Chronicler of Ko-Koro

IC:"Oh, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Trust me on this one," Fade said. "But it is a lot better than dying young. You've noticed the nice lady is still pointing a crossbow at my head, right?"Longshot spun around, aiming to fire a shot at Kaname before he could decide to get up and help. Fade jumped into action, grabbing her arm and knocking the crossbow from her grip. He'd hoped that Longshot would realize she was presently outnumbered and weaponless, and maybe she'd stand down long enough for them to talk things over. Of course, he'd forgotten this was Longshot, who was only slightly less inclined to surrender than Fade himself; probably why they always got along just so fantastically.She kicked back at Fade, hitting him in the shin and knocking him off balance. Longshot yanked her arm forwards, pulling Fade fowards and flipping him over her back. He hit the ground hard, barely rolling out of the way as Longshot tried to bring a heavy boot down on his skull. Longshot's accuracy, he remembered, didn't merely apply to her skill with a crossbow; she knew exactly where to hit for the most damage, exactly what angle to strike from to knock an opponent of balance. Even if she was down one arm, Longshot was still more than capable of taking them in a fight.---Nearly killing the one person this entire mission revolved around not killing; forget the facepalming, that was definitely going in Hivemind's report to Grand Cross. At the moment, however, she was perfectly content to continue harassing the Secret Service agents with a flock of wasps. She'd been taking whatever roles kept her on the sidelines of this mission; scouting, diversions, general harassment, that sorta thing. Hivemind still had her reservations about the mission, so whatever jobs allowed her to participate in the kidnapping without actually participating in the physical act of kidnapping were more than okay for her.Still, she couldn't help but be a little impressed by the spy she'd dubbed, for last of a better name, Newpaper Man, who'd chosen to take on both Nihilo and Typhoon with apparently nothing more than a pistol. That was the sort of thing that took either a lot of guts or a lack of brains; granted, he did work for the United States government, so brains might not enter into the equation. Either way, it was an impressive effort, considering how useful men with guns usually were against superhumans. If he actually lasted in this fight, she'd ought to give him a pat on the back... right before stabbing him there, of course.[For Science!]

OOC: They pretty much fall under the category of anonymous mook NPCs, so I'd imagine you have pretty much free reign to do with them as you like.IC:As destruction started to rain down from all sides, Hivemind figured they'd probably moved on from the "distraction" phase of the plan."Well, I guess that's curtains, now!" she said to the Service agents, a buzzing ringing in their ears. "You've been a wonderful audience, gentlemen! Remember: always tip your waitresses, etcetera, whatever!"Hivemind burst into a cloud of wasps, swirling around the nearest members of the security detail, stinging viciously at anyone who didn't have the smarts to move to cover. The swarm of insects began to spread out over the group like a swarm of locusts - locusts, she'd have to use those next time, very biblical, Hivemind noted to herself. Her intent wasn't directly hostile, although she had no problems stinging anyone foolish enough to get within range. Instead, she was just trying to keep the guards occupied; it was hard for them to shoot at the rest of the team while they were fleeing a swarm of angry wasps.---"Alright, she started shooting at me first. Probably means I'm her target," said Fade. "I'm gonna try and get closer to her, see if I can lure her fire away from you guys. You try sneaking around the other way, see if you can't get the drop on her. I really hope I don't need to say this, but do it as painlessly as possible, guys; unless we're in some mirror universe where everyone good is evil, she's still League as far as we know."Fade jumped over the rooftop, catching his grappler on the ice-encrusted wall of a building. He swung up onto a nearby rooftop, in the middle of a garden flash-frozen solid. Seconds later an exploding arrow whizzed by his head, and he was already running as it struck a nearby wall. The blast ripped the garden to bits, but Fade unfurled his glider cape, using the shockwave of the blast to launch himself into the air. He glided down towards the rooftop Longshot was sniping from, rolling as he landed to avoid another shot from Longshot.She'd traded her old jacket in for a much heavier parka and snow boots, and was missing a few things Fade usually identified Longshot by. Her trademark had was gone - assuming she'd ever worn it in this universe - as was her compact crossbow. The version she was wielding was much bulkier, looking patched together out of garbage and discarded metal. However, it looked like this Longshot had lost something far more valuable than accessories and weapons; the right sleeve of the parka flapped limply in the wind, whatever had happened to the arm meant to be inside it, Fade could only guess. Longshot slid her makeshift crossbow into her bandolier, and another arrow clicked into place. She aimed the weapon at Fade's head; he knew at this distance he couldn't dodge someone like Longshot, and phasing apparently wasn't an option."Alright, just put the weapon down, Longshot. We can talk this out," Fade said diplopmatically, but he didn't have high hopes. Longshot's idea of diplomacy was usually that she shot you in the leg first. "First things first, you're trying to kill me, I can't help but notice. What do you think I did this time?"Longshot's expression was hidden behind her goggles, but she seemed confused and, shockingly, a little afraid."Wha'... Wha' kinda' sick mind games are yah playin' this time?" the Scottish heroine shouted, finger steadfastly refusing to leave the trigger. "Yeh know what yah did!""Actually... no. It's kinda a long story, just trust me on this one," Fade said, seeing the futility of trying to explain parallel universes to someone like Longshot. "So, please enlighten me: what did I supposedly do?""What'd yah do? What'd yah do? Why, only all 'ah this!" Longshot shouted; she moved her one remaining arm away from pointing a crossbow at Fade's face, sweeping it across the frozen skyline. "This is all yer fault!"[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind was, of course, perfectly aware of Nihilo's disapproval of her performance. She had one of her hornets following him to keep watch as Grand Cross requested, and since he was high up enough that everyone on the ground might as well just be bugs, it wasn't likely he'd notice actual bug nearby. Hivemind made mental note to add this to her report; she doubted "aggressive facepalming" would be of much concern to the Coalition higher-ups, but as the good, hardworking member of the Coalition that she totally was, how could she live with herself if she didn't report every detail back to Grand Cross?And, of course, it wasn't like her performance was supposed to be convincing. Hivemind was a scientist, not an actress. It didn't matter if the Secret Service found her performace nuanced or realistic, just that she was representing a clear and present security threat. She could have chosen to say absolute gibberish and it wouldn't have hurt her performance; actually, it might have helped, if just to make her seem a little more crazy. And it appeared to be working; the Service agents had all turned their attention to her, making sure she didn't make any sudden movements towards the car carrying the President's daughter... so much so, that their focus was actually off the car as it drew closer to the school gates...[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind nodded, and with another buzz of insects she replaced her supersuit with some clothes that didn't quite so much scream "supervillain". Her new clothes consisted of a pair of boots and jeans, a cheap imitation leather jacket, and a t-shirt rather boldly proclaiming her opinions on The Man, more specifically a few places she wanted him to go. No, it wasn't exactly inconspicious, but that wasn't what Hivemind was going for. She wanted to look like someone itching to pick a fight with the Secret Service. She quietly buzzed across a rooftop as a swarm of flies; as one of her bee spies told her, Newpaper Man had already caught sight of Negafire, no use drawing any more attention to that one alleyway.Hivemind reformed around a nearby corner, taking a look around to figure out an optimal distraction. The target car was almost to the gates of the school; per Grand Cross's instructions, that was when the rest of the time was supposed to strike. The escort van was trailing a short distance behind, trying as hard as any vehicle could to look like it wasn't really trailing a short distance behind them. If she was looking for anything to keep the Service agents busy while leaving the car open to attack, that looked like it was it. Hivemind darted across the road; for the most part it looked like she was just in a hurry to get somewhere, but it was an action that would no doubt attract the Service agent's attention regardless.Hivemind rushed in front of the van and bounced off the hood, shifting the fabric on the back of her jacket briefly into enough worker ants to support her weight and cushion the impact. Hivemind rolled to the ground as the van screeched to a halt; running over a woman then driving off while escorting the President's daughter was the sort of thing that was generally considered to be "bad press." As the driver stepped from the car to see if she was alright, Hivemind got up and began cursing at him, loudly enough to draw the attention of everyone on the street, in particular the incognito Secret Service agents nearby. If there was one thing Hivemind was good at, it was making herself the center of attention."Oiy! Like, watch where you're going, man!" she shouted. "Are you trying to kill me, you... you... (uhhm...) fascists! (yeah, fascists, that probably works...) I... I mean, how dare you! Like, just what makes you think you can run over anyone you want? Where's that in your Constitution, maaaaan?"[For Science!]

