'd ask now in case you knew before hand." 

   Tugging his mask back down over his face he readjusted his seat in order to make eye contact with the good Doctor. "Also, given your history with expeditions like this, what's the possibility that we'll be racing against another team of tomb raiders?"

   "Because I really want to know if someone else is walking in on my job before I actually start it this time." He thought bitterly, causing his two index fingers to twitch. 

Edited August 24, 2016 by Somet

[Tiffany Korta]

"I whole lost city of metahuman huh, who would have thought that could have happened." Klara gave a sly little smile  "You know there's a chance that they really don't want to be found despite our best efforts"

 

Downing the vodka in one, another bad habit she'd picked up, she gestured for the refill before but tuning her attention to the barrage of question from the Sasquatch

 

"I didn't know you're kind ventured out into the world of mankind, I've been lucky enough to meet with ambassadors of you overseas kin." she said a few respectful words in a language that sound similar to Hrnau

 

"As to who I am that's a difficult question, as I've gone by many names over the years. Some call me Воин Женщина or the Warrior Woman or Ms Svoboda, one luck woman calls me Mrs Mathews, and some use words I won't repeat in polite company. But you can all call me Klara." she spoke in a fairly matter of fact way switching flawlessly between Russian and English

[EternalPhoenix]

Dr. Jefferson smiled. “Mammoth, this is an airport. They always catch the planes for us. It’s part of the service.” She liked him. He was enthusiastic and not likely to be killed by assault rifle fire. She turned to Phantasmal. “It’s an expedition to Antarctica. Supplies, support staff, a base camp, even basic transportation. It all costs a substantial amount of money. Miss Arya is essentially founding a small town in the middle of a frigid and totally inhospitable wasteland, where everything it needs to survive must be shipped in.” She took a breath in. Let it out. “It’s not so much the money, but the risk. Antarctica does it’s level best to kill any living thing that isn’t adapted to it, like the penguins. There’s barely enough people crazy enough to go establish and supply one base camp. The ad was targeted to anyone interested, yet you’re the only ones here. Speaks for itself, I think.” She sighed out loud. “That doesn’t mean no one else is funding something. I’ll have to ask Miss Arya when we get to Tierra del Fuego.” She pushed her glass at the bartender and turned to leave. “If that’s all, let’s get on the plane.”

[Somet]

Looking at Dr. Jefferson's eyes made Stephen pause for a short bit as Dr. Deoxy and Mammoth continued to converse, and then he nodded his head and mimicked the Doctors action of pushing his glass to the bar tender. 

"Alright then, I'm in." He says whilst standing up. "Hopefully this will go well." Turning to her and nodding his head. 

"Lead the way Doc, cause as i see it you're the only one who can at this point."

[EternalPhoenix]

August 22, 2016. Antarctica. Arya Expedition Base Camp, aka Camp Icepades . 9:15 AM.

 

The small plane finished taxiing, and the four heroes plus Dr. Inari Jefferson stepped off into an intensely cold wind. The members of the group vulnerable to the elements had strapped on cold weather gear before leaving Tierra Del Fuego. Priya Arya had not been there, having unexpectedly gone ahead to the base camp ahead of schedule. The Learjet had flown all the way (with a pair of refueling stops) to Tierra Del Fuego. However, they’d had to take a good sized ship from there to a small landing strip built in the middle of the ocean within sight of the ice. There, a bustling little outpost awaited their arrival and quick departure about the smallish plane that had brought them here. It had been a bit cramped, especially for Mammoth, but now they were free. What a joy that was, as a sudden gust cut through everyone’s cold protection enough to be really felt. They were at the frigid bottom of the world now.

 

The camp looked like the small town Dr. Jefferson had described, only with a distinct lack of roads. From a building at the end of the runaway came an Indian woman. She was not dressed in cold weather gear. In fact, she was just in shirtsleeves. Literal suicide in this place, but she didn’t have a drop of frost and didn’t even look cold. Dr. Jefferson stepped forward. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Priya Arya.”

 

Arya favored them all with a dazzling smile. “Hello. Before you ask, the answer is yes. Yes, I am a meta. Low level animal mimicry. However, I’d like to show you inside. Even with polar bear and penguin’s cold resistances, it is chilly out here.” She gestured to the plane. “And Mr. Baker has other flights to make.” They were rather obviously in the way. “Let’s go.” She started walking back the way she came, Dr. Jefferson behind her.

