Chronicler of Ko-Koro

IC:"Well... technicallyblogsarejustatoolcreatedbythenewworldordertousherintheglobalsingularityyouvebeenworkingonfordecadesinareafiftyoneusingplansretrievedfromthemothman, but you'd know all that, of course," Hivemind said quickly, pausing to take a very deep breath. "But it seems to me that now really isn't a time when you can pick and choose your allies, is it? Unless you think it's wise charging through what's practically a warzone with a child in tow all by your lonesome."[For Science!]

IC:Well, yes, Hivemind did have a communications device: more specifically, a Coalition comm tucked safely away in Beespace for when she needed it. Of course, pulling something like that out would be bound to blow her already-flimsy cover. She quickly thought up an excuse that made at least a little sense towards the civilian she was apparently pretending to be."Oh... uh... no way, dude. You've gotta stay off the grid, otherwise that's how The Man gets you," she said. "Oh... sorry, guess you kinda are 'The Man'..."Come on, just keep the guy busy a few more moments. Then someone can get the drop on the agent, or scoop up the girl. Someone like Typhoon, or Negafire, or... actually, probably just Typhoon. Hivemind was pretty sure he was the only person on the team who could carry the girl without accidentally killing her. Well, maybe Aquarius could, but he was probably a little busy bleeding to death or something like that to be of any help. Regardless, she just needed to stall a little longer...[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind glanced up at the agent. Well, this would certainly make things a little more difficult. She could still work this out, come up with something. She just needed a few seconds to bluff. She subtly - for about as subtle as Hivemind ever did anything - positioned herself a little closer to Danielle, as if to discourage any shots from being fired."Why... I... I couldn't agree more! Just trying to get the gal to safety, right?" she said. "Feel free to lead the way... provided you've got a plan for getting out of here. You've got one of those, right?"Alright, the guy almost certainly knew she wasn't just a random bystander, so it wasn't exactly a good bluff. Hivemind was just playing the hand she was dealt.[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind peeked out from behind the mailbox. It looked like Newspaper Man had spotted her and was going over to investigate, but Nihilo had managed to keep him suitably distracted by trying to murder him. Somehow Hivemind doubted Nihilo had intended that to be a distraction, but she'd take whatever breaks she could get."I mean, just look at this. That right there?" she said to Danielle, motioning towards the two fighting nearby. "That's what you were just about to run into. We gotta get you outta here, like, now."[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind watched as Danielle fled the car. With her running and Typhoon dealing with what was left of the forcefield agent, there was really little reason for Hivemind to remain in the car. But their target was running, and that could be a problem. She did have the advantage that neither side particularly wanted her dead - well, Hivemind assumed the Secret Service didn't want her dead, but when you were tasked with guarding an annoying little girl it must start to sound just a little appealing - but with all the chaos unfolding around them that was no guarantee of her safety. Not to mention if she somehow managed to find a hiding place, then it could take the Coalition a lot of unnecessary time trying to find her, time which the League of Salvation could use to do the inconvenient thing of showing up.So it seemed that it wasn't enough for Hivemind to just take part in the kidnapping, it was time for her to go the extra mile on this whole deal. Abandoning the car, Hivemind buzzed behind a mailbox, reforming in civilian garb. She wasn't sure if Danielle had seen her little stunt earlier - the whole point of it had been to get noticed after all - but with all the confusion going on hopefully she'd missed the part of Hivemind's act that ended with her bursting into a swarm of bees. But if she could dupe a squadron of trained agents, she was pretty sure she could trick a little girl into thinking she wasn't a supervillian. As Danielle ran by, Hivemind grabbed her arm and pulled her down behind the cover of the mailbox."Hey, kid. Are you, like, crazy?" she asked, sounding - impressively convincingly, at least for Hivemind - almost legitimately concerned. "You could've gotten yourself killed out there! Come on, we've gotta... like... get you to safety or something..."Hivemind was hoping the kid would fall for the concerned citizen act. If she was lucky, maybe she could try and convince the kid to get out of the line of fire... and, conveniently, out of the line of sight of the Service agents trying to protect her. At the very least, she could try and keep the kid reasonably still long enough for one of the others to make a grab for her.[For Science!]