IC:Fade stopped, looking honestly horrified at such a prospect."Oh, god no. Just... no. She's League, we've crossed paths a few times," he said. "Most of those times, she's been trying to kill me for one reason or another. Usually some misunderstanding that gets worked out in the end, but it wouldn't exactly kill her to be sorry about it. Dunno what's the deal with this Longshot though, and not just why she wants me dead this time. For one thing, her aim's off. Longshot's power is super-accuracy; realistically, we all ought to be dead by now."Fade peered over the blast-scarred side of the roof to check on Longshot's activity."Oh, ****, she's loading another arrow," he muttered. "Let's just try and get over there and stop her before she murders us all."[For Science!]

IC:The second arrow sounded like shattering glass as it bounced off Kaname's sword; close inspection of the broken remains revealed that their attacker had just shot at them using an icicle. Well, Fade had to give his assailant credit for inventiveness and innovation, at the very least. The attacker was in the process of loading and firing another shot when Kaname's electric wave struck, shocking them and throwing off their aim. The arrow shot of wildly, trailing sparks through the air as it went, striking a window on the building the group was standing on. This wouldn't have been a problem if the explosives strapped to the arrow hadn't gone off, blasts shredding the roof they were standing on."Oh, for the love of god," Fade muttered bitterly as he flung himself to the side of the blast. He looked up to see their attacker, still jittery from the shock, loading another explosive arrow; by now he'd seen enough of their attacker to figure out who they were, or more specifically who she was. "Can I find just one universe where Longshot hasn't tried to kill me?"[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind nodded, calling a few of the local insects buzzing about to float around the area. She of course, kept a few in reserve, ready to keep a compound eye on Nihilo when things started going down. She doubted he'd notice them once things started getting action-y, and even if he didn't, he couldn't say Hivemind was spying on him. She couldn't be held accountable for what every insect in the world was doing, could she?"Alright, the target car is a few blocks away; there's a van trailing it that's probably carrying the security detail. I'd imagine there'd be at least one bodyguard in the car, maybe more assuming they've got brains at all," said Hivemind. "There's maybe... oh, five people in suits along the route trying to look inconspicuous; more Secret Service, probably. There's a man reading a newspaper near us, he's almost certainly a government plant; really, if you're reading a newspaper in this day and age you're either a spy or waaaay out of it. Point is, he's got a good enough view of the alleyway to see us when we come out of it, so proceed with caution, gang. They might have a few other aces up their sleeve, but none that I can see."A singular firefly floated over Hivemind's head, lighting up as she was struck with an idea."Typhoon, know how you said we couldn't blend in? Well, it's just the way my powers work, when I don't have enough insects to fully reform, that missing mass just sort of exists in a kind of potential... well, let's call it a hypothetical 'Beespace' until I have enough bugs to pull myself back together. The field tends to rub off on whatever I'm wearing after a while, so the same rules apply to that as well," she said. "Point is, usually I have a change of civilian clothes waiting in Beespace in case I need to make a stealthy retreat... and totally not just so I can get dressed faster in the morning, no sir, that would be an irresponsibly mundane use of my special talents. I could switch to civie gear, make a little commotion, and get the Service goons distracted for when you strike. Sound like a plan?"---"Right, let's get moving. You know, I'm kinda starting to wonder just what The Technician was doing with a dimension-jumping machine in his basement," Fade said as they began to head across the rooftops. "Actually... no, I think I kinda get it. I mean, the Technician's were a family of geniuses, but they also kinda... well, suck. If you're smart enough to figure out how how to cross the barriers between realities, wouldn't you want to try and see if you could escape to a universe where all your plans really did succeed-"Fade's voice cut off as he spotted a solitary figure standing on a distant rooftop. Dressed in a green parka, they raised what - even from this far away - Fade could recognize as a crossbow. A bolt sped across the air, headed straight for Fade. He phased instinctively... and was shocked when the crossbow bolt struck him square in the chest. It wasn't lethal - he was wearing heavy armor and the cheap bolt had shattered on impact - but the force was still enough to knock him off his feet.Fade coughed as he rolled in the snow. What just happened? He should have phased, but... he didn't, for some reason. Naturally, his powers had picked the most inconvenient time to stop working. However, this was a mystery he'd need to solve later. At the moment, the rooftop figure was reloading the crossbow, ready to take another shot at Fade while he was down...OOC: ...heheh...hehehehehehehahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAMUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A-HA-HA-HA! ......Perhaps I've said too much. [For Science!]