[Deel]

                Throughout the travelling time, Mammoth had managed his restricted movements by the simple compensation of peppering everyone else with questions – to be fair, he did actually seem to be listening to the answers – and reading his schoolbooks.  He ate one breakfast bar and that was it.

                So of course when the door to the plane was opened, he rocket-slithered outside and bounded straight into the field, looking like he might be about to dash off into the wilderness.  Only the appearance of Miss Arya stopped him as he attended to her introduction, then rejoined, unnecessarily, “Hello!  I’m Mammoth!  We’re your explorationists!  I love suffixes!”

                He follows dutifully inside, but it is clear that he is restraining himself from running off.  Hard to say where he would go, but his eyes drift either northward or southward.  Klara might recognize a whispered phrase in Hrnau – (“Not two paths, but the third is aloft”) – but anyone else would just hear him chuffing like a humanoid Collie. 

[Exaccus]

Doctor Deoxy spent most of his time aboard the flights running and re-running diagnostics on his suit and the symbiote beneath the armour plates, checking stress levels and hunger carefully as he applied neutrient solutions to the invitro tanks, not minding mammoths questioning as evenly as possible.

 

Stepping off the plane he felt the symbiote shuddering in the cold as breifly before it made the nessicary adaptions to thrive in its new enviroment, he couldn't help but feel an almost...fatherly sense of pride in his creation, his attention was quickly drawn to Doctor Jeffersons Sudden revelations "Fascinating....are you a mutate or a mutant?"

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Whilst she wasn’t so sensitive to cold as some here, she did grow up in a mountain environment, but in environment like this even she needed some protection. It was probably good that she didn’t need to much as it was difficult to find clothes that fitted her frame.

 

She followed behind everyone admiring the stark beauty of the local area, she really should travel more often if it meant visiting such beautiful places. Though she would probably miss Tracy so much, nightly Skype or not. Time thought to focus on the task at hand.

[Somet]

Zipping his jacket even further up, Phantasmal squinted at Priya in a mix of bewilderment and amazement. He was wearing multiple layers as it was and he could barely keep from shivering. Once it was revealed that she had some form of power though, he stopped thinking of her as strange and focused more upon what should could do offensively with her powers. Moving along with the other group he sighed and shivered again as a gust of frigid air blew threw.

 

"Just wait till we get inside." He thought to himself whilst pulling his hands closer to his chest. "Then we can talk and warm up all we want."  He started to scan the area around them, trying to see if there was anything unusual sticking out, even though that term would probably apply to the entire camp since it was in the middle of the artic.

[EternalPhoenix]

Priya’s voice carried amusement at Mammoth’s enthusiasm. She was probably smiling, but she was facing away from the group. “I have no idea, Doctor Deoxy. It’s never mattered to me.” She made the necessary introductions to a few crewmembers. There was a doctor on site, and a pair of communication specialists they’d be checking in with from time to time on the expedition. There was a quick tour of the facilities, just so everyone knew where everything was, and then they were in the garage. “These are your snowmobiles.” That is exactly what they were. However, one was sized to accommodate Mammoth’s…mammoth size, and (consider the group numbered 5) the fact there was six total was a little odd. “I’ll be going with you. I want to see it for myself. I don’t have Doctor Jefferson’s historical expertise, but I do have just as much experience surviving in the wild. And to be perfectly honest, I own everything you’ll be using. I want to make sure as much as possible makes its way back.” She smiled at them, but it was a businesswoman’s smile. Not exactly nice.

[Somet]

"So does that mean we are heading out tomorrow or later this evening?" Stephen asked with a slight shiver. He was hoping to at least get a day to rest from all the flying they'd done within the past couple of days. Checking out the snow mobiles, he grimaced inwardly at the thought of piloting it with little experience. "And will we also have the time to try our hand at these vehicles? Because i'm not all that familiar with how they operate."

[Tiffany Korta]

Klara gave a glance over at the snowmobiles with a dismissive eye,whilst she could manage on a regular sized snowmobile it wouldn’t be the most comfortable of journey. And whilst she couldn’t have carried on for several more hours some of the other wouldn’t have the same levels of endurance.

 

“I know you keen to get started Doctor but it’s been a long day and I for one could use a couple of hours shut eyes. Maybe you could show us what’s been found out already? It’ll be useful to see what we can expect when we get there.”