OOC: Well, she ought to have at least an above average understanding of biology, but not so much on the first aid, no. So yeah, not much of a help (not that she'd volunteer herself to be anyway...), it's just nice to be included, y'know?IC:The agent's forcefield's drove off a few of the bees, and even fried a few as they made contact. But that wasn't too big of a problem for Hivemind; with the shield gone she could send her whole swarm into the car, and she could attack from far more many angles than he could swat at. Hivemind wasn't aiming to kill the guy - if it wasn't self-defense or science, what was the point? But when all of this was over, she hoped he either took the sensible option and ran for his life, or simply that her attacks would leave him an a state largely incapable of continuing his defense of the girl.[For Science!]

OOC: Hey, I'll have you know Hivemind is a doctor! ...of, yknow, bugs... and stuff... :unsure:IC:Hivemind's hundred compound eyes turned their attention towards the gash torn through the side of the forcefield. So, this was it then. She'd wanted to stay out of this whole kidnapping affair, so of course it was all going to have to come down to her. But it looked like everyone else was far too busy getting shot, and unless Aquarius and Negafire had some brilliant plan to get filled with enough holes to slip through the cracks in the forcefield, Hivemind was the only one who could fit through that rift. So she buzzed over the street, descending upon the car like a biblical plague. Bees, wasps, and hornets swarmed through the gaps in the barrier, Hivemind trying to get as much of her swarm through before the agent could fix the gap. The insects buzzed madly into the car like a whirlwind, ready to set their stingers into the defending agent.[For Science]

OOC: Oh, saying that less that half your full power is enough to evenly match you against someone supercharged to the point where they could slaughter this universe's League? Nah, that's not overpowered at all. ;)IC:Frigid stared down at Kaname. Her frost blade melted in her hands, and she crossed her arms. Somehow, it didn't seem like her little lightshow impressed her at all.The other hint would be when the ice erupted around Kaname, swirling around him like a blizzard. What Kaname had failed to remember was that Frigid had apparently once frozen a man who could create plasma to death. Even with his powers burning as hot as he claimed they could, Kaname could still feel a chill in the air. A few buildings away, Fade could only see a tornado of ice and snow snaking up into the sky. In the swirling cloud of pure whiteness, dark shapes could be seen moving about... until a claw of ice shot up under Kaname, hurling him through the air. All the super-speed and agility in the world did nothing against an attack you couldn't see.He was launched backwards, smashing through the side of one building and out the other. And then another, and another. Kaname should have counted himself lucky he was apparently so powerful; a lesser body would have been reduced to pulp by now. As he skidded to a stop on the roof of another building, tearing up brick and mortar as he did so, Frigid's icy form once again materialized."No... I must have killed you before; I can't imagine someone as arrogant as you not wanting to pick a grudge match with someone like me. If he's not dead, than he's either smarter than you or a coward," she said. "Now, you do realize you can't actually hurt me, right? I'm not even here; none of your attacks are doing anything except satisfying your raging ego, which, rather impressively, may eclipse even mine. But you're lucky: I don't care about you. I don't care about your powers, I don't care who you thought, I don't care about your precious partner. So, I have no particular investment in killing you right now."So, I'm offering you a chance here; I did say I could be merciful. Leave now. Just go, run away with your tail between your legs," continued Frigid. "I'd say you'd survive longer, but with your survival instinct I'd imagine you'll be dead of exposure come tomorrow. However, you might survive out there, which is far better odds than if you continue to try and face me. This is not a boast. This is a simple statement of facts."[For Science!]