OOC: Incidentally, "Sarah and the Reaper" is the name of my Blue Oyster Cult tribute band.IC:Hivemind was most certainly not an expert on wormhole travel, and was thus sent flying head over heels out of the portal. She wound up sprawled upside down in a pile of garbage bags and discarded cardboard boxes, waiting for the world to stop spinning. Hivemind picked her glasses up off the ground and looked up at Gap as she closed the wormhole."That. Was. Awesome!" she exclaimed to the teleporter. "Oh man, let's do it again!"Hivemind picked herself out of the trash jeep, shaking an old banana peel out of her hair. Not giving Gap time to catch up to her train of thought, she turned her attention to Typhoon."Alright, everyone's through the Stargate, so... what's the plan?" Hivemind asked. "I mean, beyond just charging in and grabbing the girl. It's just that if we rush in guns blazing... well, they have actual guns. The kind with bullets in them. I'm not saying we can't twos them, but it might be wise to see if we can't catch them off guard instead..."[For Science!]

IC:"Well, there's always some chance of that I suppose. We're dealing with alternate realities here, anything could have happened on this side," said Fade. "Now, since we don't know the device is in that spire, and I'd really hate to risk alerting whoever lives here to the possibility of other, unconquered realities, let's just check the lab before we start planning a trip there."---Hivemind mentally went through at least seven variations upon "This is why you're dragging me away from my work?" before finally settling on something a little more diplomatic."Oh no, I think I've got it. Kidnap a little girl while causing terror and collateral damaging in spitting distance of a school zone, what's not to get?" she replied. "Just another days work for the Coalition of Corruption. So, when are we leaving?"Hivemind had her share of reservations about this plan. Sure she'd help them steal a doomsday device, rob a bank, heck, she had no problems with most kidnapping jobs. But this... well, Hivemind knew she was bad, she had no illusions left anymore, but this wasn't her style of evil. Not that she was going to say anything about it, of course. Of course she was being sent to literally kidnap the President's daughter, what did she expect she'd be doing when she joined the Coalition? Evil parking violations?? At the very least, they weren't sending her to kill the kid. So there was that, Hivemind supposed, what little it was.[For Science!]

IC:"Really, we should consider ourselves very lucky we wound up on a plane this close to our Earth. Like Plas said, infinite universes for infinite choices. One slight change back in primordial Earth, and the world might not have had an atmosphere we could even breath. The Big Bang goes slightly different, we might even have been dealing with different laws of physics," said Fade. "It looked like this was a close branch to our prime universe, so whatever change happened here had to have been recent."Fade glanced up at the icy spire towering over the ruins of New York City."One guess, I'm gonna say the change had something to do with whatever Snowmizer lives up there. Here's hoping we don't get to meet him," he muttered. "Well, the good news is, if The Technician was working on dimensional travel in one reality, he might have been working on it in another. We know where his lab is, we just need to find it and get the machine in working order. If we can't... well, then we hold elections for Mayor of New York City On Ice while we hope our League gets that device working again."Fade left a concern nagging in the back of his mind unsaid, probably for the best. If they could get the machine over here working - assuming it even existed, and it was in anywhere near the completed state their version was - Fade still had no idea how to get them back to their universe. Assuming he could even work out the code The Technician used to plot the machine's trajectory, they were still trying to hit one universe out of an unlimited number of others.And not all universes were as drastically different as this one; if they wound up in a universe where the only change was that one guy arrived at work on time when he should have been late, would they ever notice the difference? Or one wrong turn, or even one coin flip? The butterfly effect didn't always have world changing effects, just a few little ones they might not even notice until it was too late. But, Fade supposed it was no use worrying about that yet. They didn't even know if there actually was a machine over here, no use worrying on whether they could get it working yet.[For Science!]

IC:"Uh... unless there was a new Ice Age that no one told me about... yes, almost certainly. That machine in The Technician's lab, it didn't just create a portal: it punched a hole clean through our reality, and we fell through it. Those branches of light we saw in... wherever we just were? If I had to guess, I'd say those were alternate realities splitting off from each other, or... maybe just the closest our minds can come to visualizing them. We fell through a hole in another universe - maybe the machine created it too, maybe we were just really lucky - and now we wound up here. Uh, wherever here is, exactly.""The good news is, the universe is a tough old gal. Once The Technician's machine shuts off, the universe will get to work on sealing up that hole almost immediately. That kind of stuff is theorized to happen all the time with wormholes and the like, otherwise our plane of existence would just tear itself apart," he continued. "The bad news... with that hole sealed up, we're kinda... stuck on the other side."[For Science!]