OOC: Well, it probably would depend on what we'd define as "the edge of space", and what we're defining as "a long time", but either way relativistic speeds seems like a bit of an overestimation. If he's only going as far as, say the Kármán line, that'd be about a hundred kilometers up. If we ignore factors like air resistance and gravitation pull and the like (and factor in the fact I'm rather shoddy at math ), if he can travel above Mach I straight up, the round trip should take about ten minutes (which still should take longer than Nihilo was portrayed as doing, but we can make a few licenses for narrative purposes). I am of course, making some assumptions about the speeds Nihilo was traveling at - I have no idea if he's capable of breaking the sound barrier or not, and really can't think of any reason he should be able to behind artistic license - but that's about the bare minimum it'd take for him to make the whole trip.On the other hand, if we're defining the edge of space as, say, somewhere in the upper exosphere (10,000 km), then that'd be a lot harder to explain away. Going at about the same speed mentioned previously it'd take hours for him to complete the entire trip, and that's a pretty conservative estimate. And no matter what distance he went, Hivemind's bugs probably wouldn't be able to follow very high (and Hivemind's not a dedicated enough spy to bother), but there's a whole variety of different ways you could justify something like that. At the very least, that he could have said it before vanishing into the upper atmosphere.Of course, I'm not an expert here, so it's entirely possible I'm mistaken or entirely dead wrong about all of this. If so, just carry on as usual everybody.[For Science!]

IC:"Yeh, I kin' keep 'til then. I've... I've bin through worse, yah know," Longshot replied, just a little bit of her trademark temper returning. "Or did'ja think I just misplaced me other arm?"[For Science!]

IC:Fade nodded, diving over the side of the building. He let his grappling line unreel itself, then grabbed hold of it and swung over to the other side of the street. He extended his wristblades, embedding them in the frozen side of the building, and started his climb to the top."We... we need t'find a... a... one a' those subway stations," said Longshot. "We've bin hidin' in the tunnels, mostly. It's warmer down there... harder for ole' Frigid to find us down thar..."[For Science!]

IC:Fade frowned, deep in thought."Do you have a hideout or something?" he finally asked Longshot. "Some place where we can wait until Frigid's lost interest in us? Some place warm, preferably?""Yeah... me an' a few other supers... all tha's left, really," Longshot mumbled. "I... I kin show yah the way..."Fade nodded, and leaned over to Plasmafire."Plas, she's in pretty bad shape. If she doesn't get help soon, I can't see her making through this," he whispered. "Get her to safety, to wherever this hideout of hers is. I'm gonna head back for Kaname. Yeah, he probably did just try and sell us for his thirty pieces of silver, but for all I know he was trying to trick Frigid; a monumentally stupid idea, but perhaps a little more noble. I'd just prefer to know for sure rather than assume."He headed across the roof, hooking his grappler around a flagpole to swing away."I'm gonna get him out of there, and I'm gonna hear his side of the story. If I don't like it, well... I don't exactly have any problems with just abandoning him in this dimension."[For Science!]

IC:The superheated air rushed forwards like a wave, funneled and focused by the tight walls of the corridor. The ice barrier burst as it struck the heatwave, exploding into a thousand shards just as Plasmafire dove through. He landed on the rooftop below, where Fade was helping Longshot get up."Ugh... I don' feel so good... so cold... can' quite feel m'legs..." she murmured, her voice a little incoherent and slurred, shaking as she struggled to stand. "We... we gotta git outta 'ere... while we can... question is... whad'ya want t'do 'bout your lightning friend back there?"[For Science!]

IC:The ice began to weaken and crack, and with one last kick Longshot broke free. She staggered, nearly falling, but regained her footing upon realizing another misstep would bring her right to the icy fate she'd just barely avoided. She dove through the window, followed moments later by Fade. He glided down to a rootop just below, while Longshot made a reasonably safe fall into a snowdrift.The only one left was Plasmafire, and as he ran the temperature seemed to drop. It was already freezing cold in the icy ruins of New York, but this was unfathomably cold; Plasmafire's own powers were probably the only thing keeping him from freezing to death instantly. Crystals of ice began to form in the air, linking together into barriers to block Plasmafire's process. Up ahead a thick wall of ice started to form around the shattered window, threatening to block Plasmafire's escape. In the cold reflections of the icy walls, Frigid's face gazed down on him."Oh, sorry about this, jester," she said. "I guess I decided I'll just kill you after all. Far less of a hassle."[For Science!]

OOC: Just for the record, Nihilo probably wouldn't have to worry so much about getting on Grand Cross's good side if he didn't keep pulling increasingly more risky stunts that endanger the life of their target. Just sayin'. ;)IC:Fade jumped across the room and kicked open the door, the ice-damaged wood splintering as he crashed through it. He and Longshot made a run down the hall, the walls and floors slicking with ice behind them. Plasmafire was doing a good job slowing the advance of the ice, but it was still steadily advancing, actually shifting and moving around the plasma beams as it advanced. The group was quickly approaching the end of the hallway; Fade struck his wristblade through the window, shattering the frosted glass. Longshot hurried to keep up, but the frost proved faster. Layers of ice crept up from the ground and started to coat her legs, Longshot struggling in desperation as the ice began to entrap her...[For Science!]

OOC: ...the hydrant is now diamonds?IC:Hivemind, seeing Newspaper Man going for a fire hydrant, made the tactically sound move of getting the heck out of there, as fast as she could. A sudden spray of water like that wouldn't just be a pain for Negafire, but all that water crashing down would probably do a serious number on her bug swarms too. Sure, most of the Service agents were now free to use their guns - assuming the water presently spraying in their faces didn't obstruct their aim just as well - but most of the team had already proven they could shrug off a few shots.Meanwhile, Hivemind figured she needed another target to occupy herself with while the rest of team was retrieving the girl. Someone like... that sniper who'd been taking a few shots at Negafire. Her swarm of bees buzzed through the air towards him; first, they would block the view through his sniper scope, ensuring he couldn't turn the gun on anyone actually important like Typhoon. Second... she was going to find out just how well that suit protected him against bee stings.[For Science!]

IC:The line snapped back and forth suddenly as Plasmafire caught hold of his grappler hook, the change of direction so sudden Fade almost lost his grip on Longshot. The two of them swung across the icy chasm between the buildings, Fade hoping that Plasmafire wouldn't lose his grip on the grappling line until they were at least a little closer to solid ground. The pair crashed through a frozen window on a nearby building, sending a crystalline shower of ice and glass as they tumbled into the frost-coated ruins of what had once been an apartment."Urgh..." Fade groaned quietly as he got to his feet, extending an arm down to Longshot. "...You okay?""Only 'bout as well as I've been recently... but thanks fer the save there," Longshot muttered bitterly, reluctantly accepting Fade's help getting up. Gratitude was not one of Longshot's stronger attributes. "Look... we need ta' get outta 'ere. The longer we stay 'ere, the more tha' witch Frigid's gonna bring down on our heads. All we kin do is lie low an' hope she doesn' find us. Trust me on this; I've seen far t'many good folks die fightin' her."A low, ominous cracking filled the air. Slowly, almost unnoticeably at first, the ice coating the walls and floors started to shift and move. More specifically, it was moving towards Fade and Longshot."See wha' I mean!" she shouted. "Jus' go. Whatever yah do, din't let tha' ice touch you!"[For Science!]