IC:Fade dove through the other end of the portal, suddenly finding himself flung into the air a good two stories above an alleyway. He unfurled his glider cape to stop his plummet, but this proved unnecessary as he crashed down softly into a snowbank. That probably explained the blinding whiteness he'd seen through the portal. The ground was covered in a sheet of snow; at its most shallow it was about a foot deep, at its tallest it completely dwarfed Fade. The other two fell from the portal and landed in the snowbank as well, the heat radiating off Plasmafire melting the snow as he touched down. Above them the portal fizzled, collapsing in on itself into nothing. Fade took a look at his surroundings, finding them oddly familiar."Wait... this... I know this alleyway... I pass it every day on the way to work... we're still in New York!" he said. "But snow... why snow, and why so much of it? There was no snow on the ground when we left... Maybe the portal... I don't know, maybe it took us through time instead of space. This wouldn't be the first time this sort of thing has happened to me, unfortunately. I'm gonna head up to the rooftop, maybe I can figure out when we are based off the skyline or something."Fade slung his grappling hook, rappelling up the side of the nearest building. What he saw shocked him, quite ironically chilling him to the core.New York City was frozen. Not simply coated in a layer of snow as he might have thought, but truly and completely frozen. Across the skyline, buildings were coated in a layer of ice, light glittering off them like expensive crystals. What had once been New York Harbor was now a valley, the water level drastically drained and what remained frozen solid. The sky was overcast with thick grey clouds, only the slightest sunlight reaching the ground below. And above it all, towering over the frosted skyline of New York, was a massive spire of ice, so tall the top vanished into the clouds."Guys... we might still be in New York, but we're certainly not in Kansas any more," he said. For once the look on his face was truly panicked. "I have a theory about where we are, but just so I know how much I have to explain... how much do you guys know about alternate realities?"[For Science!]

IC:Fade's grappler held for a few moments, but the reheating and cooling of the metal left the terminal weak, and it finally snapped under the strain. Fade's grappling line vanished further into the portal, and now it was threatening to drag Plasmafire in with it. Meanwhile, the seals Plasmafire had made in the cracks held... until the entire chunk was just ripped straight from the floor, sword and all. The portal had grown to terrifying strength by this point, and they were both sucked down into it like water down a bathtub drain.---Isobel Steele lowered a welder's mask onto her face - she hadn't told Bryan she had it, it was just something she'd found last time she'd snuck off with Jacob to the dump - and started a flame on her makeshift torch. Yes, sure she'd had to dismantle the oven just to make the torch, and subsequently hooked said torch to the gas line, but it was okay. Isobel was almost positive she'd be able to get everything back together by the time Bryan got back home. At this point, her brother had just gotten used to the fact he'd occasionally return to the apartment and find some appliance in pieces on the floor, either because Isobel needed a component for her latest science project, or because she'd just been overcome with the urge to find out how it worked.Using her makeshift torch, Isobel began to graft a metal arm into the socket of her latest project. Bryan hadn't liked the idea for her newest creation; he encouraged her tinkering for the most part as long as she didn't take apart anything he couldn't put back together, but he had to put his foot down on any project that was potentially lethal. He'd said that he was perfectly capable of protecting Isobel if something bad happened, that she wasn't experienced enough yet to take the defense of their home into her own hands, and that, really, there were safer hobbies for an eight year-old girl than building a killer robot. But, of course, most young girls didn't have a mad scientist for a father, and certainly only a few of them had helped foil at least two separate alien invasions, once with only minimal help.And of course, the aliens were exactly why Isobel needed to do this, she'd explained. She'd witnessed at least three alien invasions in the past few months; extrapolate that data, and that meant she'd see at least two dozen more before she was ten. She needed to be prepared, and if the aliens were going to bring killer robots to the fight, well, then so was she. She flicked a switch on, preparing her robot for its first test run. Pulling a rubber ball out of her pocket, Isobel let it bounce a few times in the path of the Killbot's sensors. Warning lights and sirens flashed on the robot, and it wheeled forward on its treads - okay, so Isobel had made those using the radiator belt in Bryan's car, but he lived in New York, how often did he really drive?"INTRUDER! DETECTED! ENGAGING DEFENSE MODE: KILLKILLMURDERKILLDESTROYKILLKILL..." the Killbot exclaimed enthusiastically.Isobel had gotten Jacob to do the voice for it; she was particularly proud of having altered his recordings into something resembling actual menace. It's arm slung forward, hurling a variety of kitchen utensils Isobel had managed to scrounge together after the path of the bouncing ball. Just as her Killbot was about halfway through the process of redecorating the apartment with assorted forks and butcher knives, all the lights went dark. The Killbot wound down to a halt; on reflection, Isobel decided, using that power cord from Bryan's alarm clock probably wasn't the best idea for a power source. Better use batteries next time, although she doubted the ones in the remote would cut it.Isobel threw open a window and stepped out onto the fire escape. All around the block, and presumably across the city, lights had just gone off. There must have been a power surge in the grid somewhere, which blew out a generator or a transformer or something. Isobel was almost positive she could design a better power grid for the city, but she doubted the Mayor would listen to her, and uranium was hard to come by anyway. She could see parts of the city lighting back up as backup generators came online, but it'd be a while before power came back to her block. Isobel stepped back inside, scribbling across a sheet of paper in crayon. Might as well use this time to draw up plans for Killbot Mk 2.0...---Wingman, the only remaining member of the group not sucked into the portal, struggled with all his will to avoid meeting the same fate. His wings beat harder than he'd ever thought possible, but he was losing a battle of inches, and it was only a matter of time before he too was dragged off into the unknown. Just before he was about to resign himself to such a fate, the lights in the room died, the computer banks flickered off, and the rings ground to a halt with a demonic grinding sound. Without the power sustaining it, the portal collapsed in on itself, plunging the room into darkness once more. Wingman crashed to the ground, struggling with his pockets for his lighter.That machine was connected to the New York City power grid, Fade had said. He'd also said it had required an enormous amount of power, and if Wingman had to guess he'd say keeping the device active had been far too much of a strain. It must have blown a fuse, and with the grid down the machine had gone too. He swept his lighter through the darkness, searching for any sign of Fade, Plasmafire, or Kaname. No luck, they were gone. But where on Earth - if it was even on Earth - could they have gone to?---Fade tumbled across space, a swirl of orange and red nearly blinding them. As his eyes slowly focused, he could see trails of bright yellow surrounding them. These branches of yellow were positively massive; they looked the size of planets to Fade, but for all he knew they could be large as planets at this distance. The glowing lines crossed and intersected at varying points, looking all at once like a tree, a web, and a river. As Fade soared over them, he caught glimpses of things that had never been in the universe, and probably never would: worlds of metal and flame, planets of light and sound. It all danced around him like a ballet of the cosmos, in harmony like a symphony of reality.But as beautiful as it all was, Fade wanted desperately to get out of it. He might be seeing things previously unknown to man, but that meant nothing if he didn't survive to tell the tale. He looked for some sort of exit, another hole like the one they'd fallen through to begin with. Just when Fade began to despair that perhaps The Technician had seen fit to simply dump them in this cosmic sea for all eternity, a tear ripped on the surface of one of the shining branches. All Fade could see was whiteness on the other side; tradition wisdom was that you should not head into the light, but he couldn't see them having any other choice at this point."Guys!" he shouted, diving through the void towards the closing gap. "Follow me!"[For Science!]

IC:Hivemind gestured towards Typhoon and Negafire with what looked like half a wave, half a mock-salute. She knew Typhoon vaguely, neither really liked him nor hated him, and was content to keep things that way. It was the way she felt towards most of the Coalition: she knew they existed, and sometimes she acknowledged it. Negafire, on the other hand, she couldn't say she'd ever heard of, probably just some new blood brought in by the latest Coalition restructuring. Who she was working with wasn't exactly important, of course. She already chose to associate with the Coalition, so she could care less about the company she'd have to keep on this mission.---Fade tried to drag himself up along the rope, but the pull of the wormhole was just too strong for him to fight against. It was taking all his effort just to remain on this side of the portal. Fade heard Plasmafire's directions coming from up above - well, technically it was just across the room, but with intense pull of the portal might as well have flipped the whole room sideways - and gave him a thumbs up with his free hand. He was just about to tell him that shooting a plasma orb at what might potentially be a hole in the fabric of reality itself might be a bad idea, when suddenly the portal surged and expanded, pulling Fade through through its event horizon. Only his grappler kept Fade from flying right on through to wherever the portal lead - if it even lead anywhere at all - and with a shower of sparks the computer it was attached to started to creak and bend under the strain, likely to break completely at any moment.Meanwhile, the floor around Kaname's blade started to creak, the strain of having an impressively enormous blade strike through it having caused a good degree of structural damage. With the intense pull of the wormhole, the floor around Kaname was starting to be torn apart and sucked through the portal. Whether or not he his plan was a good one, it looked like he was in danger of having the decision made for him...[For Science!]

IC:With a bored shrug, Hivemind simply took the nearest seat; of all the reactions Grand Cross could have had, she personally preferred his apathy. Hivemind reclined back in her chair, idly spinning the seat back and forth as she waited for the briefing to start. This was always her least favorite part of any mission, the briefings. She liked going on the missions just as little, of course, but at least that was doing something. Just sitting in a room listening to someone, especially someone other than herself, other talk, ranked very on Hivemind's lists of favorite activities.Well, at least this time a table exploded; that was kind of interesting, Hivemind supposed.[For Science!]

IC:The ride on the tiltrotor had occurred mostly in awkward silence. Hivemind didn't have anything to say to Dare, and Dare didn't want to say anything to Hivemind because it inevitably ended in her finding some excuse to electrocute him. At long last the tiltrotor came in for a landing in the Coalition's Arctic base, the rotors spinning to a halt and the hatch swinging open. Hivemind moved to leave the vehicle, but Dare took a hold of her arm to stop her."Before you leave, there's something you should know. You might have gotten yourself on the Coalition's good graces, just because you managed to stumble your way into some fancy cache of alien tech and weapons," Dare said. "But I still don't like you, and I sure don't trust you. So when you screw up - and you will screw up, you always do, and I just know this time you're gonna screw up in a way too big for the Coalition to ignore - just know I'll be waiting, I'll be ready to replace you, and I'll be laughing the entire time. Enjoy your time while it lasts."Hivemind appeared to give this a little thought, then a wicked grin crossed her face."..The sky is purple, up is diagonal, and pi is exactly three!""GaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaah!"With a devilish chuckle Hivemind left, leaving Dare stewing in his own anger. After a few minutes trying to find the right room - and bursting into the wrong room more than a few times - Hivemind finally walked into the room she was pretty sure was where the briefing was supposed to be happening. It had Grand Cross in it, so it was a pretty good guess."God let me tell you something. You Coalition types really need to build secret lairs somewhere warmer, y'know? I mean, the Alps, then Siberia, now the freaking Arctic? You're gonna run out of freezing cold places to build soon, unless you want to start building in space or-"Hivemind stopped. She noticed the man in purple and black, who Grand Cross appeared to be in the process of confronting about something. The words "send you into orbit" were involved, so it must have been serious, whatever it was."Oooh, sorry. Is this a bad time?" she asked. "I mean, I can come back later if you guys want..."[For Science!]