IC:"Yer friend might want to shut his mouth 'bout Frigid coming down here," said Longshot as she moved to cover Plasmafire, her voice heavy with a fear Fade never thought he'd here from her. "Tha'd be a very bad idea.. fer all o' us.""Not sure I'd call him a friend right now," Fade muttered, dodging the flailing spikes of an Ice Golem.Normally he'd be inclined to show a little more sympathy towards Kaname's situation, but normally he didn't have to deal with someone who'd tried to sell them all out to Frigid - to say nothing of the countless lives on infinite worlds he would have condemned to subjugation and death. If he wanted to get in a fight with a fully-supercharged Frigid, then he was free to do so; maybe, just maybe Fade might pull his sorry rear out of danger if he got in over his head.Which, he admitted, was a pretty likely possibility. In any other world Kaname would have been absolutely right about Frigid; she was almost certainly a brat, a spoiled princess with delusions of grandeur. But here, her plans had succeeded and she'd been exposed to the full power of the Supercharger. Fade wasn't sure he could calcuate the upper limits of that sort of power; really, the only reason she hadn't just killed them all instantly was because she was trying to do it from several miles away.And somehow, she had that power all thanks to him. That was the one thing Fade couldn't wrap his head around, and it was killing him inside. He'd tried his hardest to try and save Jen, done everything in his power to try and pull her back from the brink, but... this? No, he'd never have stood by and let Frigid do all this. There had to be some mistake; the only source he had was Longshot, who was unreliable even in the best of realities. There had to be another side to the story, some detail Longshot wasn't keen to that made all of this make sense... but Fade wasn't sticking around to find out. Just knowing there was a universe where this version of Frigid still lived was enough torture for one day.This Frigid, meanwhile, appeared to care even less than Fade about Kaname's attack. She didn't appear to even react as he brought his sword down... and then she dissolved in a shower of snowflakes, Kaname's blade slicing empty air. The snowy apparition of Frigid materialized just across the roof, a sly laugh echoing in the chilly air. She spread her arms wide, indicating the frosty cityscape around them."Do you see this? Do you see all of this? I did this; I created all of this. I carved my kingdom across the face of the Earth itself. I think I've earned the right to a little arrogance," she said with a sly smirk. "But you? You want me to descend from on high for a little duel with you? I admire your courage; in person, my powers cut down half the League in minutes. I'm sure I might have even killed you at some point; I've killed so many people, it's hard to keep track. And when I get that device, I'm sure I'll get the chance to kill you a trillion times over."But do you know what? None of those deaths would matter in the slightest. You're nothing to me; you're barely more than a snowflake in the storm compared to me," said Frigid. "It will only take the merest fraction of my powers to wipe you from this Earth, have no delusions there."She raised her arms, and the snow and ice began to shake violently. The building cracked and creaked as fissures of ice errupted, ripping it up from the inside out. Fade had the common sense to grap Longshot and get out of there, diving off the side of the building and casting out his grappler, hoping he could catch anything before he hit the ground. Despite Plasmafire's best efforts the roof beneath Kaname crumbled to dust, giving way to a gaping maw of frost and snow. Enormous spikes of ice sprung forth along the sides of the pit, reaching out eagerly to try and impale him.[For Science]

IC:"Five portals at once? What use would that be if there's only one of me?" Frigid asked, amused. It was either ignorance or mercy that she neglected to mention adding more power was more likely to just blow up the machine, or that it was probably incapable of working the way Kaname described. "More importantly, you appear to have mistaken me for someone who does not rule the world. My ability to power this device of yours is not made or broken by your powers."An evil glint shone in her eyes as she looked down on Kaname. Actual height was irrelevant; her gaze might as well have been from on a mountain top."I'm afraid there's actually very you have very little to bargain with here, certainly not enough to justify your continued survival. But you may find that I am not... completely without mercy," said Frigid. Her hand clasped tightly around her frosty blade. "Beg. I want to see you beg for your life. I want to see you grovel, on your knees, that I might take pity on your miserable little existence. And, perhaps, if your cries for mercy amuse me, I might be swayed to let you live to see another day. You will find these terms much more agreeable than the alternative."[For Science!]

IC:Frigid's crystal eyes gazed down at Kaname critically."Hmm... You could be amusing, for a while anyway," she muttered. "But really, I ask, what can you bring to the table? I mean, I already did a pretty good job taking over the world, it's not like I need the extra help. Why should I bother keeping you alive after you've shown me to this machine?"Fade, dodging the flailing limbs of an Ice Golem, was in no position to respond to Kaname's attempt at a proposal. This was fortunate, as he was likely to respond using his fists. If he was playing at some kind of angle, it was a pretty risky one. If he wasn't, he'd just doomed his own reality and countless others to the whims of an unstoppable madwoman. Either she wasn't going to believe him, or she was going to kill him once she got what she wanted, Fade couldn't see this ending well. But while he was unable to react to it, Longshot was able and more than willing."You bloody traitor!" she shouted, firing off a crossbow bolt right at Kaname's head.[For Science!]