IC:"Alright, I could probably phase us through those doors pretty easy," said Fade. "Only problem is, we can't just leave this device alone to activate, not when we don't know what it does-"Suddenly, with an unearthly cacophony of groaning and grinding, energy began to tear out of the swirling wheels of the machine. Time and space itself seemed to crack, a void of reddish-orange light appearing to fill its place. Bolts of energy crackled around the portal, and while Fade had seen his share of wormholes and teleports in his day, this was something else entirely. The average portal was usually some fold or tunnel in spacetime, but this... this was a like a hole in the universe itself. And if it was a hole in the world then everything was getting sucked down into it; computer banks and wall panels tore apart, vanishing into the void. It took a great deal of effort just for the group to remain standing."Alright, guys, new plan!" he shouted over the roar of the portal opening. "I'm phasing us out of here! We can figure out a way to shut this thing off when we're at a safe dista-"A bolt of energy from the portal arced wildly across the room, sending computers up in flashes of light. It struck Fade just as he started to turn intangible, energy shooting up and down his body even in his phased state. He rippled out of shape, struggling to maintain his form, and in the process lost whatever footing was keeping him in place. Shifting back into phase, Fade was lifted into the air, dragged across the room towards the void. He hurled out his grappling hook, catching it on one of the few intact monitors left. Fade came to a halt just short of the lip of the portal, clinging for his life to his grappler line to avoid falling into the portal. He didn't have any clue where it lead - heck, he wasn't even sure The Technician knew where it was headed - and he really, really didn't want to find out.[For Science!]

IC:The sirens blared louder, almost as if they were roaring in rage at the team's intrusion. A whir of gears could be heard faintly over the warning klaxons, and a series of heavy metal bulkheads slammed shut in the corridor behind them, locking them inside the chamber. As the last gate slammed shut the sirens ceased, and a small projector in the ceiling started to blink. It shone down upon the group, the holographic head of The Technician sneering down at them."If you're hearing this message, it's because my computer systems have registered an attempt to force entry into their memory banks. Since I can't imagine why I'd need to do that, I'm forced to assume you are either an intruder or my son, in which case... no big loss," the hologram said. "Now, since you even know about this room, let alone are able to access it, it means all my hard work has failed and my greatest creation is in the hands of the League or worse. For all I know, I might even be captured or dead by the time anyone sees this message. Every precaution I've taken to ensure this device's secrecy has failed... except for one. I can always still just get rid of you."With an evil cackle, the hologram flickered and faded away. The computers stopped flashing red, and instead complex calculations began to flash on the screen at such a rate to be nearly unreadable. A series of creaks, groans and whirs came from the heart of the device, and bits of machinery started to move behind the wall. Slowly, with an evil grinding the rings in the wall started to turn, light flickering and crackling along its grooves. The machine was waking up, and the group could feel the energy sizzle in the air as it started to come online.[For Science!]

IC:"Well, I'll be sure to look that up next chance I get," Fade muttered. "Dunno about you finding any information on your embladed friend, though. The Technicians are generational villains, so they're bound to have dirt on any villain through the ages, but I wouldn't think this is a database. These babies are here for calculations; whatever this machine does, it must need to be awfully precise."The wires sparked and Fade recoiled, but thankfully killer androids didn't start climbing out of the walls in response to the intrusion. Deciding to push his luck a little further, Fade pushed a button on the control pad, the computer slowly starting to boot up. Fade's eyes circled the room; none of the other computers had activated, and neither had any possible death traps. Confident he'd successfully isolated the computer system, Fade sat down in front of it and began cycling through directories. Nothing was labeled - The Technician knew what everything did, no use in making it user friendly - but as Fade clicked numbers and calculations scrolled across the screen. Graphs began popping up, displaying sweeping arcs and parabolas. The whole thing looked uncannily like an old map or sky chart."It looks like... it looks like this thing is trying to calculate coordinates. Maybe that machine is supposed to teleport somewhere - or, worst case scenario, fire at somewhere," he muttered, clicking a few buttons. "But... thing is, I can't figure out where these coordinates go. They're not latitude and longitude, I can't even compress their dimensions enough to even map them to anywhere on this planet. But if they don't go anywhere on Earth, then where was The Technician trying to go-"Fade tried to access another directory, only for the screen to flash red. A loud siren began blaring, and all around them computer banks started to switch on, each flashing with the same worrying crimson light. Fade glanced down at the wiring; it was sparking a little, but it was still holding. His system should be working."I... I don't... The Technician must have had a secondary circuit connecting these things, one that I couldn't find," Fade said, pushing every button on the controls in an attempt to shut down the computer. "Guys, I have a feeling things are about to get very bad in the next few seconds..."[For Science]

IC:"Well, 'found out about' would be the wrong word, but it's not something I'm explaining to someone I've just met. Let's just say some of us have greatness thrust upon them instead," said Fade. He slid under the control panel, and held his wristblade up against the wire. "Alright, on the count of three, I'm gonna cut this wire, and wrap it around to this one. Your job is to send a quick surge through them and fuse the new circuit together. Alright... one, two... three!"---Tossing her labcoat aside on top of a table stool, Hivemind opened a sliding glass door and stepped outside into her garden. Rows of beehives lined the front lawn; to the uninformed observer they were just an excentric woman's hobby, but to Hivemind they were reinforcements. And currently her bees were swarming about a man stuck in the fence, his arms raised to try and wave away his insect attackers. He was dressed in a navy-blue suit - three-piece, not spandex, that was always an important distinction to make in this line of work - with white gloves, his only concession to the trends of supervillainy being the while balaclava mask he wore. It probably would have looked rather dignified, if it weren't for the fact he was currently being waylaid by bugs."Ah... Dare," Hivemind muttered, her voice dripping with venom. "What are you doing here? In costume, no less? I told the Coalition, if you show up here, do it plainclothes!""Hello, Hivemind. Always just a pleasure to see you," the supervillain named Dare said bitterly, before suddenly jumping as if electrocuted. "Gah!"Dare was pretty low on the Coalition's ranking, which was just about the level of class Hivemind was used to being assigned to. He had the power to instantly discern if someone was lying based off such bodily functions as heart-rate and vocal inflection, which would be an excellent power if he didn't receive painful electric shocks every time he heard a lie. As if this wasn't terrible enough for someone working in an order as treacherous as the Coalition of Corruption,his powers also went off if he told a lie as well. He was pretty much equally loved and hated by the rest of the Coalition; while his powers left him generally incapable of scheming against them, there were certain elements of truth most supervillains didn't like having to hear."You didn't answer my question, Dare," said Hivemind. "Why are you breaking onto my property?""Would have have let me in if I rang the doorbell?" he asked. "Or would you have hid in your lab and pretended not to be home?""I would..." Hivemind's eyes shifted as she spoke, "...not...do that second thing. Yup, that's exactly the sort of thing I would do.""Gah!"Dare twitched and shook; Hivemind giggled."This is not a laughing matter, missy! You've been out of contact with the Coalition for weeks!" Dare shouted. "You haven't responded to any of our communications! I was sent here to make sure you weren't dead!""Oh, sorry about that," Hivemind said. "All the phone lines are down here - car backed into a pole - and Aquarius accidentally waterlogged my communicator when we were on our little cruise a while back...""Gah!" Dare jumped over and over with each successive lie. "You know I can tell you're not telling the truth! Why do you always do that?""People are funny when they're in pain.""Well, if you'd bothered to pick up your comm, you'd know that Grand Cross wants you for a mission," Dare said. "You were supposed to go to headquarters for a briefing!""Okay, okay," Hivemind said. Best to stay in the good graces of the Coalition's new leaders, after all. "When's the meeting?""It's happening right now! Even if we speed you over on our fastest tiltrotor, it'll be miraculous if you get there in time!" Dare exclaimed, furious. "And we are leaving right now, for the record. I'm assuming you agree, since I'm also assuming you enjoy keeping your newfound status in the Coalition."Hivemind chose not to respond; there was no polite way to respond to that truthfully, and as funny as electrocuting Dare was, that wasn't the sort of lie she wanted exposed. Honestly, she just wanted to be left alone and allowed do her work in peace. Really, that should have been here reward for taking down a freaking Inferno Walker. But no, actually doing work just meant she was being rewarded with more work. It was no wonder she tried to avoid doing any."Alright, fine, I'm coming," she muttered. "No reason to be such a drama queen over things, that's my job after all."The bees buzzing in the air surrounded Hivemind in a spiral. They swarmed around her, dancing across her body. When the swarm cleared, Hivemind's civilian clothes were gone, replaced by her usual gold and black supersuit. Hivemind adjusted her sunglasses, and made her way to the gate. A few minutes later a Coalition tiltrotor took off from further down the coastline, making the long journey towards its Arctic destination.[For Science!]