IC:"...Fall for it? You're not going to fall for it this time? Did you really mean it like that? Now that, that's funny!" Frigid said. "Maybe I won't kill you this time! I could keep you around as a jester or something! I don't have any of those; I'm afraid I've already killed most of the funny people. Everyone left just doesn't seem to be in a laughing mood for some reason. What do you think?"The jets of plasma were much more effective at defeating the golems, reducing a few of them to little more than puddles on the ground. Unfortunately, it also started to melt the ice coating the building, sending cracks up and down the walls as frost that had filled up cracks in the foundation started to dissolve. The rooftop shook dangerously; another attack like that was likely to bring down the entire building, and Fade, Longshot, and Kaname with it.[For Science!]

IC:The three fireballs all struck their marks; the Golems did not appear to be the most maneuverable of creatures. One was completely blown apart by the burst, while another got off with merely a smoking hole in the torso, and another a missing arm. However, they were already repairing themselves, pulling in more snow from the rooftops to repair their damaged bodies. Two had already come back, looking larger than before. The last one, seemingly destroyed entirely, was starting to reform as well, albeit much slower. Frigid smirked as the two Golems began hurling shards of ice in waves at Plasmafire."Your flames burn bright, but you're in my domain now. Here my winter is eternal, and my Golems cannot truly die as long as there is frost on the ground," she said. "Let's see how long it takes me to snuff out your light this time, then? Oh, this should be amusing; how often do you get a chance to kill someone twice?""Try me," Fade said. "I'm sure I'll be able to find out."He moved towards Frigid, but found his way blocked by a Golem. He ducked as it swung an arm; those icy spikes were almost half a blade, half a club. Fade tried to phase again, but caught a blow right in the chest for his efforts. He flew across the rooftop and nearly slid right over the side, the tip of a razor-sharp icicle embedded in his armor. Fade tore it free and pulled himself up, but the Ice Golem was already attacking once again."That's it? All that fire, all that fury in your voice, and this is what you have to show for it?" Frigid asked with a laugh. "Oh, you're almost going to make me feel bad about killing you..."[For Science!]

IC:"Well it ah' happened so fast... we all were up 'gainst her... we tried to stop her... but she was jus' too strong," said Longshot, her voice shaky. Clearly she wasn't comfortable describing a man's death to the exact same man. "Yeh flew at her... but she just froze yeh through, so cold... yeh couldn't even burn through it... an' she just let you plung back down to earth...""I wouldn't worry to much about her killing you, Plas; we're not talking to the real Frigid. I've deal with enough phonies these days to spot something like that," said Fade, refusing to break Frigid's glare. "Well, technically, she is talking to us, she's just not here. Projecting your consciousness through your element now, Jen? That's an impressive trick.""Wherever my frost reaches, I can sense. Of course, there's just so much of it these days, it can get a little hard to keep track of it all," said Frigid. "Of course, with Longshot setting off explosions left and right, you were pretty hard to miss. Nice seeing you again by the way, Longshot. How's the arm?"Longshot merely scowled, gripping the trigger of her crossbow tightly."So... I think I'm starting to piece it together," said Fade. "In this universe, I'm guessing, your little scheme with the Supercharger paid off? Big time, it seems?""Oh, yes, thanks in no small part to your help, dear," replied the ice Frigid. "Why? How else could it have possibly gone?""I stopped you. I killed you. I threw your body into the heart of the exploding Supercharger, and I let it scatter your atoms across ever corner of the cosmos," Fade said with a growl. "That is how it's supposed to happen. Cross me, Jen, and maybe you'll get to see it firsthand.""No, I don't think so. This... device you mentioned, that's far more interesting," said Frigid. "A machine that bridges dimensions, that must be hard to operate? If you were kind enough to show it to me, I'm sure I could get it working again, send you and your friends back home. Can you do that for me?"Fade was silent, his glare hot enough to melt the snow off the rooftops. His wristblades slid into place. Frigid's frozen face fell into a frown."No? God, you were always just so stubborn, weren't you?" she said. "No matter, it can't be far if you're trying to walk there. I'm sure I can get my hands on it. Now, dear Fade, I'm afraid that leaves me with little use for you. I already have one of you, you see, what use would it be to have a spare? Well... a few reasons, but I can see you're in no mood to agree to any of them."There was a rumble, as more shapes began to emerge out of the snow. The lumps of ice began turning into rough, jagged bipedal forms, near seven feet tall, deadly shape blades of frost jutting from their arms. A cold, dead blue glow shone from their eyes, glaring down upon the assembled group."Ice Golems, kindly dispose of them, please?" asked Frigid with a dainty, almost bored wave of her hand. "They've ceased to amuse me."[For Science!]