IC:Charles Buckle groaned and blinked in the darkness. He tried to get up, but found he couldn't move; a set of leather straps kept him tied down to a cold metal table. He wracked his brain, trying to remember just what had happened to him. He'd gotten out of his cab and was headed for the ferry to the Italian mainland; he'd just finished a business convention in Palermo and was eager to get back home by morning. Then he'd heard a women call out to him, and then there'd been this... this buzzing... then, blackness.Harsh, neon lights lit up overhead, nearly blinding Charles. With a whirring of gears the table began to rotate, turning the metal table and bringing it to face a large window. A figure stood watching him on the other side, and as Charles's vision adjusted to the light he got a better view of their features. Charles had a certain image of what a mad scientist looked like: he'd expected the labcoat, the smug grin, and the somewhat eccentric glasses.He hadn't expected the scientist to be a woman though. And he certainly hadn't expected the "Han Shot First" t-shirt, either."Oh, good, you're finally awake!" said Hivemind, her voice dissonantly chipper. "Now, before we get things started, I'd just like to ask you a few questions. Do you have any allergies? Any disabilities I should know about? You understand, Mr. Buckle, this is a very tricky procedure, so I'd like to be informed of any possible complications beforehand.""Please... just let me go," Charles pleaded. "I... I have a wife... two children..."Hivemind casually picked up a wallet off a table - his wallet - and flicked through it, looking at a photo on the inside."Yes... your wife seems like a wonderful lady. Granted, her hair looks a little more gray than brunette these days, but she still loves you, doesn't she?" she muttered. "Funny though... the woman I saw you leaving that hotel with was blonde. Mr. Buckle, somehow I don't think you'll be sorely missed if this goes wrong.""What... what are you going to do with me?"Panels slid back in the room, and a series of emitters descended from the ceiling."Well, we're gonna start things off with a massive dose of Omega radiation," explained Hivemind. "Now, you need special genes for OR to do anything other than just make you very dead, and you don't have 'em. Fortunately, I’ve injected you with a few chemicals that should trick your body into thinking it does; let’s find out of they work! If everything goes right, this test will be able to prove the effects of external factors on the development of superpowers.”“Please... don’t...”“Here we are GO!”The emitters glowed orange-yellow, bathing Charles in an unearthly light. He screamed in agony; it felt like the most basic molecules in his body were being torn apart and rearranged.“And now...” Hivemind shouted theatrically, “Time to release the bees!”“What?-”Vents opened in the walls, and a swarm of insects flooded the chamber. On the other side of the window, all that could be seen was a swirl of bugs and an orange glow. But, even over the buzzing that filled the air, the cries of pain were unmistakable. Hivemind stared down at a computer readout and frowned."Mr. Buckle?" she asked."Y-y-yes?" Charles whimpered between screams."Well, it's very likely you're about to die. Probably within the next few seconds, and definitely very painfully," Hivemind explained. "Could you possibly describe what is happening to you at this moment? You understand, I ask this for the future of science. Please try to be as detailed as possible, future research may depend upon your assistance."The emitters slowed to a stop, revealing the corpse of the former Mr. Charles Buckle, scarred by bee stings and radiation burns, and hundreds of dead insects littered across the floor. Whether he'd died from the bugs or the radiation was something Hivemind wouldn't be able to determine until she could perform an autopsy."So... that's a no, then?"---Her latest experiment having lead to another failure - not that she’d call it a failure to her Coalition superiors; after all, now she’d ruled out another way it didn’t work - Hivemind stepped out of her lab and up a winding staircase. A panel slid open, and Hivemind stepped out of the darkness into the bright Sicilian sunlight. The panel locked shut behind her, looking for all the world like an ordinary bookshelf.Hivemind stared out the window at the blue-green waters below. After her last lab, a secluded little place out in the jungles of Brazil, got knocked over by some accursed Leaguer by the name of Maple Man, Hivemind spent a good deal of time working on building a new home base. It hadn’t been easy, and she’d needed to go out on a few petty robberies and heists just to acquire the funds for it, but at long last she’d finished her new lair. It was called the Ali D'Argento, sweeping off the edge of a cliff like a brilliant, shining wing of steel and glass. To all the world it appeared to be a normal, if slightly flashy, house, but hidden in the cliffside below were the labs where Hivemind performed her somewhat questionable experiments. She’d had to repair it a little after the Technax invasion, but by now everything had gotten back to normal by now.Lounging on the couch, Hivemind stared out one of the house’s massive windows at the seaside below. The building was covered in windows, to create the illusion of transparency. The more open the house looked, the less it looked like its owner had to hide. There were, of course, plenty of secret areas to conduct Coalition business in - Hivemind wasn’t a fool - but what was important was that it looked like it had nothing to hide. So far it had worked, and most of the people in the nearest town seemed content to just ignore the eccentric lady who lived by the seaside.Bored, Hivemind pulled a remote out of the couch cushions and flicked across the television channels. News station, news station, some soap opera (apparently someone was also someone’s half-brother, or possibly just dead, it was hard to tell), another news something, an ad for something called AlienAid, a relief concert to support survivors of the Technax invasion... all of it boring. Hivemind switched off the television, rolled off the couch, and headed into the kitchen. She pulled a few glasses from a cabinet and poured herself a drink.Well, she had a dead body in her lab, so Hivemind supposed she needed to autopsy him, then dump him in the ocean or something. Then she’d have to go out and find a new test subject, which was gradually becoming more of a chore; she’d taken to grabbing out-of-towners so the locals wouldn’t get suspicious about the disappearances. But all that could wait until tomorrow, of course. That was all a lot of rather dull work, which Hivemind usually tried to avoid at all costs. Besides, recently her activities had consisted of taking on an alien armada, hauling scrap metal on a leaky boat across the ocean, and getting “rewarded” for her troubles by getting made the Coalition’s errand girl. For just one night, Hivemind was hoping to just have one night to relax by herself.At least, until moments later, when the intruder alarm went off.[For Science!]

IC:"Well, the good news is the computer banks are probably connected to this thing physically. Wireless would just be impractical for these purposes," Fade said. He crouched down low, prying open a panel underneath one computer. "I think I can probably rewire things a bit so that all commands sent out of the computer loop back into itself. Should prevent it from sending an activation signal. Kagame, I'm gonna need your help redirecting the current."[For Science!]

IC:"Yeah... that seems like the gist of it. Cut one wrong wire, we might as well have set off a bomb in the middle of Manhattan," Fade said. "Of course, the biggest problem is that we don't actually no what it does. The information is probably on these computers, but for all we know turning one on will be enough to start this thing up... maybe if we can isolate one from the rest of the system, but that'll be tricky..."[For Science!]

IC:"You know... part of me really doesn't want to know that. I like sleeping at night," Fade muttered. He gazed between the rings at the machinery beyond. "But hold on kids, it gets worse. I know a little about engineering, and something this big needs a massive power source. I'm not seeing one. If I had to guess... I'd say this thing is probably tied right into the New York City power grid."[For Science!]

IC:"Alright, you fellas stay behind me," Fade said. "If there's any traps waiting to go off down there, it seems reasonable the intangible guy should set 'em off first."One of Fade's wristblades snapped forward, gleaming slightly in the glow of the plasma orb. He stepped forward in the corridor, taking account of his surroundings. The tunnel stretched far off into the underground; even with the light Plasmafire was providing they couldn't see all the way to the end. There were small chunks of rubble littering the floor, but for the most part the tunnel was intact. The walls were lined with a dull grey metal - probably a titanium alloy of some sort - and built like the sort of bunker that could survive a nuclear war."The way this was hidden, we'd never had spotted it if the collapse hadn't brought down that wall," Wingman muttered. "We could have gone over every inch of this place and missed it entirely...""Well, The Technician's were pretty paranoid by nature... and used to their plans getting foiled by interfering capes," said Fade. "He must have wanted to make sure no one found this, even if we did manage to uncover his lab."Suddenly, the corridor ended, opening up into a large room. The plasma globe hovered up in the air, casting an orange glow over the chamber and revealing... an enormous machine at the far end of the room. A series of metal rings - groves and patterns set into their surface like circuitry - were inlaid into the wall, each placed further back into the wall, looking almost like a tunnel. In the gaps between the rings even more complex machinery could be seen, as if the true extent of the machine stretched far further back into the underground. Rows of computer banks lined the space between the heroes and the machine, dormant but waiting to receive whatever complex calculations the machine required."Alright... I was not expecting... this thing, whatever it is," said Fade. "Let's... let's just try and figure out what it does... preferably without having to turn it on."[For Science!]