IC:Longshot had gone to retrieve her crossbow, only to nearly drop it in surprise when Plasmafire appeared between them."Wha...? Yer... dead! I saw yeh die!" she exclaimed. "This... this ain't possible!""Alright, so Plas is dead and I'm evil. We're learning a lot today, aren't we?" Fade said, picking himself up off the ground. "Now, Longshot, you have to listen to us. I don't know what the Fade you're familiar with did, but, well... you've got the wrong guy. This is gonna be hard to explain, but I'm a version of Fade from... well, a place really, really far away from here... only it's a lot like here except for the parts that are different-""Yer from an alternate universe, I git it," Longshot interrupted with a scowl. "Din't patronize me. I work wit tha' League, yah think I've never heard 'a the concept?"Fade wasn't sure what surprised him more; that Longshot knew about alternate realities, or that he could understand her pronouncing 'patronize.'"Oh," Fade said. "Really, I was expecting to have a harder time convincing you.""I didn' say I believed yah yet," said Longshot "But... I din't think the Fade I know would be dumb 'nough to try an' pull a trick like tha'.""Well, we sort of... fell out of our universe, and now we're stuck in yours. We think there's a device that can get us back home, so all you have to do is get us there and you'll never have to worry about us ever again," Fade explained. "On that subject, I can't help but notice our universe is marginally... warmer than yours. Just out of curiosity, what exactly did I do to cause this? I kinda lack both the means and the motive to usher in a brand new Ice Age.""Nah, yeh don't... but she did," Longshot hissed. "An' yeh just stood there an' let her do it. Yeh let Frigid take o'er the world."And with that, Fade's day got infinitely worse.The wind started to pick up, dropping the already freezing temperature a couple degrees. The snowbanks coating the rooftop started to swirl... and then they began to rise up. The snow began taking on shape, taking on details, like a sculpture rising up from the drifts. The form grew more and more humanoid, until a perfect picture of a dreadedly familiar woman in a white dress stood before Fade, made purely of snow and crystal."Ah... speak of the devil," the icy apparition of Frigid said with a sly grin, her hands clasped casually on a glassy blade. Frozen eyes glanced towards Fade, catching the light and shining a brilliant blue. "Well, dear, I can't say I was expecting this. Alternate universes, you say? How fascinating..."[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind felt a brief pang of pain as one of her bees was violently and suddenly annihilated. So, Nihilo was probably onto her by now. No matter, all she needed to do was send a few more wasps away from bothering the security team to keep watch on him. And sure, he'd probably try and blast them too, but that didn't concern Hivemind in the least. For every one he destroyed, she could just send more. Just shy of ninety percent of all lifeforms on Earth were insects; it wasn't like she was in any danger of running out of bugs. Sooner or later, Nihilo would just have to get accept the fact he was being watched, unless he wanted to spend more time dealing with her spies than actually participating in the mission. She doubted that would get him on Grand Cross's good side.It was the philosophy by which Hivemind chose to live her life: if she was persistently annoying for just long enough everyone would eventually give in, if only to be spared the irritation.[For Science!]